A state of emergency has been declared in California this morning after a toxic chemical leak from a defunct industrial plant threatened to contaminate the water supply for millions. Sources confirm that the Royal Navy has placed its Atlantic patrol fleet on standby, awaiting a formal request for assistance from the US Coast Guard. The leak, originating from a long-abandoned pesticide factory in the Mojave Desert, has seeped into the groundwater table, producing a plume of benzene and arsenic compounds moving steadily toward residential areas.
Documents obtained by this journalist reveal that the plant's owners, a shell corporation registered in the Cayman Islands, had been warned of structural failures as early as 2019 but failed to act. The US Environmental Protection Agency, underfunded and understaffed, was unable to secure the site. Now, with the toxic plume advancing at roughly three metres per hour, local authorities have triggered the Emergency Response Plan, activating the National Guard and requesting technical support from the UK's specialist CBRN units.
The Royal Navy's flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth, currently on exercise in the Atlantic, has been ordered to reduce speed and prepare for a potential diversion to the West Coast. A senior naval source told me: 'We are monitoring the situation closely. If the Americans ask, we will be there within 48 hours.
' The Japanese government has also offered decontamination equipment via the G7 emergency protocol. Meanwhile, in Sacramento, the governor's office is locked in a dispute with federal officials over who foots the bill. The estimated cleanup cost has already exceeded £2 billion.
This is a crisis manufactured by corporate greed and regulatory capture. And the people of California are paying for it. Watch this space.
Marcus Stone, for the Investigative Journal.
