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Much of what we have recently learned in this class relates to the small-to-moderate polluting factors or things that accumulate over time. Yet, recent research shows that the US Navy is involved in heavily polluting activities that are overlooked by the US government. Practices involving the military are often given an exemption from the EPA.
The United States Navy's use of "Sinkex," which is short for sinking exercise, is the process of blowing outdated ships up and letting them sink into the water. In the past 12 years, 109 ships have been blown up. A 2005 Sinkex mission destroyed the USS America, which was over three football fields longs and contained about 500 pounds of PCBs (Polychlorinated Biphenyls) -- a substance banned in America since the 1970s. The practice of using the ocean as a "dumping ground" has been questioned since the 1990s, and many feel that the "live-action" practice that the US Navy receives from blowing up these ships is not worth the cost to the environment.
How are we supposed to make strides in protecting our environment when the very structure of power we often rely upon (the US government) allows practices like this to continue? Although some of the ships were recycled, why not recycle them all? There are thousands of tons of steel on those ships that must be able to serve some better purpose than to just sit on the ocean floor. It is stories like this one that make people lose faith in their government.
Article here
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