Environmental Impacts

Vice Admiral Archie Clemins told the newspaper, The West Australian, that traditional US training grounds around the world were disappearing and Australia was an attractive option. He said, "You have to have places to drop bombs, you have to have places to shoot live weapons, places to fly planes over that make noise, places where you can actually test and exercise your capabilities. I think Australia in the future is going to be one of the places we'd like to exercise with the Australians, as well as with the US Navy. You now have some of the finest ranges in the Western Pacific which we cannot get anywhere else."

The US Military holds an unenviable position as one of the world’s worst polluters, and yet the Australian Government has invited them into environmentally significant Australian wilderness.

The US Department of Defence bases and facilities have left a toxic legacy worldwide. Project Censored estimates that “the US military generates 750,000 tons of toxic waste material annually, more than the five largest chemical companies in the US combined. This pollution occurs globally as the US maintains bases in dozens of countries.” Since 9/11 when the US stepped up the so-called “War on Terror”, the US military has sought to exempt itself from ALL US Environmental Laws. This complete disregard for environmental stewardship does not offer Australians any peace of mind in inviting the US military into our country and our sensitive natural environment.

Australia – the new US bombing range

With 14,000 US military personal participants, and similar numbers of Australian troops, Talisman Sabre 2007 is the largest joint military exercise between the US and Australia to-date. Military exercises will involve firing live ammunition and explosives from both land bases and aircraft, sinking of decommissioned vessels at sea, the use of high power sonar and active sonobuoys, amphibious assaults, parachuting and land force manoeuvres. The outcome of such activities includes very significant potential physical and chemical environmental impacts.

Operation Talisman Sabre will utilise areas of high environmental significance, some of which are world heritage areas (WHA), natural heritage listed sites which include indigenous sites and Ramsar wetlands. These areas are habitat to many migratory birds and threatened species such as dugongs and humpback whales. Environmental impacts identified by the Department of Defence (DoD) include effects on air quality, potential harm to marine animals, fire potential, noise pollution, waste disposal and spills and erosion from amphibian craft landings and weapon target zones.

The DoD, through their environmental auditors, Maunsell Aecom, has failed to acknowledge the potential environmental impacts resulting from the use of toxic chemicals including red phosphorus (sea mines), white phosphorus (land based activities) and perchlorate. Nor has the DoD included the presence of nuclear power warships within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP) as an environmental risk.

Making war on the environment

Talisman Sabre will take place in the following environmentally and culturally significant areas:

Shoalwater Bay, Qld

Shoalwater Bay is home to the largest dugong population in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park World Heritage Area. This sanctuary is declared as a category ‘A’ and it is considered crucial to the stabilisation and recovery of local dugong numbers. The region also supports nesting sites for green turtles, critical feeding areas for turtles and dugongs and is also home to 26 species of dolphins and whales including humpbacks. Other areas of environmental significance in the region are national heritage listed sites including both indigenous and colonial heritage, wetlands of international importance and habitat for endangered and threatened species (land and water). Shoalwater Bay also represents the largest wilderness area on the central Queensland coast and contained perched water bodies, which are uncommon on a national scale.

Cowley Beach, Qld

Cowley Beach also is also part of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and contains natural heritage listed indigenous and colonial heritage sites. 120 fauna species of conservation significance are identified as potentially occurring including marine animals such as turtles and dugongs. The region is listed in the Directory of Important Wetlands and has nationally significant populations of migratory bird species. There are both flora and fauna species of conservation significance including endangered and vulnerable species. Marine waters adjacent to Cowley Beach are; North Barnard Island group which is a national park with Conservation Park zoning and Habitat Protection,
South Barnard Islands have Conservation Park, National Park and Habitat Protection zoning, Lindquist Island which is proclaimed as Wet Tropics Coast Section of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

Townsville Field Training Area

This area has national heritage listing with legal status of ‘Indicative Place’ containing historic and indigenous heritage sites. It also contains habitat of threatened and migratory species.

Delamere Range

Located within the catchment of the Ramasr-listed Kakadu wetlands this region hosts threatened fauna and migratory species.

Australian and international waters

The Coringa-Herald National Nature Reserve and Lihou Reef National Nature Reserve are situated in the Coral Sea region. Both of these areas have Ramsar value and are part of the Great Barrier Reef Wolrd Heritage Area. Areas adjoining the Coral Sea are listed on the Natural Heritage list. Humpback whales are classified as having ‘great conservation significance’ and are the main whale species anticipated to be most likely encountered in the Coral Sea.

Environmental Impacts:

The Public environment Report prepared by for the Department of Defence by Maunsell Aecom, does not mention key military chemicals which will be released as part of the proposed exercises and which all have very far reaching environmental impacts. In general the report understates the real environmental impact that these exercises are likely to have. Amongst key environmental issues lacking adequate address are:

Nuclear. A larger nuclear-based accident could be catastrophic for humans and wildlife alike – it is our understanding that no nuclear preparedness has be considered as part of the Environmental reporting process.

Nuclear powered vessels, potentially carrying nuclear weapons and almost certainly carrying depleted uranium munitions, were used in the TS05 joint war games. Nuclear warships will be used in TS07, and there is the potential for DU and other uranium weapons to also be used.

The presence of nuclear vessels carrying nuclear weapons poses a nuclear risk. In Tokyo, Japan 2006 radiation was detected in the waters around a nuclear powered submarine, the U.S. Honolulu. The impact of nuclear radiation on the Great Barrier Reef is not known.
It has been categorically stated in the Public Environment report (Maunsell Aecom) that no depleted uranium weapons will be used during the proposed exercises. This does not comment on the use of weapons which contain non-DU uranium. The hazards are similar, regardless of the type of uranium metal used: depleted, non-depleted or in alloys with other metals.

Uranium weapons containing either depleted or enriched uranium are illegal under International law. There is evidence that our biggest ally, the US, continues to manufacture, export and use these illegal weapons.

Perchlorate. The people of Byfield and Yeppoon are concerned that perchlorate may be leaking into their water supply because the live firing area in the Dismal sector at SWBTA is part of the catchment for the Yeppoon water supply though Waterpark Creek. They have not been successful in getting local authorities to test the water. Perchlorate is a highly toxic chemical and, together with heavy metals, a key ingredient in live ammunitions. Military perchlorate has been found contaminating groundwater in 25 US states and in the vicinity of many off-shore bases.

White Phosphorus. Local people have reported mangrove death resulting from past use of white phosphorus in military exercises in Shoalwater Bay. White phosphorus is a highly reactive and toxic chemical with the potential to have long term impacts to all environments, in particular to inshore seagrass beds (critical dugong and turtle feeding grounds) and mangroves (critical fish breeding grounds and shore protection).

Red phosphorus. Red phosphorus is also a highly reactive and toxic chemical. Red phosphorus is used in marine markers for sea mines. The anti-mine activities included in the proposed exercises will cause the release of red phosphorus into waters in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

Red phosphorus markers also pose a threat to the public, with unexploded red phosphorus markers washing ashore on a Yeppoon beach after the Talisman Sabre 2005 exercises.

Marine Debris. It is the policy of the US Navy to dispose of domestic waste (including paper and plastic) overboard. The US military have in the past released such waste into Australian coastal waters, to be found in Moreton Bay and washed ashore on Sunshine Coast beaches. Marine debris is a well recognized and significant threat to marine wildlife and yet assurances have not been given that such practices will not continue to occur in Australian waters and the GBRMP.

Sonar. While the Public Environment Report does include sonar as a potential environmental threat, the risk level of “medium” does not realistically describe the threat posed to marine mammals and other marine life. Sonar activities (including the anti-submarine exercises included in Talisman Sabre 07) are well known to cause whale and dolphin strandings and painful deaths. Sonar also causes massive deaths to fish and other marine animals. The environmental impact of military sonar is so significant, many countries are currently reviewing their use of military sonar and the UN is also investigating regulation of the use of military sonar. The use of military sonar in peacetime activities in a sensitive marine environment (GBRMP), ultilised by 26 species of marine mammals, is not only inappropriate, it simply beggars belief.

The exercises will have extensive environmental impacts beyond those described above. Other impacts include: ballast release, air quality, collision with marine animals, fire potential, noise pollution, waste disposal (including sewerage,) chemical and fuel spills, erosion from amphibian craft landings and weapon target zones.

Australia’s unique environment, both land and sea, is under increasing pressure. Is it reasonable to add to this pressure by allowing the US to use such valuable and sensitive environmental areas for destructive and polluting military exercises? The military exercises proposed as part of the joint Australian and US military training program, Talisman Sabre 2007, will impact on our tourism and fishing industries, local populations, and have far reaching environmental impacts, which to date no-one seems keen to take responsibility for.

References:
Referral for Proposed Action: Talisman Sabre 2005, requirement under the EPBC Act 1999, Trinder, C., Department of Defence

Also the Federation of American Scientists has a Depleted Uranium Ammunition page. The Military Toxics Project has a campaign against depleted uranium weapons.

Project Censored 2004. #15 US Military's War on the Earth http://www.projectcensored.org/publications/2004/15.html

Talisman Sabre 2007 Public Environment Report, Department of Defence 2006, Maunsell Aecom.

Friends of the Earth, Public Submission 2006, Kim Stewart. www.brisbane.foe.org.au

International Whaling Commission 2007 http://www.iwcoffice.org/

EPBC Act Protected Matters Report, January 2007 http://www.deh.gov.au/epbc/index.html

The Illegality of DU Weaponry. Karen Parker, JD
This paper was prepared for the International Uranium Weapons Conference, Hamburg, Germany, October 16 - 19, 2003.
http://www.webcom.com/hrin/parker.html

Uranium Weapons Cover-ups - a Crime against Humankind
Piotr Bein, Ph.D., M.A.Sc., P.Eng., Karen Parker, J.D., Diplome (Strasbourg)
Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade
http://www.ratical.org/radiation/DU/Uweps-CAH.pdf