December 29, 2025
Sea monsters, memes, and missed barrels
50,000 drums of radioactive wastes were dumped near the Farallones, 1946 to 1970
SF’s underwater dump sparks outrage, Godzilla jokes, and a hunt for missing barrels
TLDR: USGS says about 50,000 radioactive waste barrels were dumped off San Francisco, and only 15% of the area has been mapped. Commenters mix outrage with dark humor, citing LA’s DDT dump, a sunken atomic-era carrier, and Godzilla jokes, asking how we can be safe if we don’t know where the barrels are.
The internet resurfaced a jaw-dropping fact: between 1946–1970, nearly 50,000 drums of hazardous and radioactive waste were dumped off San Francisco’s Farallon Islands. USGS says they’ve only mapped about 15% and are using enhanced sonar to find those barrel clusters. But the comments stole the show. WarOnPrivacy set the stakes: the area sits on busy shipping lanes to SF, Oakland, and Richmond—so this isn’t some remote corner. Riffic dropped the hottest take, linking LA’s own DDT dump and torching the old mindset: “the solution for pollution is dilution.” Cue collective facepalm. History buffs chimed in with USS Independence, a World War II aircraft carrier sunk in the zone after atomic tests, turning the thread into a mini nuclear noir. Meanwhile, Godzilla memes erupted: “great backstory for a Godzilla movie,” joked jmward01, because if you can’t fix it, at least meme it. Moderator dang entered with etiquette reminders, sparking light meta-drama about who gets to frame the story. Acronym decoder: USGS = U.S. Geological Survey; EPA = Environmental Protection Agency; NOAA = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The vibe? Shock, sarcasm, and a grim laugh while asking the scary question: if we don’t know where the barrels are, how do we know we’re safe? USGS maps and informs; regulators decide—an accountability relay some readers side-eye.
Key Points
- •USGS supports studies to locate radioactive and hazardous waste drums and select offshore dredge disposal sites near the Farallones NMS.
- •Nearly 50,000 drums of hazardous and radioactive waste were dumped between 1946–1970 over a 350-square-nautical-mile area overlapping the sanctuary.
- •Since 1990, USGS and federal partners reduced candidate dredge disposal sites from six to three in an ~1,000-square-mile area west of San Francisco.
- •USGS developed digitally enhanced sonar backscatter methods to distinguish waste containers from geologic features; mapping with NOAA covers ~15% of the area.
- •USGS interprets geological and geophysical data but does not decide site suitability; regulators use these interpretations with other criteria.