The US military has a nasty habit of up and leaving outdated and no longer needed equipment from abandoned bases, Cold War and DEW sites, as well as chemicals and toxins, all over this great and fragile land. And, I know of no land more heavily abused by this obnoxious military habit than the beaches and waterways of Alaska; be it the Far Aleutians, Delta Junction, Seward Peninsula, or remote Saint Lawrence Island. The best introduction to these deadly deeds, that I can offer, is from an Orion magazine article about Annie Alowa. http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/124/

Annie is also the subject of the Alaska Community Action film: "I Will Fight Until I Melt." A Yu'pik Health Nurse, from the village of Savoonga on Saint Lawrence Island, Annie worked to raise awareness and action about the environmental and health effects of a military toxic site on the island's Northeast Cape. In Annie's own words: http://www.akaction.net/pages/movie2.html

Annie Alowa died of breast cancer, and the cancer that Annie died of, as well as the cancers of many others on Saint Lawrence, was due to careless military poisoning of Northeast Cape. Annie's message is important to those accountable for these military sites, as well as for all of us who are involved in environmental and social justice issues. And while I do focus upon Alaska and the military here, because that is what I have seen and therefore know, all 50 of our states suffer varying degrees of similar abuse and issues; not just from the military, but from Big Industry as well.