Navy favors Favorable summer weather and sea conditions in the area where the Japanese fishing training ship Ehime Maru sits in 2,003 feet of water nine miles south of Diamond Head point to a possibility of holding salvage operations later this year.
summer salvage
of Ehime Maru
But the environmental
By Gregg K. Kakesako
assessment will take months
Star-BulletinBut it will still be another several months before an environmental assessment is completed by the Navy, assisted by the Army Space and Missile Defense Command.
The Navy said the Army command has extensive experience with environmental issues in Hawaii, including preparing environmental assessments for the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai and the RIMPAC exercises that are held in Hawaiian waters every two years.
At issue is whether raising the 500-ton Ehime Maru would be a danger to the environment since the ship was loaded with another 90,000 gallons of diesel fuel and 3,500 gallons of lube oil.
The Ehime Maru had left Honolulu Harbor at noon Feb. 9 and was struck and sunk by the nuclear submarine USS Greeneville 90 minutes later.
The Navy has said that its overriding concern is whether bringing the Japanese vessel to a shallower depth of about 90 feet near the Honolulu Airport could cause these substances to spill into the ocean, damaging the surrounding coral reefs and marine life when the ship is lifted from the seabed.
Besides the Army, the Navy has been working with the Department of Land and Natural Resources and Department of Health, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Coast Guard and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
During meetings this week, Navy representatives said the months of June through August appear to be best time of year for such a massive salvage operation because of meteorological conditions.
The 190-foot Ehime Maru, from Uwajima Fisheries High School in Ehime prefecture in western Japan, sank after being hit by the 6,080-ton nuclear-powered sub Greeneville. Nine Japanese men and boys were lost at sea.
The families of the nine lost Japanese believe the bodies of their relatives may be still entombed in the Ehime Maru.
A decision by a panel of three U.S. admirals, who took testimony from 33 witnesses over a 212-week period, is expected by the middle of this month.
But it may not until the middle of May before Adm. Thomas Fargo, Pacific Fleet commander, decides the fate of three Greeneville officers and other crewmen.
So far, only Cmdr. Scott Waddle, Greeneville skipper; Lt. Cmdr. Gerald Pfeifer, the sub's executive officer; and Lt. j.g. Michael Coen, office of the deck that day, are named parties to the Navy's investigation.
Also at stake is the Navy's distinguished-visitor program, which played host to 16 civilians on Feb. 9.
The Navy has been criticized because the Greeneville's sole mission that day was to entertain the civilians, a violation of military policy.
