Military Toxics Project
Networking for Environmental Justice
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Military Toxics Project |
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Touching Bases Organizing for a Healthy Future
In gathering stories and information for this edition of Touching Bases, I am once again impressed by the strength of our members in their fight for environmental and social justice. This administration has tested grassroots groups’ commitment, determination and fortitude like no other administration in recent history. Attempts by the Pentagon to roll-back hard-won laws on environmental and human health protection, public participation, and disclosure of information has not weakened the resolve of our members but has made them stronger. In the face of the most powerful military in the world, the efforts of local groups - their stories and struggles to Defend Our Health - are compelling and inspiring. We have attempted to capture some of those stories and update you on MTP activities in this edition of Touching Bases. Please consider making a donation to support MTP’s work. There’s a special insert with this issue, and you can always visit our web site at www.miltoxproj.org and look for the Donate Now button. MTP and Members at the US Capitol National Issues – Representatives from several local groups in NY, the Nuclear Policy Research Institute and the Military Toxics Project visited with staff from Sen. Hillary Clinton’s office in April to discuss the dangers of depleted uranium (DU). Senator Clinton got involved after the NY Daily News reported that members of a NY National Guard unit recently returned from Iraq tested positive for DU in their urine. The Senator learned that the US military never conducted pre- and post-deployment health screening of US troops as required by law. These tests are a necessary step to determine health baselines for military personnel who return from war with various illnesses and maladies like we saw with Gulf War Syndrome. Senator Clinton is currently working with her fellow NY colleague, Senator Schumer, to close loopholes for these screening requirements. MTP also met with staff of Rep. Jim McDermott's office to discuss the Depleted Uranium Munitions Study Act that he introduced in 2003. There were also visits with Senator Susan Collin's (R-ME) and Congressman Tom Allen’s (D-ME) offices to thank them for their efforts to stop the Pentagon’s attempt to exempt the military from environmental and human health laws. Local Struggles – MTP staff member Steve Taylor accompanied Albert Huang of the San Diego-based Environmental Health Coalition (EHC) to meetings with staff of California Senators Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein, and San Diego representative Susan Davis. EHC is working to get the US military to comply with Clean Water Act regulations. I went with MTP member Mable Mallard on Congressional visits to her representatives: Senator Arlen Specter and Rep. Chaka Fattah. Ms. Mallard’s group, the Right to Know Committee, has been documenting the health problems of former workers at the Defense Personnel Supply Center in South Philadelphia. The Right to Know committee wants Congressional field hearings to enable sick workers to testify about their abhorrent working conditions and the illness many now face, and demand justice from their former employer, the US military. Guadalupe and Robert Alvarado – from the San Antonio Committee for Environmental Justice Action/Southwest Workers Union – visited the offices of Congressmen Ciro Rodriguez and Charles Gonzalez to discuss health problems plaguing neighbors and workers of former Kelly Air Force Base. MTP also participated in two days of visits to members of Congress and other officials in conjunction with the Vieques solidarity conference held in DC in May (see below). Collaborations MTP member organizations the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques and the Fellowship of Reconciliation Program on Latin America and the Caribbean sponsored a conference to refocus the US-based movement in solidarity with the people of Vieques. MTP helped to plan the conference and fund participation by local leaders and MTP staff. See page 6. MTP is a founding member of the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons (ICBUW). The coalition’s second in-person meeting took place in Brussels on May 14-16, 2004. MTP Board member Marquita Bradshaw of Youth Terminating Pollution in Memphis, TN, Gretel Munroe of Grassroots Actions for Peace in Concord, MA, and I all participated in the event. See page 11 for a full report on the coalition. MTP is also an active member in the BE SAFE Coalition. BE SAFE is a nationwide initiative to build support for the precautionary approach to prevent pollution and environmental destruction before it happens. There are over 200 organizations involved in this initiative to build a unified demand for preventative, protective policies in America. The precautionary platform will be presented to the White House in 2005. Groups have been working with local and state governments to pass precautionary based laws and policies. Activities in 2004 will include issue-based days of action. MTP and our members are helping to plan the Nuclear Weapons "Clean Up, Don't Build Up" Days of Actions from July 12 (Trinity Anniversary) through August 9 (Nagasaki Day). Visit http://www.besafenet.com for more. MTP was one of forty organizations that met to begin planning a U.S. Social Forum. Grassroots Global Justice Network convened the first planning meeting for the forum, which will occur in 2005. Many more organizations need to be brought into the planning process. Visit www.ussocialforum.org to get involved. See page 14 for more. The Student Environmental Action Coalition and the Military Toxics project are working in collaboration to unite students, youth and MTP member groups. SEAC and MTP will develop an interactive website that will allow MTP to share their stories and connect with youth and students that want to support them. Community Empowerment In 2004, MTP staff visited member groups in Springfield, NJ; Philadelphia, PA; San Antonio, TX; Tacoma Park, Maryland; and Vieques, PR to provide direct support. Our staff participated in local group and site-specific meetings, and conducted workshops on military pollution, strategic planning and organizational development. Scholarship assistance has been provided this year to MTP leaders to participate in international, national and local meetings. MTP sent members to the ICBUW meeting in Brussels, the National Environmental Justice Advisory Committee meeting in New Orleans, a community visioning summit in Vieques, and the Vieques solidarity conference in Washington DC. MTP Committees The MTP Board would like to include members in Board Committees such as the Fundraising Committee and the Strategic Planning Committee. The Board would like to encourage members to be more involved and integrated in the work of the organization. After all, as a network, MTP is only as strong as our members! MTP also has several standing Advisory Committees: Woman, People of Color, Youth and Indigenous Peoples. If you are interested in getting involved in any of these committees, please contact the office at 207-783-5091. I hope you enjoy this edition of Touching Bases. Have a Glorious Spring! Step by Step, Towards a Better Vieques Communities threatened by military contamination and pollution often spend a great deal of time opposing DOD or state agendas for cleanup and use of a site. Because legal, economic, and political power usually resides in the hands of regulators, public officials, and military personnel, communities may feel that they are forever responding to someone else’s proposals instead of organizing to enact their own vision. Some organizations have recently undertaken campaigns to build concrete and broad-based community visions as positive alternatives to outside agendas. One such process started a few months ago in Vieques, Puerto Rico. The Military Toxics Project recently helped our member group the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques (CRDV) organize a community visioning meeting in February. The visioning summit was based on a model developed in San Antonio, Texas by the Southwest Workers Union (SWU) and its community local the Committee for Environmental Justice Action (CEJA). These two groups have actively worked for justice for neighbors of Kelly Air Force base, which closed in 2001. The area surrounding Kelly is a working income community and the affected population is predominately Latino. There are problems of toxic contaminants both on and off-site, including groundwater and drinking water pollution. The community suffers from severe health problems and many former Kelly workers are ill; over 80 cases of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) have been identified. As in Vieques, the San Antonio community faced multiple problems – cleanup, sustainable redevelopment, and health issues – and had spent many years opposing unfair DOD proposals. The timing of the Vieques roundtable was critical in the development of the CRDV’s campaign. The struggle to get the Navy out of Vieques – while victorious – was a long and difficult campaign. Once the Navy formally ended operations on Vieques on May 1, 2003, residents were tired and community leaders and organizers were faced with new challenges. Viequenses were asked to switch gears from what many felt was a straightforward, romantic campaign to a more complicated and technical effort. For example: what cleanup technologies will work best to remove specific contaminants, and what it will cost to implement each technology. It can be far more difficult to mobilize people to participate in an abstruse, technical, administrative cleanup process than to engage in a direct action campaign to stop an immediate and constant threat. CRDV identified a community visioning summit as one way to empower and uplift the community by embracing the diversity of interests and opinions on the island to create a unifying vision. Military Toxics Project leaders from various sites around the country came to the visioning summit to share their experiences and provide background information. They met with Viequenses to share and learn, observed the visioning summit process, and served as potential resources and allies for the community. MTP members have experience with cleanup technologies and redevelopment issues, and many have been involved in cleanup and redevelopment processes for over a decade. The visioning summit produced a people’s plan for Vieques. The group developed goals and strategies along with timelines for three components of the campaign: cleanup, health and sustainable development. Viequenses are now in a position to promote their own agenda instead of reacting to Navy, EPA and government proposals for cleanup and development. Since the visioning summit, the CRDV and the other groups on Vieques have convened additional meetings to refine their vision for a better Vieques. In May, MTP co-sponsored a conference coordinated by the Fellowship of Reconciliation, "Vieques: Transforming Dreams into Reality: The Struggle Continues" in Washington, DC. Having a clear, unified vision for Vieques produced by Viequenses made it easier to know how US based support groups can help the cause. MTP Board Meets in Vieques, Takes Actions to Support Community MTP’s Grassroots Board of Directors holds its annual in-person meeting in a community affected by military pollution in order to support local struggles. In February, the Board met in Vieques so that members could participate in the community visioning summit (see page 4) and other support activities. The Board learned about the impacts of Navy activities on Vieques through a tour and discussion with local leaders. During its meeting, the Board created a strategic planning committee and reviewed the overall health and direction of the organization. If your local organization has not formally joined MTP, and would like to be able to participate in Board nominations and elections, visit www.miltoxproj.org/membershipform.htm to join. After five days of travel and work on Vieques, several Board members returned to San Juan to continue activities in support of Vieques. They participated in a forum at the University of Puerto Rico Environmental Law Clinic and a press conference at the Puerto Rico Bar Association organized by Wanda Colon of the Caribbean Project for Peace and Justice. Coverage of the press event – which explained the extent of military contamination around the U.S. and reaffirmed the solidarity of other affected communities with Vieques – was excellent. Vieques: The Struggle Continues A hundred activists gathered in Washington May 15-18 to discuss the future of the Vieques movement that succeeded in kicking the US Navy out of the Puerto Rican island, but still faces a crisis of health and environmental contamination produced by more than 60 years of naval bombing and maneuvers. Vieques experiences high rates of cancer and other diseases, and while the Navy ceased bombing last year, most of the island’s land is still controlled by the federal government, much of it remaining off-limits to viequenses themselves. "Vieques: Transforming Dreams into Reality: The Struggle Continues" was organized in Washington by a dozen organizations, convened by the Vieques Women’s Alliance and Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques, and coordinated by the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Nine Vieques activists, as well as representatives of more than 20 organizations and churches from Puerto Rico, New York, Washington, Hawai’i, Chicago, Massachusetts, California, Texas, and other states, re-committed to solidarity with Vieques. Strategies developed during the conference focus on ensuring the United States cleans up heavy metals, munitions, and other military toxics; obtaining treatment and compensation for Vieques residents who suffer from health problems caused by Navy actions; returning lands to Vieques; and creating means for sustainable development. In the same spirit of the vibrant movement of Puerto Ricans and their allies that blossomed after Vieques civilian guard David Sanes was killed by an off-target bomb in April 1999, conference participants heard spoken word and song from younger and older activists, and participated actively across the lines of culture, ideology, age, religion, and geography. Many participants stayed to lobby Congress and national organizations to support Superfund designation of Vieques and Culebra (also used as a bombing range) and to demand community participation in plans for how to use the lands still controlled by the Fish & Wildlife Service. Two days after the conference, the movement again showed its resilience in a protest in front of the Puerto Rican legislature in San Juan demanding that the commonwealth’s Health Department fulfill its promises for services, equipment, and testing children for the presence of heavy metals. A coordinating group of Puerto Rican and US organizations will continue the work charted during the conference. To participate in this continuing movement, contact the FOR Washington Office on Vieques, (202) 488-5613, email: sdueno@umc-gbcs.org. Or contact Vieques groups directly: Women’s Alliance, (787) 741-2334, Comité Pro Rescate, (787) 741-0716. Organizing Nationally to Win Justice Locally Decisions about environmental investigation, cleanup, and funding at military sites are increasingly being made in Washington. Officials at the armed services and the Pentagon are centralizing their control over decisions about expensive and potentially precedent-setting cleanup remedies. Local DOD officials, especially environmental staff, have less control than ever. Many communities are extending their organizing efforts to the national level to ensure that victories won locally are not overturned by higher-level politics or funding issues. Perhaps the most important national decision affecting communities is the setting of DOD environmental budgets. The President requests certain amounts from Congress based on recommendations made by the armed services and filtered by the Pentagon. The House and Senate then appropriate funds which may be different from the President’s request. Most DOD environmental budgets are hopelessly inadequate, and force communities to essentially compete with each other for funding. For example, at the current level of funding for cleanup of unexploded ordnance (UXO) and toxic munitions constituents at closed firing ranges, it will take 118 years to complete existing cleanup projects (not including contamination that will be discovered in the future). High-profile and politically powerful sites – such as the very wealthy Spring Valley area of Washington, DC – often suck funding away from sites without as much clout (usually poor neighborhoods, communities of color, and Indigenous lands). The Pentagon has centralized decisions about testing for perchlorate, a component of rocket fuel and military munitions that has contaminated public drinking water supplies across the country. Apparently afraid that more perchlorate contamination will be discovered, or that a decision to remove the toxic substance at one site would encourage other communities to demand similar treatment, Pentagon officials have at various times directed local officials to avoid any testing for or cleanup of perchlorate. DOD has also used its political power to attempt to delay the setting of federal standards and cleanup requirements for perchlorate. MTP’s mission includes a mandate to support local organizing efforts and help affected communities work together to influence national laws, policies, and practices. MTP has coordinated a variety of campaigns to affect national decisions during its fifteen years of existence. All such efforts are established, planned, and led by community leaders speaking and acting for themselves. In the past few months, MTP has supported several community efforts to impact decisions at the national level. MTP provided financial and staff support to help Mable Mallard of the Right to Know Committee (Philadelphia), Al Huang of the Environmental Health Coalition (San Diego), and Robert and Guadalupe Alvarado of the Committee for Environmental Justice Action/Southwest Workers’ Union (San Antonio) visit their Congressional representatives in DC. As noted on pages 12-13, MTP also supported community efforts to impact the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council meeting in New Orleans. MTP also continues to coordinate community efforts to affect national laws and policies. In 2001, we helped draft and support the Military Environmental Responsibility Act, which would hold the Department of Defense to the same public health and environmental standards as the rest of us. For the past three years, MTP and a wide variety of allies have successfully opposed Pentagon demands for sweeping new exemptions from federal hazardous waste, toxic cleanup, and clean air laws (see page 10). And we’re continuing to educate communities and legislators about bills to require study, testing, and cleanup of depleted uranium munitions. Unfortunately, not every Representative or Senator will be supportive of community demands. Some communities have undertaken grassroots lobbying campaigns to educate and pressure their legislators, while others have supported new candidates to replace unresponsive officials. It’s rarely a quick or easy process to win support from members of Congress or agency officials. A solid plan, credible information, local organization, and time are usually necessary to move representatives to actively support local causes. MTP and many other organizations have helpful materials for local leaders about how to work with elected or appointed public officials. Readers of Touching Bases will remember previous articles about “Project Regeneration,“ a community-based strategy for the future of the Greater Kelly Air Force Base area. Project Regeneration is a new strategy launched by Southwest Workers’ Union and the Committee for Environmental Justice Action after the official closing of Kelly Air Force Base in July 2001. Seventy years of activities at KAFB poisoned the shallow groundwater under 30,000 residential homes and left the people and workers burdened with multiple illnesses. The project is a collaborative problem-solving approach to empower residents to achieve justice in three areas of concern identified by the community: (1) environmental cleanup; (2) environmental health; and (3) community economic revitalization. Current Reality Despite the façade and public image that the Air Force portrays, the community remains contaminated and sick. Meanwhile the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and the TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality), who are in charge of the oversight of the cleanup, continue to fail in protecting people of color and poor communities from environmental toxins and pollutants. To date there is: (1) NO cleanup for the community; no cleanup of the shallow groundwater, soil or Leon Creek, where fish contain cancer-causing toxins; (2) NO recognition of the responsibility for the health problems the residents and workers face NOR any type of comprehensive health care; (3) Billions of tax-payer dollars going into KellyUSA and corporate welfare while there is NO revitalization for the community. Community Five-Year Vision In July 2003, CEJA leaders created a consensus five-year vision as the basis of a Plan del Pueblo (People’s Plan). The eleven points of the vision are: The Community is Empowered; Environmental, Health & Economic Decisions Made by the Local Community in Partnership with CEJA; Individual Scientists in Partnership with Community; Total Cleanup of Kelly Community; Industrial Contamination Prevention; Community Emergency Plan Enforced; More Accessible Community Health Services; Our Community Beautified & Improved; Quality Economic Development; Neighborhood Family Recreation Facilities; Compensation for Kelly Community. ‘Plan del Pueblo’ As a means to expand community empowerment, SWU-CEJA is formulating a ‘Plan del Pueblo,’ which will be a comprehensive document that includes the vision of the community with the technical expertise of independent scientists to lay out a five year plan around the three strategic areas: environmental cleanup, environmental health and community revitalization. The partnership between independent scientists, experts and the community is called the Work Teams. The Work Teams, one for each of the strategic areas, met here last September and March of this year to begin developing the community plan. The teams will develop both alternative and additional plans to what already exists to ensure healthy, empowered communities. In addition, the community is educating and launching outreach and mobilization in the three neighborhoods of North Kelly Gardens, East Kelly and South Kelly. As part of the community strategy, leaders from CEJA are going door-to-door in their neighborhood to ask their neighbors about the health of the members of their households, focusing on cancer, tumors and other serious illnesses. Purple crosses are being placed in front of households that have a survivor or someone who has passed away from cancer. Unfortunately, crosses are starting to line the streets of the Kelly community, which provides a stark visual reality as to the health problems these residents face. Multi-stakeholder Roundtable Model Secondly, SWU-CEJA is engaging with other relevant state, local and federal agencies to bring everyone to the table with the community in order to push to adopt and implement the ‘Plan del Pueblo.’ This multi-stakeholder process is based on the reality that there are many agencies involved, the communication is poor and it is impossible for the community to be in every one of their spaces. As a nationally-designated EPA Interagency Working Group site, SWU-CEJA is working to develop a successful model that brings community voices into the decision-making process and can be used in other communities. Vieques, a small island of the mainland of Puerto Rico that has been used as a U.S. Navy bombing site for decades, invited SWU to share the Project Regeneration model with the community that has just ousted the military from their home. SWU helped to lead a community vision summit last February. The intention is to develop the ‘Kelly Consensus,’ an agreement between all the agencies and the community around environmental cleanup, health and community revitalization, where the community sits as equals to decide its own future. Model of Empowerment Project Regeneration is an organic learning process for both SWU and the community. The available models around federal facilities – which benefit from extensive exemptions and influence – are very limited. Ultimately, Project Regeneration is a model to empower affected communities to be able to sit as equals at the decision-making table, a space from which the community here and communities globally are continually excluded. It is about facilitating a mechanism for community self-determination, not merely accepting a token advisory position or acting as a rubber stamp for agency bureaucracy. Emissions from Burning Toxic Buildings Higher than Expected Recent testing by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) found that air emissions from open burning explosives-contaminated buildings at Indiana Army Ammunition Plant exceeded federal air-quality standards for lead. IDEM is expected to take steps to reduce future emissions including requiring the Army to do a more thorough clean-up of the buildings before setting fire to any additional structures. So far, the Army has burned 64 buildings since February 2004. In response to community concerns about public health, air testing was conducted once, during the final burn on March 11. The tests found that unsafe levels of lead were present in the air. While levels of lead – a toxin associated with neurological defects and developmental delays – were elevated for a limited period of time, the exceedances have local officials concerned. "In hindsight, I guess it would have been good if we had done sampling of the air during the first fire, even though the report revealed no major health concerns,” an IDEM spokesperson said. The smoke plume from the fires generally was present for only two hours, with the fires smoldering for perhaps another four hours, IDEM officials said. Before the third round of fires, the state issued an advisory that they posed "minimal potential for adverse health effects" but adding that "people concerned about that potential harm may choose to take precautions, such as remaining indoors while the fire burns." In addition to pollution prevention measures, IDEM is expected to require the Army to do its own air testing, with quality controls in place to ensure the accuracy of future results. The U.S. Department of Defense Guide to Abandoning Contaminated Sites and Endangering the Public Most readers of Touching Bases are no doubt already aware that DOD hates to clean up its messes. Here’s our list of the most popular Pentagon tricks to avoid cleanup. Make It a Wildlife Refuge – The beauty of toxic cleanup standards is that they are based on the future use of the land. No need to remove toxic or hazardous substances – just put up a fence (see “institutional controls” below), hand the property over to the Fish and Wildlife Service (which doesn’t have the money to manage it properly, but oh well), and skip town! Natural Attenuation – The public wants effective and expensive cleanup actions? Bah! Why spend all that money when you can just leave the contamination in place and wait for it to fade away through natural processes? (Of course, that may take a hundred years or so.) Institutional Controls – Why remove hazardous wastes or detoxify soil and groundwater when regulators will sign off on no cleanup at all? Put up a fence, add a deed restriction to limit the future use of the property, and just walk away! Burn It – Why pay to dismantle contaminated buildings and dispose of hazardous materials safely? Through the magic of fire, toxic substances are quickly distributed over a wide area. Dilution is the solution to pollution! (As long as you don’t live near the fire or downwind.) Works especially well with unexploded ordnance and surplus munitions. Have ATSDR Assess It – Military neighbors worried about damage to their health? No problem. Invite the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to town. They’ll conclude that because no one has thoroughly studied the toxins and their effects on nearby residents, there is no evidence of a public health hazard! Exempt It – Why comply with environmental and public health laws when you can just ask Congress for an exemption. For the past three years, DOD has requested sweeping new exemptions from hazardous waste, toxic cleanup, and clean air laws (and last year received new exemptions from wildlife protection laws). Don’t Fund It – The federal budget process is a beautiful thing! If the DOD doesn’t request enough money, or if Congress doesn’t appropriate enough money, then presto, investigation and removal of toxic contamination are just put off. It’s About the Money! As the total cost to address toxic contamination at DOD sites continues to rise, the Pentagon is exerting increasing pressure to keep cleanup expenses down. Expect to see even more use of these non-cleanup strategies as costs keep climbing. At current funding levels, it will take 118 years to address UXO and munitions toxins at just closed ranges (not including 25 million acres of active ranges). Pentagon’s Third Pitch for New Exemptions Fails in Congress Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. Or at least a broad coalition of affected communities, environmental and public health organizations, and state and municipal regulators committed to protecting public health from the Pentagon’s proposals for sweeping new exemptions from federal hazardous waste, toxic cleanup, and clean air laws. The latest news from Washington is good for a change: MTP and our allies stopped the Pentagon’s public health exemption proposals for the third year in a row. The Department of Defense (DOD) manages tens of millions of acres of land and water across the United States. Past operations produced over 29,500 toxic hot spots on 11,000 current and former military properties. DOD produces more hazardous waste each year than the five largest U.S. chemical companies combined, and is responsible for 80% of the most contaminated and dangerous federal facilities in the country. At least 126 DOD facilities will cost over $90 million each in environmental restoration expenses. DOD has spent over $25 billion on its environmental restoration programs, and will spend much more just on contamination caused by past activities. Military munitions and firing ranges are particular sources of environmental contamination and human health damage. DOD claims over 8,000 operational ranges covering 25 million acres at 500 different facilities (an area equal to the size of Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New Jersey combined). Many current and former DOD ranges sit atop or near sources of drinking water, residential neighborhoods, and hunting and fishing grounds. The extent of DOD’s ranges may be greater than many believe. For example, DOD has not informed the public which areas of three large bases in California (China Lake Naval Weapons Station, Edwards Air Force Base, and Vandenberg Air Force Base) known to have significant perchlorate contamination it considers "operational ranges." The entirety of Eglin Air Force Base in Florida (724 square miles) is considered a range. The scope of the exemptions DOD requested would be unprecedented. Residential communities, schools, hospitals, and businesses in virtually every state and territory could have been affected. Over 8,000 military ranges including 25 million acres would have become almost completely exempt from the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA – federal hazardous waste law) and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA – federal toxic cleanup law). Broad categories of military activities would have been allowed to emit unlimited amounts of air pollution in areas already struggling with unhealthy air under the Clean Air Act exemption. DOD’s RCRA and CERCLA exemptions would have included toxic munitions chemicals, heavy metals, chemical weapons, and depleted uranium munitions. Because DOD itself defines range boundaries and can designate new ranges at any time, the scope of the RCRA/CERCLA exemption would have been effectively unlimited. DOD’s environmental history warns against exemptions. Past environmental mismanagement of military ranges has produced contamination that will cost between $25 billion and $200 billion to address. Facing pressure from states, tribes, and affected communities to protect public health around its ranges, the Pentagon is instead seeking exemptions from public health laws. DOD’s exemptions would have stripped states, tribes and communities of essential public health protections. States and tribes could never have required DOD to address the source of toxic munitions pollution on its "operational" ranges under RCRA and CERCLA, even if that contamination were an immediate threat to public health off the range. Communities would have lost their ability under RCRA to petition federal courts to require investigation and cleanup of toxic munitions contamination that threatens their health. DOD representatives admitted to state officials that the proposals to preempt state authorities were "not a matter of readiness, but of control." State representatives who met with DOD in December 2003 reported that DOD acknowledged that states can exercise their authorities in ways that do not harm readiness, and that DOD’s concern "was not really a readiness issue, but a desire to maintain DOD exclusive control over its ranges." DOD also admitted that "there have been no instances in which RCRA or CERCLA have adversely impacted readiness." At a Congressional hearing about the exemption proposals, DOD was unable to provide any concrete examples of these three laws impacting military readiness. Both the House and Senate sensibly rejected the Pentagon’s unnecessary and dangerous exemption proposals for the third year in a row. Unfortunately, we know that DOD plans to keep asking for the new exemptions in the future. Until the Pentagon places the health of military families and military neighbors above its financial liabilities, we will have to continue opposing similar proposals. We say: Defend Our Health. MTP Helps Shape International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons Visit the ICBUW website at www.bandepleteduranium.org As reported in the last edition of Touching Bases, the Military Toxics Project is a founding member of the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons. This initiative has been in the works for many years. In 1997, MTP organized the first international gathering on Depleted Uranium in Washington, DC. Leaders from the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, Wales and Canada met with MTP members working on depleted uranium issues in the US. In 1999, MTP, the Laka Foundation of the Netherlands and the Campaign to Ban Depleted Uranium (CADU) of the United Kingdom organized a depleted uranium workshop and strategy session at the Hague Appeal for Peace Conference. In 2003, For Mother Earth in Belgium sponsored a gathering which launched the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons (ICBUW). As a founding member, MTP was part of an Ad-Hoc Board set up to further develop and clarify the structure of the coalition and its goals and strategies. In May 2004, MTP and two member groups met with other Coalition members in Brussels, Belgium. Twenty-two leaders from nine countries participated in the second gathering of the Coalition. Representatives from each country gave brief presentations to update the group on national activities. In Belgium, forty-three religious and political organizations have formed a national coalition. In Japan, the No DU Hiroshima Project published "the Hiroshima Appeal" in both Japanese and English. Japanese doctors and scientists are networking with members of the Iraqi medical profession. Updates on anti-DU work in the U.S. can be found on pages 14-15. In the United Kingdom, CADU has put together a DU campaign packet and is organizing DU events at the European Social Forum. In the Netherlands, the Dutch coalition has successfully raised money to organize and has garnered good media coverage. In Germany, the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA) drafted a Treaty to Ban Uranium Weapons. The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) included a panel discussion and workshop on depleted uranium at their conference on nuclear weapons. In Italy, there are several organizations working on DU issues, including three veterans’ organizations. Groups are researching whether NATO and non-NATO allies on US bases in Italy have used DU munitions. In Iraq, medical personnel are networking and training with Japanese doctors about the effects of radiation on health. The ICBUW staff and each work team also gave updates on activities since our last meeting and work on areas of discussion for the current meeting. The five ICBUW work teams are: Political, Legal, Scientific, Outreach, and Fundraising. The group also approved an organizational structure, and membership, board and staff issues were resolved. A new Board was elected (including an MTP representative) and plans to coordinate a General Assembly meeting with the full ICBUW membership in 2005. New DOD Environmental Reports Available A variety of new reports and data about DOD contamination and cleanup programs is now available online. DOD’s Defense Environmental Network and Information Exchange (DENIX) is a good source for information. The site found at https://www.denix.osd.mil/denix/denix.html has a wide variety of reports and policy documents. The site includes many Subject Areas and links to various parts of the office of the Deputy Undersecretary (Installations and Environment). Fiscal Year 2003 Defense Environmental Restoration Program Annual Report to Congress available on the DOD website at http://63.88.245.60/DERPARC_FY03/do/home contains a wide variety of information on contamination and specific sites, cleanup costs, and data on munitions contamination. Be sure to check out the appendices for some of the best information. The Defense Science Board Task Force on Unexploded Ordnance released an unusually direct report in November 2003, available at http://www.acq.osd.mil/dsb/uxo.pdf EPA’s The State of Federal Facilities, An Overview of Environmental Compliance at Federal Facilities FY 2001-2002 online at http://www.epa.gov/swerffrr/pdf/soff0102.pdf (a PDF file that may take some time to download) includes important information on DOD compliance with environmental and public health laws. EPA’s Federal Facilities Restoration and Reuse Office has a compendium of federal facilities cleanup management info. at http://www.epa.gov/swerffrr/documents/ffcc.htm Reports by the General Accounting Office (the research arm of Congress) - Go to the GAO site at http://www.gao.gov and enter the GAO report number (such as GAO-04-608) in the search box, and click "Go" to find each report. Military Training: DOD Report on Training Ranges Does Not Fully Address Congressional Reporting Requirements. GAO-04-608 June 4, 2004 Gulf War Illnesses: DOD's Conclusions about U.S. Troops' Exposure Cannot Be Adequately Supported. GAO-04-159 June 1, 2004 and Gulf War Illnesses: DOD's Conclusions About U.S. Troops' Exposure Cannot Be Adequately Supported. GAO-04-821T June 1, 2004 Military Munitions: DOD Needs to Develop a Comprehensive Approach for Cleaning Up Contaminated Sites. GAO-04-147 December 19, 2003 Also, look for a rotating section of new reports and links at www.miltoxproj.org as we update MTP’s site this summer. The National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) is a federal advisory committee that was established by charter on September 30, 1993, to provide independent advice, consultation, and recommendations to the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on matters related to environmental justice. Two important reports were presented at the National Environmental Justice Advisory Committee meeting in New Orleans on April 14-16. The first – "Ensuring Risk Reduction in Communities with Multiple Stressors: Environmental Justice and Cumulative Risk/Impact" – covered synergistic effects of toxic exposures. The other report – "Environmental Justice and Federal Facilities: Recommendations for Improving Stakeholder Relations between Federal Facilities and Environmental Justice Communities" - was produced by NEJAC’s federal facilities working group, including MTP Board member Doris Bradshaw. The Federal Facilities Working Group (FFWG) was created under the Waste and Facility Siting subcommittee of NEJAC. The FFWG formed in 2000, thanks to the persistence of a few dozen community leaders that kept showing up at NEJAC meetings and demanding that something be done about Environmental Injustice at federal facilities. The group’s mandate was to investigate the problem and make recommendations to the EPA for improving relations between federal facilities and neighboring environmental justice communities. The FFWG conducted five site visits (2 at Department of Energy sites and 3 at DOD sites). The findings and recommendations of the report are based on knowledge gleaned from these site visits. Unfortunately, two MTP members on the Federal Facilities Working group had several problems with the group, and subsequently with the report. They identified several critical problems. 1. EPA handpicked the members of the working group. 2. There was not enough grassroots participation on the working group. 3. The focus of the report was wrong. The real problem is that the sites are not being cleaned up. 4. The report has no teeth. It only makes recommendations to EPA, which the agency may or may not carry out. The report was not available to the public for review and comment before the NEJAC meeting, nor will it be available prior to NEJAC's making these recommendations to the EPA. MTP provided scholarship assistance for Board member Doris Bradshaw to attend the NEJAC meeting. Other leaders of MTP member organizations attended, including Genaro Lopez – Southwest Workers Union (SWU); Viola Waghiyi – Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT); and Shawna Larson – Indigenous Environmental Network and ACAT. Prior to the meeting, MTP members met by teleconference to discuss grassroots strategies. The groups came up with some short and long- term strategies and began some analysis on EJ, NEJAC and EPA. MTP asked members to submit written personal testimony about their site, and their problems dealing with federal facilities, to be included in the public record of the meeting. Local groups also thought that a press conference or action at the NEJAC meeting to highlight deficiencies and inaction by EPA was important. The Southwest Workers Union organized a press conference on Wednesday, and MTP members participated to make the point that "10 years after EJ Executive Order and still no justice!" Excerpts from MTP members’ testimony to NEJAC Viola Waghiyi, Alaska Community Action on Toxics – St. Lawrence Island, Alaska The people of St. Lawrence Island are concerned about health problems that are associated with military contamination, including cancers, diabetes, reproductive problems, thyroid disease, nervous and immune system disorders, learning disabilities, health problems that were not apparent until after the military occupation. Our study funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences showed that the people of St. Lawrence Island have elevated PCBs in their blood, 6-9 times the US average, particularly those who use Northeast Cape area for traditional hunting, fishing and food gathering. The military has caused impacts that are devastating to our land and environment, that affect our traditional subsistence lifestyle and culture, our people for generations have been stewards of our land and environment with utmost respect for it and also the marine mammals, fish, plants, other wildlife from the island and sea, that has sustained our very existence and survival, and also the health and lives of our people and future generations of the St. Lawrence Island. EPA has reviewed the Northeast Cape Formerly Used Defense Site (FUDS) and determined that it ranks high enough to be included on the National Priority Site list, also known as Superfund, and the fact that the State of Alaska is not doing a good job to ensure a responsible cleanup. The EPA has not filled its obligation to conduct proper oversight and exert regulatory authority to hold the Military accountable for an adequate and complete clean up. We believe that it was a political decision not to make Northeast Cape a Superfund Site. The United States Dept. of Defense needs to be held liable for their legacy, conduct an adequate and responsible complete cleanup of the two FUDS on St. Lawrence Island. The land and waters must be restored in order to protect the health and well-being of the environment and health of St. Lawrence Island Yupik people. Sparky Rodrigues, Malama Makua – Wai’Anae, Hawai’i The military's presence consumes resources, jobs, and housing; encourages poverty, homelessness, poor education, and poor health care; and leaves our community responsible for national security and ultimately cleaning up the mess left behind. The mess of environmental contamination, and social and economic devastation leaves our community unrepresented and deceased. Homeland security has overburdened our community with the responsibility of the last 70 years of service. High rates of cancer, heart and skin disease, diabetes, obesity, respiratory ailments like asthma, and reproductive and neurological illness all impact our Wai'Anae residents. There is NO JUSTICE for us. We want to be part of the process; we need the government to put more money into education, health and environmental clean up and NOT military expansion. How do we get justice when Hawaii's economy is so heavily influenced by the Military money and power from Washington? Their influence in our community meetings overpowers our voice, minimizing our importance, reducing our quality of life, lowering our property values and calling us un-American for speaking up as the profiteers live in clean un-militarized communities. But the excuse is always NO money for clean up. Manufacturers should be responsible as a cost of doing business to clean up the weapons or toxics they created wherever used. Homeland Security must be for other communities because I'm not feeling secure in my own home. I don't see the democratic process happening equally throughout America when underserved, unrepresented and contaminated communities keep paying the price with our lives and the lives of our children. Homeland Security must start in each of our communities. We need to feel safe in our homes and trust our government. Clean up the mess, all of it in every community. Mable Mallard, Right to Know Committee – Philadelphia This September marks the tenth anniversary of the closure of the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP) in South Philadelphia. The DSCP was a military uniform factory that employed mostly African-American and Latino women. These people worked in hell. We worked 10 hours a day, six days a week during the first Gulf War in 1990. We were overworked and underpaid with no protection from a mix of chemicals being prepared in the lab in the basement of building 9. One of the many chemicals they made – 4,4-Dichlorodiphenyl- Trichloroethane – is better known as DDT and has been banned in the US since 1972. Workers were exposed to toxins while sewing uniforms made of wool dipped in DDT. The building was without windows; we called this shop the Hell Hole. These hard-working women, the former workers of DSCP, are now completely forgotten. The Right to Know Committee is working with the workers and the neighbors of the factory to get cleanup of the site and health care and treatment. Excerpts from Community Press Release at NEJAC Meeting in New Orleans Many of the community members that have come to the NEJAC meeting are from communities adversely impacted by U.S. military pollution. Many are members of the Military Toxics Project, a national network of groups working to cleanup up military pollution and protect the health of area residents. MTP members believe EPA has failed miserably in its mission to achieve Environmental Justice around military facilities. The Department of Defense is the nation’s largest polluter, responsible for over 27,000 toxic hot spots on 8,500 current and former military properties. The US military’s past and current environmental practices are especially harmful to Indigenous communities, communities of color and low-income communities. Many of the country’s most contaminated military sites border these communities, which often have less access to and influence with military and civilian officials than other communities, leading to less enforcement and less protective cleanup. Local environmental justice organizations are routinely excluded from important DOD boards and meetings. Six of nine sites where chemical weapons were stockpiled and will be destroyed through incineration or neutralization have higher percentages of residents of color and/or low-income residents than the national average. The original decision to incinerate chemical weapons (instead of using safer technology) was made without input from the affected communities. In the Gulf War I, almost 50% of front line personnel – those most likely to be exposed to contamination by depleted uranium (DU) ammunition – were people of color. On the home front, DU manufacturing and testing sites are primarily located in or near communities of color and low-income communities. Communities living around Department of Defense sites don't believe the EPA is addressing their problems. In fact, many believe the EPA under the Bush Administration has rolled back environmental protection and environmental justice. MTP supports community demands that the EPA: (1) Becomes a transparent organization that is accessible, accountable and responsive to community organizations (2) Follow the NEJAC Guidelines for Public Participation (3) Compels state environmental agencies and other EPA-funded agencies to take action on the lack of public participation and environmental racism. (4) Allow community members to participate not as advisors but in the actual decision-making process. (5) Takes a firm, concrete stance of the clean up standards that must be achieved and ensure that those measured are rigorously enforced. Army Cuts Back, Back Tracks In May, the Army ordered garrison commanders to immediately freeze spending on many environmental programs and cut all temporary employees so that funds could be made available for the war on terrorism. The memo from Major General Anders Aadland directed commanders to "take additional risk in environmental programs; terminate environmental contracts and delay all non-statutory enforcement actions." Army sources told Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility that the cuts would include funding for programs to protect endangered species, dispose of munitions, and monitor groundwater. Shortly after the directive was leaked to the media, the Army did an about face, rescinding most of the cuts. VX Shipments Widespread community outrage in at least three states has put at least a temporary hold on the Army’s plans to ship partially-neutralized VX nerve gas residue from Indiana to New Jersey for treatment at a DuPont facility. The Army has abandoned its original plan to treat the hydrosolate (neutralized VX nerve agent) at its current location in Indiana, as requested by the neighbors of that facility, instead of shipping it to another community. A previous attempt to ship the hydrosolate to Dayton, Ohio for treatment in a low-income, predominantly African-American community was defeated by high-energy grassroots opposition. Once the Army’s plan to ship the VX residue to the DuPont facility – which sits on the Delaware River – became public, grassroots, political, and regulatory opposition quickly emerged. Various elected officials have spoken out against the proposal, and the Delaware Senate voted unanimously to condemn the plan. The state of New Jersey recently announced that the DuPont facility would have to apply for and receive amendments to its environmental permits in order to treat the VX hydrosolate and discharge the byproducts into the river. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control is conducting a review of the proposal, but for the moment it looks like the Army may be 0 for 2. For more information see <http://www.greendel.org>. U.S. Social Forum In April, Global Grassroots Justice – a collaboration among several organizations to strengthen the U.S. grassroots movement for global justice – convened an initial meeting of grassroots organizations to discuss a potential US Social Forum (USSF). Forty organizations (including MTP) participated, representing a diverse cross-section of grassroots groups in the US. The end result was a plan to proceed toward a USSF in the summer of 2005 with 5,000 to 10,000 participants. The participants agreed that a USSF could be an important step in building a national movement in the United States. It could provide a space for organizations that have not worked together historically to begin to develop a national and international vision and strategy. The USSF should be grounded in social justice movements of grassroots people of color and indigenous and working class communities. It should be founded in the diversity of US social justice movements including youth, women, gay and lesbian rights, immigrant and Indigenous peoples, conservation and environmental justice, labor, faith-based and other constituencies. The forum should be representative geographically including the unincorporated territories such as Puerto Rico, Guam, and Samoa. It should also function as more than just a ‘space’ for discourse. The USSF should be an avenue towards building strategy with a common agenda with an organizing component. Aberdeen Right to Know Suit Settled A lawsuit filed by the Aberdeen Proving Ground Superfund Citizens Coalition (APGSCC) against the U.S. Army was settled in January. APGSCC was forced to sue after military officials at the extensively contaminated munitions testing facility began to withhold maps essential to understanding and remediating toxic contamination from the community, including members of DOD’s own Restoration Advisory Board. The settlement requires the Army to once again begin providing detailed maps so that community leaders can monitor environmental investigations and cleanup. APGSCC agreed not to publish such maps on the internet or release them to the public at large except for purposes of overseeing cleanup at the base. More Explosives Found in Badger Wells More explosives have been found in drinking water wells serving dozens of homes near the Badger Army Ammunition Plant in Wisconsin. Contaminants found during recent testing include dinitrotoluene (DNT – a cancer-causing chemical used in the manufacture of munitions) and chloroform. DNT was found in two other private wells in February. The Army has not identified the source of the contamination inside the plant. Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger advocated for expanded testing after the February results were disclosed, and overcame EPA’s and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ reluctance to order additional testing through community and public pressure. For more information visit <http://www.cswab.org>. DOD Fails to Meet Produce Perchlorate Report Mandated by Congress In the latest of a long string of failures by the Pentagon to disclose information about perchlorate contamination around the country, a Congressional deadline once again passed unheeded. Congress required DOD to produce a release a 2001 report examining perchlorate contamination at all 5,000 active and closed military installations by April 30. That deadline came and went without any action by the Pentagon, which now claims the report will not be released until mid-June. Depleted Uranium UpdatesActivists Continue to Pressure Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant for Full DU Cleanup In January, the City Council of Arden Hills, Minnesota directed its staff to investigate radioactive contamination and cleanup efforts at the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant. The facility – run by Alliant Techsystems, which is part of Honeywell – produced depleted uranium weapons for several decades. Arden Hills Mayor Beverly Aplikowski stated that "there is a sense that some information is not being disclosed." Historical documents reviewed by local activist Christine Ziebold show that DU was released into the sewer system and eventually the Mississippi River. Alliant claims that no DU has left the site and that removal of all DU and radioactive contamination is almost complete. Members of the Restoration Advisory Board and other local activists are continuing to pressure Alliant, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the City for more investigation. DU Health Forum in New Jersey MTP member Sylvia Zisman and other anti-DU activists organized an important symposium at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Panels on the "Health Effects of Depleted Uranium Weaponry" and "Resisting the New Nuclear Danger" featured Dr. Helen Caldicott of the Nuclear Policy Research Institute, Jersey City Deputy Mayor Anthony Cruz, Dr. Tom Fasy of the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, and Dr. Zia Milan of Princeton University. New DU Exposure Report Since our last issue of Touching Bases, MTP assisted Dr. Hari Sharma in the printing and release of his long-awaited report "Investigations of Environmental Impacts from the Deployment of Depleted Uranium-Based Munitions." Dr. Sharma, a highly experienced and accredited scientist, studied urine samples taken from veterans of the first Gulf War and tissue samples from residents of Basra, Iraq who resided there between 1991 and 1994. His extensive analysis of the samples established that "there was a very wide dispersal of DUOA [depleted uranium oxides aerosols]" in the first Gulf War. The report should be available soon on MTP’s web site at <http://www.miltoxproj.org>. Ground Zero Center, MTP, and Allies Challenge Exemption for DU Transportation MTP, the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action in Washington state, the Traprock Peace Center in Massachusetts, and Nukewatch in Wisconsin have challenged the renewal of a special U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) exemption allowing the military to transport DU without the required "radioactive" placard. The current exemption expires on June 30, 2004. DOT staff assigned to process the exemption renewal have reported receipt of many public comments opposing the exemption. DOT is expected to act on DOD’s application for a renewal by the end of June. For more info. and the address to submit comments see <http://www.gzcenter.org/DU.htm>. DU Found in Bodies of New York Soldiers Four of nine New York National Guard soldiers tested after returning from service in Iraq were contaminated with DU, according to test results released at the beginning of April. The soldiers – military police not serving in front-line combat – apparently inhaled DU dust produced when the shells strike hard targets and burn. The findings caused a firestorm of public and political reaction, including new legislation (see below). Bill Requiring Health Testing of Military Personnel for DU Introduced in Congress U.S. Representative Jose Serrano (D-NY) introduced H.R. 4463 on May 20. The bill would require that before military personnel are deployed to a theater of operations, they must be informed of known or likely use of DU in the area where they will be deployed and about health risks associated with DU exposure (of course the Pentagon says there aren’t any health risks!). The bill would also require that deploying forces be trained in how to handle DU. DOD would be required to identify personnel who may have been exposed to DU, provide them with bioassay testing, and notify them of the results. The bill does specify certain conditions which must be accepted as proof of possible exposure, including reports by individual personnel that they were likely exposed. There are currently six cosponsors of the legislation. Congressman Jim McDermott’s (D-WA) bill to require extensive study of DU and testing for contamination (H.R. 1483) now has 32 cosponsors. DU Shell Found at MMR In early June, a depleted uranium shell was found at Camp Edwards, part of the Massachusetts Military Reservation on Cape Cod, a National Guard training facility where the Army claims DU was never fired. The round may have been abandoned by the defense contractor Textron Systems, which helped develop DU munitions and tested a variety of weapons at Camp Edwards. The particular type of 2.5 inch round discovered is typically used by the Navy. Local activists questioned the Army’s assertions that DU was never fired at the base and that there is no reason for public concern.
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Military Toxics Project -
mtp@miltoxproj.org Full contact information is
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