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Bombs in Baltimore Investigated
« on: May 6th, 2004, 5:43pm » |
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I thought this was intersting only because I drive withing a couple of miles of this place in my way to school
Bombs in Baltimore Investigated
Thursday, May 06, 2004
WBAL Radio and The Associated Press
The Baltimore Harbor Tunnel reopened early Thursday, nearly seven hours after it was closed as a precaution when old bombs were found at a construction site once used to tear apart decommissioned Navy ships.
The tunnel opened around 5:45 a.m., after Army disposal crews removed 10 of 11 bombs uncovered at the site. All but the remaining bomb, which contains a fuse, were taken to the Aberdeen Proving Ground in northeastern Maryland.
Bomb experts later determined that the final bomb was also safe to move.
Authorities planned to open an investigation into whether the bombs were linked to the nation's first criminal case involving environmental violations by the ship-scrapping industry, which involved a company that worked at the same site. "We'll start this investigation from scratch, recognizing what happened previously," said Maryland Transportation Authority Police Chief Gary McLhinney. The FBI was on the scene, McLhinney said.
An Army bomb disposal crew, used a special device to determine that the remaining bomb did not contain explosives and could be safely moved, a spokesman said. Authorities said they expected the last bomb to be transported to the Aberdeen Proving Ground later in the day.
The site was where the aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea was dismantled in the 1990s.
In May 1997, the owner of the company contracted by the Navy to break up the ship was sentenced to 2½ years in federal prison for removing asbestos in an unsafe manner and pouring oil into the Patapsco River. Kerry Ellis and his company, Seawitch Salvage Inc., were convicted of three counts of violating the Clean Air Act, two counts of violating the Clean Water Act, one count of filing a false statement to the Defense Department, and one count of violating the Rivers and Harbor Act.
Col. Tim Madere of the Aberdeen Proving Ground said the bombs may have come from the USS Coral Sea. "That's the supposition right now, that they were on the USS Coral Sea, the aircraft carrier that was taken apart here," he said at a morning news conference.
The bombs were found in a pile of dirt at an old salvage yard near the Fairfield Auto Terminal, where Mazdas and Toyotas are placed as they are unloaded from ships.
A construction worker discovered five Wednesday morning while doing some excavating as part of a state project to prepare the site for redevelopment. The bombs ranged in size from 500 to 4,000 pounds.
After Gov. Robert Ehrlich conferred with the Defense Department, he decided to close the tunnel at about 11 p.m. Wednesday as a precaution. Marine and air traffic were also temporarily restricted in the area. No evacuations were necessary because the site is in an industrial area.
Teams found six more devices overnight. Asked whether all ordnance had been uncovered, Madere said he could not be sure. "You're never positive," he said. "That is an uncertainty when you don't have all of the history of a site."
Contractor Potts & Callahan is clearing the former Kurt Iron & Metal site, which the Maryland Port Administration owns. The Coral Sea was one of three Midway-class carriers built in the 1940s. It played a leading role in some of the major military events of the last half of the 20th century, including the Suez Canal crisis and the Vietnam War.
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