Japan tsunami debris could reach B.C. in days

VICTORIA — The largest items swept out to sea following the Japanese tsunami in March could arrive on the B.C. coastline within days, oceanographer Curt Ebbesmeyer predicted on Wednesday.

The main part of the 20-million-tonne debris field, equivalent in size to the state of California, isn’t expected until about 2014, but houses, fishboats and even small freighters could already be close to Canadian shores, Mr. Ebbesmeyer said.

“We just finished running a simulation with a drifter, a buoy that got lost in the area of the tsunami, and we find that the first of the debris would be here now,” Mr. Ebbesmeyer said.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/11/10/japan-tsunami-debris-could-reach...

U.S. must have plan to deal with huge debris field from Japan

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell is absolutely right when she says the federal government must not wait until an estimated 20 million tons of floating tsunami debris from Japan begins arriving on U.S. shorelines.

Officials say the 2,000-mile-long, 1,000-mile-wide debris field from the March 11 tsunami in Japan is expected to reach beaches in Hawaii next winter and hit the Washington coast starting in late 2013.

While there is little threat that the debris – which includes everything from televisions and refrigerators to boats and tons of wood and plastic – will be radioactive, the garbage poses a huge environmental threat.

Normal currents should carry the debris from Hawaii to the coastline of Oregon, Washington, Canada and Alaska. There’s even a chance some of the floating waste will return to Japan in six years.

Putting a plan in place to minimize the environmental damage makes good sense.

http://www.theolympian.com/2011/11/10/1870801/us-must-have-plan-to-deal-...