page_title: Johnston Atoll
section_title: Agent Orange storage 1972–1977
hierarchical_section_title: Johnston Atoll / History / Agent Orange storage 1972–1977
caption_attribution_description: English: Leaking Agent Orange Barrels at Johnston Atoll circa 1973
context_page_description: Johnston Atoll, also known as Kalama Atoll to Native Hawaiians, is an unincorporated territory of the United States, currently administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Johnston Atoll is a National Wildlife Refuge and is closed to public entry. Limited access for management needs is only by Letter of Authorization from the U.S. Air Force and a Special Use Permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
  For nearly 70 years, the atoll was under the control of the U.S. military. During that time, it was variously used as a naval refueling depot, an airbase, a testing site for nuclear and biological weapons, a secret missile base, and a site for the storage and disposal of chemical weapons and Agent Orange. Those activities left the area environmentally contaminated, and remediation and monitoring continue.
  Johnston Atoll is one of the world's most isolated atolls. It was formerly the most-visited of the U.S. Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monuments because the airline Continental Micronesia used to make stopovers at Johnston Atoll Airport.
  In 1858, the island was annexed under the name Kalama by King Kamehameha IV of Hawaiʻi.
context_section_description: Agent Orange was brought to Johnston Atoll from South Vietnam and Gulfport, Mississippi in 1972 under Operation Pacer IVY and stored on the northwest corner of the island known as the Herbicide Orange Storage site but dubbed the "Agent Orange Yard". The Agent Orange was eventually destroyed during Operation Pacer HO on the Dutch incineration ship MT Vulcanus in the Summer of 1977. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported that 1,800,000 gallons of Herbicide Orange were stored at Johnston Atoll and that an additional 480,000 gallons stored at Gulfport, Mississippi was brought to Johnston Atoll for destruction. Leaking barrels during the storage and spills during re-drumming operations contaminated both the storage area and the lagoon with herbicide residue and its toxic contaminant 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzodioxin.
caption: Leaking Agent Orange Barrels in storage at Johnston Atoll, circa 1973
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