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'Underwater Roombas' Help Start Cleanup of Decades-Old Toxic Waste Dump Along California Coast (gizmodo.com) 42

Posted by BeauHD from the better-now-than-never dept.
For almost 40 years, the nation's largest DDT manufacturer disposed of some of its waste product off the coast of Southern California. Now, a research boat is deploying "underwater roombas" to map the ocean floor and assess the damage. Gizmodo reports: In October, people living on Santa Catalina Island, which sits 22 miles (35 kilometers) off the coast of Southern California, were shocked to learn from a Los Angeles Times investigation that a scientist had found leaking barrels of dangerous waste strewn across the ocean floor. Residents had heard rumors that the nation's largest DDT manufacturer, which was based in Los Angeles until 1982, had disposed of some of its waste product near the island, and a huge Superfund lawsuit in 2000 had confirmed the company had disposed waste into sewers that ran into the ocean. But records unearthed by the Times confirmed that the manufacturer had filled up a ship with barrels of DDT-tainted waste and dumped it off the coast once a month for almost 40 years, something unaddressed in the Superfund lawsuit.

So how do you start cleaning up leaking barrels of toxic DDT-laced sludge? Send in the robots. A research boat staffed with a crew and two scientists set off this week on a two-week trip to assess the extent of the damage from the DDT barrels. Eric Terrill of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, who is spearheading the cleanup efforts, described the robots to the Los Angeles Times as "underwater Roombas," which is very cute. These little buddies are tricked out with sonar equipment that will help them collect data from the ocean floor. Suddenly your robotic vacuum is looking a little less cool. The robot's purpose isn't to vacuum, though, but to survey the area littered with barrels of potentially toxic waste. Over the next two weeks, the aquatic robotic explorers will run between 12 and 16 hours a day, mapping out the ocean floor to ascertain the barrels' location and pinpoint areas for future study.
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'Underwater Roombas' Help Start Cleanup of Decades-Old Toxic Waste Dump Along California Coast More

'Underwater Roombas' Help Start Cleanup of Decades-Old Toxic Waste Dump Along California Coast

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  • The robot's purpose isn't to vacuum, (Score:4, Insightful)

    by nospam007 ( 722110 ) * on Saturday March 13, 2021 @07:00AM (#61153610)

    Then why call it a fucking Roomba in the article?

    • Because it was written by a journalist. Always ask yourself: "Is that true? Or did you hear it on the mainstream media?"

      • "Because it was written by a journalist. "

        Don't tell me you actually RTFA? With a 6 figure UID? Oh, the shame ...

  • the "nation's largest DDT manufacture"

    Monsanto, Dow...?

  • How about jailing the assholes who did this?

    • That would be our parents and grand parents, ocean dumping of waste was by permit.

      Similarly all the near indefinitely persistent chemicals we currently still permit to be used are all on us too ... fluoride chemistry is especially atrocious in this respect.

  • Some thoughts (Score:3)

    by Whibla ( 210729 ) on Saturday March 13, 2021 @10:08AM (#61153864)

    Two things come to mind on reading this.

    Firstly, the summary states that "records unearthed by the Times confirmed that the manufacturer had filled up a ship with barrels of DDT-tainted waste and dumped it off the coast once a month for almost 40 years, something unaddressed in the Superfund lawsuit ", yet the Times article specifically states ""This Decree was negotiated ... in good faith at arm’s length to avoid the continuation of expensive and protracted litigation and is a fair and equitable settlement of claims which were vigorously contested,” according to the decree, which mentioned that the damage claim includes “any ocean dumpsites used for disposing of wastes from the Montrose Plant Property.""

    Secondly, it's not clear why the responsibility falls solely on the manufacturers. A large part of the failure in this specific instance seems to be down to the behaviour of the company, and its employees, contracted by Montrose to dispose of their waste.

    I am of course completely skipping over the entire issue of 'our' complete disregard for the environment, the lack of adherence to the precautionary principle, and the arrogance of many (though not all) scientists and those in government at the time. What's truly 'frightening' is the image of a shipping record within the article showing the number of companies that were using the dodgy disposal company, and how many barrels, and what they broadly contained, they were dumping. This quote related to the clean-up operation at the original superfund site: "the EPA, it turns out, hasn’t even figured out what to do with the DDT problem that got all the attention and millions of settlement dollars. After more than 20 years of meetings and high-level studies, the site off the Palos Verdes shore has become its own controversial saga." seems to sum up just how hard it is to put the genie back into the bottle.

    There's a (number of) lesson(s) here. Let's hope we're paying attention...

    • The modern concept is “chain of custody” cradle to grave of hazardous waste by the manufacturer. Back the, if you knew or should have known that the disposal company was doing so in an illegal manner you were responsible.

      If the disposal company improperly disposed of some of the barrels to save money/make more profit, then legacy responsibility got more complicated.

    • PFAS shows we have not learned a damn thing, with industry playing whackamole with small changes to chemical structure every time the evidence for damage gets too noticeable. Somehow the concept of structural analogues is only an issue when it makes you high.

      Except this time the fluoride will make sure nothing will evolve to break it down to something harmless, at least bacteria can do something to DDT eventually. Only mineralization will remove all the fluoride and fluoride compounds we are freeing up ...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by PPH ( 736903 )

      "This Decree was negotiated ... in good faith at arm's length to avoid the continuation of expensive and protracted litigation and is a fair and equitable settlement of claims which were vigorously contested,"

      ROI shouldn't enter into decisions to prosecute or settle with a defendant. We will chase down a stolen shitbox car, risking lives (including bystanders) and property damage along the way. We will put our knees on someone's neck for passing a bad $20 bill. We will have a whole squad of police officers follow an armed suspect around LA freeways for more than one shift (with all the overtime that entails) rather than just ending the chase with a rifle shot. We don't pull out of military engagements when the f

  • What shall we do with all that waste? Will we "destroy" or "vanish" that waste?

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