A vast pit of toxic waste buried in the Greenland ice sheet is threatening indigenous peoples' rights to a clean and safe environment, Greenlandic officials claim.

The decades-old waste is part of a long-simmering dispute between Denmark, Greenland and the United States over Cold War-era military bases established around the country (some of which are still operating). The waste buried at Camp Century is becoming more of a threat now that the Greenland ice sheet is melting due to global warming.

Greenland, which is home to about 56,500 people, is a semi-autonomous territory within Denmark.

Last week, officials with Greenland's government accused the Danish government of violating an agreement to protect indigenous peoples on the world's largest island, saying the Danes have failed to address the legacy of U.S. military pollution.

U.S. soldiers at Camp Century during its time in operation. Image: PICTORIAL PARADE/ARCHIVE PHOTOS/GETTY IMAGES



Officials cited a recent study that found global warming could eventually unearth millions of liters of sewage, chemicals and nuclear waste stored deep below the Greenland Ice Sheet at Camp Century.

"So far, nobody has been held responsible for their activities in Greenland," Vittus Qujaukitsoq, Greenland's foreign affairs minister, wrote in an Oct. 13 op-ed in the Danish newspaper Berlingske.

Denmark, which had full authority over Greenland until 1979, allowed the U.S. to build at least 30 military installations on Greenland during World War II and the Cold War. Camp Century was one of these facilities, and it was used to test the feasibility of basing nuclear missiles within the ice sheet to help deter the then-Soviet Union.

When the U.S. decommissioned Camp Century in 1967, both Denmark and the U.S. assumed the hazardous waste would remain permanently entombed in the ice.

Men place a truss to the permanent camp at Camp Century, Greenland. Image: PICTORIAL PARADE/ARCHIVE PHOTOS/GETTY IMAGES

However, in an Aug. 4 study, climate scientists warned that if nations keep emitting greenhouse gases at today's pace, Greenland's ice sheet would melt to the point where the waste at Camp Century would surface as early as 2090, and potentially spread into the ocean.

More monitoring needed

The Danish government said it takes the issue of potential climate effects in Greenland very seriously, including the possible problems with Camp Century.

However, Denmark's Minister for Foreign Affairs Kristian Jensen told Mashable that the potential effects of climate change "do not pose an urgent environmental problem" for Greenland and its residents.

"Rather, it is a long-term challenge that we have time to examine in cooperation with the relevant Danish authorities and in close dialogue with Greenland," Jensen said in an emailed statement.

Greenland's Minister Qujaukitsoq said in his op-ed that Denmark is directly responsible for cleaning up the Cold War-era waste at Camp Century, an underground dump that spans 136 acres.

The site includes abandoned infrastructure, radioactive coolant water from a portable nuclear reactor, and significant volumes of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, which can built up in plants and animals and potentially cause cancer in humans.

"The people of Greenland have the right to conservation and protection of the environment of our lands, territories and resources," the foreign affairs minister wrote in Berlingske.

Vittus Qujaukitsoq, Greenland's minister for industry, labour, trade and foreign affairs. Image: Greenland Department of Foreign Affairs

"This right may be put to the test unless the question about the responsibility for clearing up after the American military camps and bases is resolved very soon," he said, adding: "The polluter, or in this case those who have accepted and approved the pollution, must and will have to clean up the pollution."

Denmark's Jensen said his government "will look into the possibility of expanding existing climate monitoring to the area surrounding Camp Century." Denmark will also "examine the possibilities for a subsequent environmental examination of possible contamination. This will happen in close collaboration with Greenland," he said.

The Pentagon says it has not evaluated the study showing the danger of global warming unearthing Camp Century's waste, but that it plans to work with Denmark and Greenland to address the issue if needed.

"The United States continues to appreciate our friendship with the Kingdom of Denmark," the Defense Department said in a statement to Mashable. "We value our close cooperation in Greenland and will continue to work with Danish Authorities and Greenland Home Rule Authorities to address mutual security concerns."

The authors of the Aug. 4 study have similarly called for a watch-and-wait approach at Camp Century, rather than a swift clean-up.

Liam and Jeff Colgan told Mashable that while they respect Greenland's political decisions and push for urgent action, they agreed the pollution doesn't pose an immediate environmental risk to Greenland's residents.

"Likely the pollution will stay buried in the ice for several decades, at least," said Jeff Colgan, a co-author of the study and a political science professor at Brown University's Watson Institute.

"Right now, what's needed is monitoring and research to assess if and when clean-up actions are necessary," he said.

Liam Colgan, the study's lead author and Jeff's cousin, said there is a possibility the pollution will stay trapped in the Greenland Ice Sheet — so long as countries swiftly reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and limit global temperature rise.

"Perhaps this is one of the reasons we should get off the business-as-usual [emissions] scenario, and maybe if we do get off it, we can avoid [melting ice sheets]," Liam Colgan, a climate scientist at York University in Toronto, told Mashable.

But he acknowledged that the threat of Camp Century's leaking pollution shows how climate change could eventually undermine diplomatic agreements around the world, including Denmark's 1951 military treaty with the U.S.

"The climate has eroded some of the climate-related assumptions that were implicit in the treaty, like that you can dispose of things in the ice sheet, leaving them to get snowed on forever," Colgan said. "There's now a lot of ambiguity in that original treaty."