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U.S. H-bombs May Return to Britain

By John LaForge

The U.S. Air Force has secured $50 million for a project that could pave the way for U.S. nuclear weapons to return to British soil at the UK airbase RAF Lakenheath for the first time in more than 16 years. The Federation of American Scientists previously reported that in the 2023 U.S. military budget, Britain was added to the list of countries where construction is under way on “special weapons” sites. The FAS estimates there are about 100 B61 gravity bombs stationed in five NATO countries. They were withdrawn from the UK in 2007 after 53 years. The B61s were once declared obsolete by the U.S. military, but instead of being retired, they have been remodeled to improve their “accuracy.” The new B61-model-12s could arrive in Europe this year. New Lockheed-Martin F-35 jet fighters have been given certification to carry the new U.S. hydrogen bombs, and the U.S. 495th Fighter Squadron, stationed at Lakenheath, became the first unit in Europe to receive the nuclear weapons-capable jets, according to The Guardian.

— The Guardian, Aug 29, 2023; Dutch Aviation Society online, Dec. 16, 2021

B61-12. Photo: sandia.gov

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Nuclear Subs to Each Cost Over $15 Billion

By John LaForge

The Congressional Research Service published a Report to Congress August 16 on the new nuclear submarine program whose mind-boggling costs continue to skyrocket. The estimated price for USS Columbia — the lead ship — is now $15.03 billion, compared to a $14.39 billion estimate made in 2021. The report, “Navy Columbia Class Ballistic Missile Submarine Program: Background and Issues,” concerns the plan to build 12 new subs (for threatening long-range nuclear missile attacks) to replace today’s 14 giant Trident submarines. Unlike tax money for education, health care, and pollution control, hardly anyone in Congress asks, “Can we afford it?” The Navy started the first replacement “platform” in 2021, and requests procurement of a second starting next year. The U.S. Navy Institute reports that the “cost estimate for the lead ship grew by $637 million over the last year.” The U.S.N.I. did not say the astronomical amount of money for new nuclear weapons systems represents a public dismissal, aggravation, and exacerbation of global crises in climate chaos, pollution, famine, disease, disaster relief, and mass migration.

— U.S. Navy Institute, June 7, 2023; Report to Congress on Columbia-class Ballistic Missile Sub – USNI News; Report to Congress on Columbia-class Ballistic Missile Submarine Program August – USNI News

Photo: 19fortyfive.com

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Supreme Court Decision Forces Roll-Back of Wetlands Protections

By John LaForge

The Environmental Protection Agency has rolled back parts of the Clean Water Act which protect millions of acres of wetlands, in order to comply with a Supreme Court ruling. The right-wing-dominated court ruled last May that wetlands must have a “continuous surface connection” to streams, oceans, rivers, and lakes to be subject to federal regulations on pollution. Up to 63% of U.S. wetlands will be affected. The White House said the Supreme Court ruling “jeopardize[s] the sources of clean drinking water for farmers, businesses and millions of Americans.”

— Democracy Now!, Aug. 30, 2023

Photo: https://news.stanford.edu/2018/12/19/qa-clean-water-act-rollback/

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Florida Gov. Approves Radioactive Mining Waste in Road Building

By Lindsay Potter

In June, Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill allowing road construction using radioactive phosphogypsum, which the EPA says contains appreciable quantities of uranium and radium-226. The production of one ton of phosphoric acid for fertilizer generates over five tons of radioactive phosphogypsum waste, which is stored in 25 large, open air “gypstacks,” that cause hazardous runoff and water pollution. As the radioactivity decays it releases radon gas, the second-leading cause of lung cancer, responsible for 21,000 lung cancer deaths every year in the U.S., according to the EPA. In 2021, a breach at the Piney Point phosphate mine spilled 215 million gallons of toxic water into Tampa Bay, leading to a red tide event and giant fish kill, and a $3 million cleanup. The EPA banned use of phosphogypsum for decades, though DeSantis wants to exploit an exemption for “research.” Attorney Elise Bennett of the Center for Biological Diversity, said the Florida law is a “reckless handout to the fertilizer industry” that “opens the door for dangerous radioactive waste to be dumped in roadways … under the [cover] of a so-called feasibility study that won’t address serious health and safety concerns.”

— CBS News and NPR, June 30, 2023

Gypstacks. Photo: discovermagazine.com

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Atomic Veterans Dying, as VA and Supreme Court Deny Benefits

Photo Credit: El Pais.
By Lindsay Potter

In August 2022, the new PACT Act (Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics) expanded eligibility for compensation to 8,000 U.S. military veterans, many suffering from cancers, who were tasked with observing nuclear weapons tests or cleaning up radioactive disaster sites. However, the VA rejected 86% of radiation-related claims filed over the last year. “They’re waiting for us to die,” said Kenneth Browneil, who was sent to Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific following 43 U.S. bomb tests conducted there between 1948 and 1958. In June, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Victor Skaar, a veteran of the 1966 disaster cleanup of Palomares, Spain, where a B-52 bomber collided with a refueling plane and dropped three H-bombs, one of which blew apart scattering seven pounds of plutonium-239 across the village. The court claimed the PACT Act is sufficient, although it recognized it does not cover Skaar. To win compensation, veterans with cancers or tumors “have to provide expert medical reviews and organ-specific radiation dose assessments” through the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, according to NBC News. But it’s “virtually impossible” to prove said U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., an atomic historian, who last month introduced a bill that would lift that burden of proof. The Pentagon recently handed out medals to atomic veterans, making clear the recognition would not accompany any federal benefits. Leo Feurt, a veteran who witnessed 28 of the 36 atomic bomb detonations in 1958 and now faces a dozen radiation-related illnesses, says “Every dang bit of it has been denied.”

— NBC News, Aug. 23; AP, June 20, 2023

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