Senate Hears Testimony on DoD Toxic Soup

A growing awareness of serious toxic waste on military bases is getting national attention.

It's hard to believe this was a pristine Marine Corps base until 1999. Developers in Orange County want to transform the heavily polluted grounds of El Toro into upper-scale housing subdivisions and a park for kids to play in. The deadly toxins vary, but the main culprit is TCE - trichloroethylene, a chemical degreaser once used to clean fighter jets here. Salem-News.com photo by Bonnie King

(WASHINGTON D.C.) - The Defense Department is the biggest owner of EPA Superfund sites. Over 130 military bases are on the National Priority List (EPA Superfund).

In his opening statement today, Senator Daniel Akaka, Chairman, Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, noted the requirement for the VA to provide health care and compensation to veterans who were harmed by exposures while in the military.

According to Senator Akaka, DOD “must first determine who was exposed, what they were exposed to, and the health consequences of such exposure, and then share that information with VA.”

For any military base on the EPA Superfund list, EPA has identified hazardous agents or Chemicals of Concern (COC). This information is available to anyone with access to the internet.

The issue of disclosure is more difficult when a veteran was exposed to a hazardous agent while in the military and the base is not an EPA Superfund.

Unless DOD discloses the information to the VA, veterans have no way of “connecting the dots to military service.”

On Thursday, the Committee heard testimony from veterans and survivors of U.S. service members who faced exposure to toxins during tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, Camp Lejeune, and Atsugi Naval Air Station in Japan.

Stacy Pennington, the sister of Iraq war veteran Steven Ochs who died in 2008 from cancer, said a military burn pit in Balad, Iraq, was a "ticking time bomb" for her brother.

Former Army Staff Sergeant and medic Russell Powell testified on the inhaled clouds of orange colored dust that blew throughout the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant when he arrived there in 2003.

Powell said,"We would have severe nose bleeds, coughing up blood, a hard time breathing, nausea, and a burning sensation in the lungs and throat."

The substance was identified as sodium dichromate, highly carcinogenic to humans.

A group of El Toro veterans and other interested parties submitted written comments to the Committee. None of the El Toro veterans were scheduled to give testimony. Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) El Toro, California, is one of 130 military bases on the EPA Superfund.

Any veteran or other interested party can submit information to the Committee on the topic of the hearing for a few more days. Comments should be emailed to: Matt_Lawrence@vetaff.senate.gov

A video on the Committee’s hearing can be viewed at: veterans.senate.gov/hearings.cfm?action=release.display&release_id=8e6c9acc-ae05-41de-a5f6-484ea25a52bc

The following written comments to the Committee stressed the critical need for disclosure of hazardous agents, medical monitoring and access to tests for veterans, and medical care and disability for those with current medical conditions:

October 8, 2009

Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs

Chairman Senator Daniel Akaka and Ranking Republican Senator Richard Burr

United States Congress

Washington D.C.

Subject: Hearing on the VA/DOD Response to Certain Military Exposures - Submission for the Record

Dear Sirs:

We thank you for holding hearings regarding military exposures to hazardous agents. We understand the hearings focus on a few locations your Committee has concerns about regarding potential health hazards. We are providing very brief comments for your consideration and the record. We request that you pursue actions to mitigate health problems arising from hazardous exposures at US military bases.

Marines and others who serve anticipate hazardous conditions will occur. While efforts should be made to minimize hazards, some activities are inherently dangerous and even lethal. We realize that knowledge of chemical hazards was neither as extensive nor widespread in past decades. But the degree of hazard is clearly indicated by the 130 current and former military bases that are federally-designated Superfund sites (Attachment 1). This designation requires extensive proof of hazardous chemical contamination. Carcinogenic, neurotoxic, and mutagenic chemicals were used during military duties (e.g., jet fuels and other fuels, degreasing solvents) without personal protective gear. Burn pits and other operations created additional toxic airborne chemicals, and often the soil, dust, and water on bases were contaminated. The burden of exposure and disease is only now being fully realized.

El Toro is one of many bases operated to serve US defense needs, manned by people who put their lives on the line to protect and defend our citizens. The prevalence of hazards on bases is illustrated by the example shown in Attachment 2. Many veterans have difficulty locating information on chemicals that they were exposed to, if they know that the information exits. Medical evaluations of their exposures and illnesses that may result in a Nexus statement are very expensive. Yet this is required to receive essential medical care and disability support. This process is indefensible given the substantial medical science available to the VA on chemical hazards.

While we welcome an opportunity to provide additional information, for the sake of brevity we request that your Committee carefully consider and prompt the VA to take the following actions essential to preserving the health of Veterans:

* Disclosure hazardous agents used on military bases, with information on potential health effects of the agents

* For those highly exposed to hazardous agents, provision of medical monitoring and access to tests for early diagnosis of diseases related to hazardous agents

* Medical care and disability for those with medical conditions related to their military service

Valuing the service provided by Veterans requires the VA and DOD's participation in basic public health outreach and services. This will provide the Veterans the best opportunity for good health, improve the economic viability of their families, and it is fundamentally the right and just thing to do. We are submitting these comments as Marines, family members of Marines, and health professionals working with Marines who served at the El Toro Marine Base in Irvine California.

Submitted via e-mail on October 8, 2009

Respectfully submitted by the following individuals,

Robert O'Dowd*
Marine Veteran
Former Financial Manager, Defense Logistics Agency

James Davis
Founder and President of Veterans for Change
Son of Marine

Mary Davis
Former Judge Advocate General (JAG) employee
Wife of Marine

Tim King
Marine Veteran
Journalist

Bonnie King
Wife of Marine Veteran
Journalist

Johnny P. Barron
Marine Veteran
Sr. Systems Programmer

John Paul Rossi
Navy Veteran
Executive Director Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Association

Patrick McDade
Marine Veteran
Electronics technician

William Mimiaga
Marine Veteran
Special Education Teacher

Christine Mimiaga
Air Force Veteran
Educator/Writer

John Uldrich
Marine Veteran
Entrepreneur

Dr. Kathleen Burns
Director, Sciencecorps
Dr. Philip Leveque
Forensic Toxicologist/Pharmacologist

Dr. Michael Harbut
Chief, Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine Chair, Science Committee, Michigan Agent Orange Commission, 1987 - 1988"

Dr. Daniel Teitelbaum
Adjunct Professor
Colorado School of Public Health & University of Colorado at Denver

Attachment 1. US Military Bases Federally Designated as Hazardous Waste Sites**

Attachment 1. US Military Bases Federally Designated as Hazardous Waste Sites**

Bob O’Dowd is a former U.S. Marine with thirty years of experience on the east coast as an auditor, accountant, and financial manager with the Federal government. Half of that time was spent with the Defense Logistics Agency in Philadelphia. Originally from Pennsylvania, he enlisted in the Marine Corps at age 19, served in the 1st, 3rd, and 4th Marine Aircraft Wings in 52 months of active duty in the 1960s. A graduate of Temple University, Bob has been married to Grace for 31 years. He is the father of two adult children and the grandfather of two boys. Bob has a blog site on former MCAS El Toro at mwsg37.com. This subject is where Bob intersected with Salem-News.com. Bob served in the exact same Marine Aviation Squadron that Salem-News founder Tim King served in, twenty years earlier. With their combined on-site knowledge and research ability, Bob and Tim and a handful of other ex-Marines, have put the contamination of MCAS El Toro on the map. The base is highly contaminated with TCE, trichloroethelyne