Tomorrow, the United States launches a Submarine Aircraft Carrier
The sea is in its garbage finery once more. Tomorrow, when the Clemenceau is scheduled to arrive in Brest, the Oriskany, a former American aircraft carrier, will be deliberately sunk. This is to the satisfaction of leisure business, tourists and scuba diving enthusiasts who see in this programmed sinking a new pole of attraction, curiosity and revenue. Diving clubs have already started taking bookings: 145 USD for two, payable in advance.
In Canada and the United States, a lot of mega-bulky waste that no one knows what to do with at the end of their life is thrown into the sea as part of artificial reef programs. Everything goes: Boeings, subway trains, and old cars.
Shipwreck of an aircraft carrier in the United States
The 17th of May 2006, the US Navy will sink 27,000 tons of metal valued at 9.7 million US dollars* with the force of 24 charges of explosives. The Oriskany’s immersion constitutes the first stage of a program, created by the American administration in 2004, specifically designed for the underwater re-usage of surface ships as artificial reefs. This initial venture will take place in the Gulf of Mexico whose waters have been historically contaminated by hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and PCBs and more recently plagued by the effluents of Hurricane Katrina’s natural and industrial disaster in 2005. The hull of the ex-Oriskany contains more than 350 kg of residual PCBs as well as asbestos and toxic paint. Regional dive clubs welcome this ecological disaster. In the long run, the fish attracted by this new trash heap will be subjected to a toxicological follow-up determining whether or not they are harmless in the event of consumption by divers.
