Investigative journalist Michael Collins alerted us to this news about newly disclosed TCE detects in Runkle Canyon near where KB Homes has plans to build:
KB Homes had hoped to build 461 residences in the 1,595-acre canyon, but those plans have been delayed since the summer of 2006 when Southwick and a cadre of residents who call themselves the “Radiation Rangers” (See: “Dirty Business,” Nov. 1, 2007) questioned the safety of the project.
[…]
The Reporter has obtained a December 2007 study of offsite pollution around SSFL prepared by an Arcadia-based environmental engineering firm MWH for Boeing, NASA and the Department of Energy which shows that TCE has been detected in approximately 10 percent of several dozen groundwater samples collected on Runkle Canyon property.
[…]
Around 1.73 million gallons of TCE were used at [Santa Susana Field Laboratory] as a solvent to hose down rocket engines, as the Reporter first revealed during its investigation of the Runkle Canyon-adjacent Ahmanson Ranch development. That project tanked over toxic troubles in 2003 before becoming state park land (See: “Air Apparent,” Feb.13, 2003). Approximately 530,000 gallons of the carcinogen, which is a volatile organic compound, have seeped into the area’s groundwater. With the current rate of remediating TCE being less than 10 gallons a year at SSFL, it will take more than 50,000 years to clean up.
Read more in Down the Test Tubes at the Ventura County Reporter (CA). For additional documents that Michael uncovered and ongoing developments in the Runkle Canyon story, see his investigative environmental news website at EnviroReporter.com.
In a recently launched blog, Robert J.O’Dowd is calling on the Marine Corps to warn all those stationed at MCAS El Toro that they may have been exposed to toxic levels of TCE and PCE while stationed at the base:
The Marine Corps takes great pride “in taking care of its own.” Marines who were attached to Marine Wing Support Group 37 at former MCAS El Toro are at risk for potential exposure to toxic chemicals as a result of the contamination of the soil and groundwater. These Marines may have been exposed to trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE), suffered serious health consequences, and have no idea of what hit them.
[...]
Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) El Toro was officially closed in 1999. Prior to its closure, El Toro was the subject of a massive environmental clean-up by the Navy. The first indication of chemical contamination came from a routine inspection off the base in1985 when civilian workers discovered trichloroethylene (TCE) in the groundwater. Before its closure, some 25 contaminated sites were found at El Toro. Site 24, the MWSG 37 was one of the most toxic sites and the source of the TCE toxic plume spreading several miles off the base. It took a number of years before the source of the toxic chemicals was known. Most Navy and Marines veterans not living in southern California who were stationed at El Toro have no knowledge of the toxic chemicals found on the base, its eventually closure in 1999, and sale at a public auction in 2005. Some of these veterans were exposed to these toxins and likely became seriously ill.
[...]
The Marine Corps can remedy this situation without incurring great costs by: (1) establish a link on the existing 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing website (http://www.3maw.usmc.mil/) to register and inform all MWSG-37 Marines stationed at El Toro of the potential exposure to contaminated soil and groundwater; (2) request the various Veteran Service Organizations to alert their memberships of the contamination associated with former MCAS El Toro; and (3) and use Public Service announcements to alert Marines who do not have access to the internet.
Be sure to check out more of the MCAS El Toro history at Robert’s blog.
For our previous coverage of contamination concerns at El Toro (some of which came from the mysteriously-no-longer-active Tox News website), see here.
A cancer-causing industrial solvent has been found coursing in huge levels through the water table under Naval Weapons Station Yorktown.
One test showed the trichloroethylene, or TCE, at 18,000 parts per billion, or ppb. A follow-up test put it at 3,900 ppb.
By a quirk of geology, the water table drains into Indian Field Creek, which flows directly into the York River.
Years after those tests, the TCE level is now 800 ppb. But the landfill thought to be creating the pollution has yet to be entirely cleaned up, despite the off-the-charts sample data.
TCE is just one of many serious pollution problems at the secretive Navy base. More than 30 polluted sites have been identified, and about half have been cleaned up.
In addition to calling the story infuriating, she says:
This is travesty. People who are willing to give their lives for their country deserve better. At the very least, they should be guaranteed a certain quality of life that includes safe drinking water.
As a result of Tuesday’s press and hearing, we’ve received a number of emails from affected Marines and their families, all asking the same question: How can I learn more?
As we’ve posted previously, at least two websites have emerged that are run by former Camp Lejeune marines and their families:
Also, the attorneys at Anderson Weber & Pangia have agreed to represent exposure victims and their families in a lawsuit against the responsible parties. Certainly, they know much more about the situation. (Note: Those of you who arrived here looking for information about the Camp Lejeune class action lawsuit should contact them.)
Of course, the ATSDR maintains a Camp Lejeune website with answers to Frequently Asked Questions and the Marines have their own website as well (note: As of this posting, it appears the Marines website is offline – maybe too much CL traffic?).
In addition, we’ve been covering developments in the CL story for the past two years now. You can read our entire history of Camp Lejeune posts here (click link, keep scrolling down).
Finally, in case these links don’t provide the necessary information, we are attempting to determine who is best positioned to field specific questions about CL and the water contamination there. We will either report back here, or email privately to those folks who have contacted us. To be alerted when we determine a better point of contact for Camp Lejeune information, please feel free to contact us directly.
June 14, 2007 Update: For folks looking to complete a Form 95 or looking for assistance with it, please see here.
This was published over a year ago. We thought it relevant again given recent news and activity:
We just received the following reader question by email:
I have read several recent newspaper articles that state DOD has identified 1,400 DOD sites that are contaminated with TCE. Do you happen to have a copy of or know where I can obtain the underlying documentation for that statement?
Yes. The documentation is available here (as we first reported in March 2005). If you follow the link, download the powerpoint presentation, and find slide # 10, here’s what you’ll see (click slide to enlarge):
Update: You may also recall, this is the same presentation in which the Air Force calculates DOD’s current cost of TCE clean-up at $5 billion. They speculate that this cost could increase by over $5 billion more if TCE is officially declared more dangerous than previously thought or regulated any further because of it. Air Force would bear $1.25 billion of this cost increase. Here’s what those slides looks like:
The former residents, who together seek nearly $4 billion, believe their families were afflicted by water containing industrial solvents before the Marines shut off the bad wells in the mid-1980s.
The government Tuesday disclosed results from a new study the same day lawmakers listened to emotional testimony from families about cancers and other illnesses they blame on tainted tap water at the sprawling base.
The Camp Lejeune hearing begins tomorrow. You can watch/listen via webcast here. It appears the witness list for the hearing has been revised. The updated witness list includes:
A friend of the blog gave us a state-by-state list of U.S. EPA Superfund sites where trichloroethylene (TCE) is a contaminant of concern. We have made the list available for public download.
Note: We attempted to post a summary table as we did with the RCRA sites, but it was not formatting correctly, so we temporarily removed it. Meantime, here’s a high level summary of the data (when we can fix the table glitch, we’ll re-post it):
76% of the Superfund sites have TCE contamination (432 of 566)
17% of Superfund sites with TCE contamination are DoD facilities (75 of 432), 20% are some sort of federal facility (89 of 432)
83% of federal facility superfund sites are contaminated with TCE (89 of 106), 84% of these are DOD sites (75 of 106)
Source: CERCLIS3/Superfund Reporting Center 06/13/2006
A friend of the blog gave us a list of U.S. EPA RCRA sites where trichloroethylene (TCE) is a major contaminant. We have made the list available for public download.
Summary Chart
Region
2008 Baseline
Facilities
2008 Baseline
facilities reported to have TCE
2008 Baseline
facilities reported to have TCE: DoD
2008 Baseline
facilities reported to have TCE: non-DoD federal facility
2008 Baseline
facilities reported to have TCE: total federal facilities
1
190
132
0
0
0
2
x:num>164
x:num>103
x:num>6
x:num>0
x:num>6
3
x:num>289
x:num>92
x:num>0
x:num>1
x:num>1
4
x:num>308
x:num>181
x:num>30
x:num>4
x:num>34
5
x:num>399
x:num>148
x:num>13
x:num>2
x:num>15
6
x:num>233
x:num>40
x:num>18
x:num>6
x:num>24
7
x:num>109
x:num>61
x:num>4
x:num>1
x:num>5
8
x:num>60
x:num>21
x:num>5
x:num>3
x:num>8
9
x:num>164
x:num>83
x:num>22
x:num>1
x:num>23
10
x:num>52
x:num>17
x:num>0
x:num>1
x:num>1
Total
x:fmla=”=SUM(B4:B13)”>1968
x:fmla=”=SUM(C4:C13)”>878
x:fmla=”=SUM(D4:D13)”>98
x:fmla=”=SUM(E4:E13)”>19
x:fmla=”=SUM(F4:F13)”>117
45%
of the 2008 Corrective Action Baseline has TCE contamination (878 of 1968)
84%
of the DoD facilities on the Corrective Action Baseline have TCE
contamination (98 of 116)
11%
of the 2008 Baseline facilities with TCE contamination are DoD facilities,
13% are some sort of federal facility
x:str=”This list was developed through a survey of the EPA Regional offices and is based “>This
list was developed through a survey of the EPA Regional offices and is
based
on
the Regions’ and states’ current knowledge of the 2008 RCRA GPRA baseline
high priority
Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Hearing on Contaminated Drinking Water at Camp Lejeune
The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold a hearing
on Tuesday, June 12, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in room 2322 Rayburn House
Office Building. The hearing is entitled Poisoned Patriots:
Contaminated Drinking Water at Camp Lejeune.
The purpose of this hearing is to examine issues arising from the
extensive, high-level contamination of drinking water at U.S. Marine
Corps Base Camp Lejeune. This is the first of a series of hearings the
Subcommittee plans to hold on environmental problems at Department of
Defense (DOD) facilities.
The hearing will include testimony from former Marine Corps residents
of Camp Lejeune who, along with their families, drank the contaminated
water, cooked their food in it, and bathed in it. The Subcommittee
will also receive testimony from the Government agencies involved in
dealing with the contamination, assessing the adverse health effects,
and investigating allegations of criminal violations of Federal law,
including the Marine Corps, the Department of the Navy, ATSDR, the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Government
Accountability Office (GAO).
The San Antonio Express-News (TX) reported earlier this week:
The other day I received a call from a 58-year-old San Antonio man who worked at Kelly AFB from 1983 to 1999. He said he recently had a cancerous kidney removed, and he wondered what I could tell him about Kelly workers’ exposure to carcinogens that cause kidney cancer.
…
A search of the Express-News archives turned up a dozen columns in which Kelly contaminants and potential kidney problems were discussed.
The first reference to Kelly contaminants and kidney cancer appeared in a March 22, 1998, column in which I reported that extraordinarily high levels of two volatile organic compounds — perchloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE) — had been found in groundwater near Kelly.
For decades, TCE and PCE were used as degreasers at the base.
…
Last fall, in a summary of Kelly findings, federal researchers noted:
1. During 1990-1994, liver, kidney and lung cancer incidence rates in neighborhoods around Kelly were higher than incidence rates found in demographically similar neighborhoods in Texas.
2. Those cancers “could have been the result of past exposures” to Kelly contaminants.
It seems reasonable to conclude that the same might be said about the cancers of longtime Kelly workers.
On May 11, 2007, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released a controversial 75-page report entitled: Defense Health Care: Activities Related to Past Drinking Water Contamination at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune (GAO-07-276). While we intend to dig further into the report and discuss it here in the future, here is the official GAO summary (emphasis added by us):
In the early 1980s, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were discovered in
some of the water systems serving housing areas on Marine Corps Base
Camp Lejeune. Exposure to certain VOCs may cause adverse health effects,
including cancer. In 1999, the Department of Health and Human Services’
(HHS) Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) began a
study to examine whether individuals who were exposed in utero to the
contaminated drinking water are more likely to have developed certain
childhood cancers or birth defects. ATSDR has projected a December 2007
completion date for the study. The National Defense Authorization Act of
Fiscal Year 2005 required GAO to report on past drinking water
contamination and related health effects at Camp Lejeune. In this report
GAO describes (1) efforts to identify and address the past
contamination, (2) activities resulting from concerns about possible
adverse health effects and government actions related to the past
contamination, and (3) the design of the current ATSDR study, including
the study’s population, time frame, selected health effects, and the
reasonableness of the projected completion date. GAO reviewed documents,
interviewed officials and former residents, and contracted with the
National Academy of Sciences to convene an expert panel to assess the
design of the current ATSDR study.
Efforts to identify and address the past drinking water contamination at
Camp Lejeune began in the 1980s, when Navy water testing at Camp Lejeune
detected VOCs in some base water systems. In 1982 and 1983, continued
testing identified two VOCs–trichloroethylene (TCE), a metal degreaser,
and tetrachloroethylene (PCE), a dry cleaning solvent–in two water
systems that served base housing areas, Hadnot Point and Tarawa Terrace.
In 1984 and 1985 a Navy environmental program identified VOCs, such as
TCE and PCE, in some of the individual wells serving the Hadnot Point
and Tarawa Terrace water systems. Ten wells were subsequently removed
from service. Department of Defense (DOD) and North Carolina officials
concluded that on- and off-base sources were likely to have caused the
contamination. It has not been determined when contamination at Hadnot
Point began. ATSDR has estimated that well contamination at Tarawa
Terrace from an off-base dry cleaner began as early as 1957. Activities
related to concerns about possible adverse health effects began in 1991,
when ATSDR initiated a public health assessment evaluating the possible
health risks from exposure to the contaminated drinking water. The
health assessment was followed by two health studies, one of which is
ongoing. While ATSDR did not always receive requested funding and
experienced delays in receiving information from DOD for its Camp
Lejeune-related work, ATSDR officials said this has not significantly
delayed their work. Former residents and employees have filed about 750
claims against the federal government. Additionally, three federal
inquiries into issues related to the contamination have been
conducted–one by a Marine Corps-chartered panel and two by the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Members of the expert panel that
the National Academy of Sciences convened generally agreed that many
parameters of ATSDR’s current study are appropriate, including the study
population, the exposure time frame, and the selected health effects.
ATSDR’s study is examining whether individuals who were exposed in utero
to the contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune between 1968 and 1985
were more likely to have specific birth defects or childhood cancers
than those not exposed. DOD, EPA, and HHS provided technical comments on
a draft of this report, which GAO incorporated where appropriate. Three
members of an ATSDR community assistance panel for Camp Lejeune provided
oral comments on issues such as other VOCs that have been detected at
Camp Lejeune, and compensation, health benefits, and additional
notification for former residents. GAO focused its review on TCE and PCE
because they were identified by ATSDR as the chemicals of primary
concern. GAO’s report notes that other VOCs were detected. GAO
incorporated the panel members’ comments where appropriate, but some
issues were beyond the scope of this report.
For the original summary, see here.
To download the full report in PDF format, click here.
Yesterday, we received this announcement (Acrobat reader required) about the first Congressional Investigation and Oversight hearings regarding Camp Lejeune next Tuesday, June 12, 2007:
(click the image to enlarge)
We are told the meeting will be open to the public (Photo ID may be required. Bring yours just in case). We are also told that there may be a
big story on the way from the Associated Press this weekend. We’ll try to keep you posted…
A Quebec Superior Court judge has allowed residents of Shannon to launch
a class-action lawsuit against the Department of National Defence and
SNC Tech over drinking water that was contaminated with
trichloroethylene, or TCE.
Residents are seeking several hundred million dollars in damages for
health problems they blame on the industrial solvent.
The residents charge that during the 1950s, Shannon’s underground water table was contaminated with TCE used at the adjacent Canadian Forces Base Valcartier. Health Canada says TCE is a potential carcinogen.
The folks near Rocketdyne apparently have way more to be concerned with than just TCE or perchlorate contamination. According to this front-page story from Friday’s Los Angeles Times:
Radioactive emissions from a 1959 nuclear accident at a research lab near Simi Valley appear to have been much greater than previously suspected and could have resulted in hundreds of cancers in surrounding communities, according to a study released Thursday.
Chemical contamination from rocket engine testing at the site continues to threaten soil and groundwater in the area around Rocketdyne’s Santa Susana Field Laboratory, the study also found.
The nuclear meltdown, which remained virtually unknown to the public until 1979, could have caused between 260 and 1,800 cases of cancer “over a period of many decades,” the study concluded.
But the advisory panel that oversaw the five-year study, conducted by an independent team of scientists and health experts, said it could not offer more specifics about potential exposure to carcinogens because the Department of Energy and Rocketdyne’s owner, Boeing Co., did not provide key information.
“This lack of candor … makes characterization of the potential health impacts of past accidents and releases extremely difficult,” the panel concluded.
AP Reports also add:
The lab’s former owner, Rocketdyne, has said for years that no significant radiation was released. But the independent advisory panel said the incident released nearly 459 times more radiation than a similar one at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island in 1979.
[...]
The Energy Department, Boeing [the site's current owner] and the state have been involved in efforts to decontaminate the site. The state has estimated that more than 1.73 million gallons of toxic trichloroethylene was dumped on the grounds and that 500,000 gallons have saturated the bedrock beneath the lab.
The panel concluded local soil and groundwater also may have been contaminated. The rocket fuel additive perchlorate has been found in a well, but Boeing has disputed assertions it came from the lab. Long-term exposure to high levels of perchlorate can cause thyroid problems.
