Page 28 - ATD29NOV2016

A28 SCIENCE
Tuesday 29 November 2016

Denmark urged to clean up U.S. military waste in Greenland

JAN M. OLSEN the environment. 1,200 kilometers (745 miles)
Associated Press In an Oct. 24 letter to Dan- below the North Pole. Mili-
COPENHAGEN, Denmark ish Foreign Minister Kristian tary airfields in Narsarsuaq,
(AP) — Greenland is calling Jensen, obtained by The Kulusuk and Kangerlussuaq
on Denmark to clean up Associated Press, Qujaukit- have become civilian air-
an abandoned under-ice soq asked about Den- ports.
missile project and other mark’s plans for Camp Several other military instal-
U.S. military installations left Century, adding that an lations have been aban-
to rust in the pristine land- international study said the doned, some in remote ar-
scape after the Cold War. waste includes “radioactiv- eas, in the hope they would
The 1951 deal under which ity, oil and PCB pollution.” be entombed forever in
NATO member Denmark PCBs stands for polychlo- the thick ice cap that cov-
allowed the U.S. to build 33 rinated biphenyls, a man- ers most of the vast island.
bases and radar stations in made chemical once Local authorities have start-
the former Danish province widely used in paints, plas- ed clearing some of the
doesn’t specify who’s re- tics and other products, sites, but don’t have suf-
sponsible for any cleanup. but were banned after ficient resources, said Ras-
Tired of waiting, Green- they were demonstrated mus Eisted of Danish engi-
land’s local leaders are to cause cancer and other neering company Ramboll,
now urging Denmark to ailments. which has been involved in
remove the junk that the At a meeting on Nov. 17 in some cleanup projects.
Americans left behind, in- Nuuk, the Greenland capi- Eisted singled out a junk-
cluding Camp Century, a In this file photo dated Aug. 16, 2005, a rusty container of lubri- tal, to discuss the issue, Jen- yard in Kangerlussuaq
never-completed launch cant oil for a U.S. military vehicle stands among abandoned U.S. sen said Denmark’s Envi- containing miscellaneous
site for nuclear missiles un- military material on Aug. 16, 2005, outside the eastern Green- ronment Ministry was inves- military equipment from
der the surface of the mas- land settlement of Kulusuk where there used to be an U.S. Air tigating the environmental the time it was a U.S. Air
sive ice cap. Force base as part of an early warning radar system. risks. Force Base known as Son-
Associated Press
“Unless Denmark has en- “I hope it can be done as drestrom. The continuing
tered other agreements land’s minister in charge of top secret: creating a hid- quickly as possible,” he told cleanup task was larger
with the United States foreign affairs. den launch site for ballistic a news conference, declin- than first anticipated, he
about Camp Century, the Camp Century was built missiles that could reach ing to give any specifics. said.
responsibility for investiga- in 1959-60 in northwestern the Soviet Union. Jensen later told The As- Aleqa Hammond, a former
tion and cleanup lies with Greenland, officially to test The project was aban- sociated Press in an email Greenland premier who
Denmark alone,” said Vit- sub-ice construction tech- doned in 1966 because that “it is still too early to now represents the mostly
tus Qujaukitsoq, Green- niques. The real plan was the ice cap began to crush say who will be involved in Inuit population of the Arc-
the camp. a possible cleanup.” tic island in the Danish Par-
The U.S. removed a por- The U.S. military was inter- liament, said Greenland
table nuclear reactor that ested in Greenland during could bring Denmark be-
had supplied heat and the Cold War due to its stra- fore a U.N. panel on indig-
electricity, but left an es- tegic location in the Arctic. enous issues unless it deals
timated 200,000 liters of Under the 1951 agreement, with the junk.
diesel oil and sewage, ac- the U.S. also built four radar “Denmark is responsible for
cording to an international stations as part of an early cleaning up after the Amer-
study published in August. warning system to detect icans,” Hammond told AP.
Scientists are warning that incoming Soviet bombers. “I see a potential political
as global warming melts The U.S. Air Force still uses crisis between Greenland
the ice cap, the waste
could surface and pollute the Thule Air Base, about and Denmark.”q