nuclear-news

Media keep mum about barrels in Lake Superior – ?radioactive

Paper: News blackout over mystery barrels in Lake Superior — Purplish ooze, bouncing Geiger counters reported — No ‘immediate’ health threat to public http://enenews.com/paper-news-blackout-over-mystery-barrels-in-lake-superior-reports-of-purplish-ooze-bouncing-geiger-counters-no-immediate-health-threat-to-public  February 23rd, 2013
Title: Our view: New mysteries emerge in big-lake barrel saga
Source: Duluth News Tribune
Date: February 22, 2013
h/t Anonymous tip

Our view: New mysteries emerge in big-lake barrel saga

[…] 1,400 barrels dumped in [Lake Superior] in the late 1950s and early 1960s not far from the Duluth-Superior Harbor. The Department of Defense barrels were said to hold scrap metal from a grenade project the U.S. was eager to keep secret from the Soviets. But reports of purplish ooze, bouncing Geiger counters and more long fueled speculation, concern and even conspiracy theorists.

The [Red Cliff Band of Chippewa] recovered only 25 barrels, and it did so under what was called a “news blackout.” No media was allowed near the recovery work and there were no briefings with reporters about what was going on or what was found. A “safety zone” kept curious boats well away.

“We need to stay focused on the work rather than informing the public,” Red Cliff Environmental Director Melonee Montano said in an August story in the News Tribune. […]

In January, the band did say there were no “immediate (health) threats or concerns to the public,” an assurance it reiterated a month later. […]
A Tribune editorial from 2012: Duluth Newspaper: Maybe Yucca Mountain-type nuclear waste dump should be in Minnesota, Wisconsin or Michigan instead — Sounds scary, but is it?

February 25, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, media