Sen. Cantwell says debris from Japanese tsunami a threat to Northwest U.S. coast
By Jake Ellison
3 November 2011 Calling it an “emerging threat,” Sen. Maria Cantwell testified in congress yesterday that a floating debris field five-times the size of the state of Washington is heading for the West Coast and could disrupt the state’s economy when it lands in 2014. “After the tragic tsunami that struck Japan, whole communities were swept out to sea in an unwieldy mass of toxic debris,” she testified in the Senate Commerce Committee. “We can’t wait until all of this tsunami trash washes ashore. We need to have an aggressive plan on how we’re going to deal with it.” As result, the committee passed an amendment to address the threat the debris poses to industries along the Washington coastline. The amendment was attached to the Trash-free Seas Act introduced in May by Hawaii Senator Dan Inouye. The March earthquake and tsunami was said by Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan to be the “toughest and most difficult crisis for Japan” since the end of World War II. According to Wikipedia, The Japanese National Police Agency confirmed 15,828 deaths, 5,942 injured, and 3,760 people missing across eighteen prefectures, as well as over 125,000 buildings damaged or destroyed And while Japan is still in the early stages of recovering from the disaster, Cantwell said, it will take many years to continue to see the impact of if on the Northwest. “That’s because over 100,000 tons of the debris from the tsunami is floating toward the United States,” she testified. Everything from plastics and refrigerators to parts of cars and buildings are in the water and constitute an “emerging threat” to fishing, ecology, shipping and transportation, restaurant business and tourism. […] “Even before the tsunami, the World Ocean was a dump for rubbish flowing in from rivers, washed off beaches, and jettisoned from oil and gas platforms and from fishing, tourist, and merchant vessels,” according to a report by the International Pacific Research Center at the University of Hawaii.“Marine debris has become a serious problem for marine ecosystems, fisheries, and shipping. … The massive, concentrated debris launched by the devastating tsunami is now magnifying the hazards.” […]
Debris from Japanese tsunami a threat to NW jobs, Cantwell says
Interesting that the only threat seems to be to "industries". Is that all that matters in this insane world now? What about living beings and the planet we are destroying. If there were no danger to industries or jobs only but to the well being of our ecology and nature itself would anyone care? Would there be any grounds for appealing to our corporate owned government to do something about it?
Someone please help me figure this out! Why isn't all the debris from Japan not trapped in the "Great Pacific Garbage Path" (look at that in Wikipedia if necessary). It just seems that the debris should end up swirling around with all the other unknown tons of material out there. Thanks in advance!