2004 CPEO Military List Archive

From: "Thomas F. Hall, Jr." <tfhall3@swbell.net>
Date: 24 Sep 2004 22:06:15 -0000
Reply: cpeo-military
Subject: [CPEO-MEF] Re: Military Digest, Vol 1, Issue 18 (Uranium Casualties)
 
Sir;

This article has one statement that may be misinterpreted by the readers. The statement is that Dr. Durakovic' conclusion was that "four soldiers 'almost certainly' inhaled radioactive dust from exploded US shells manufactured with depleted uranium." While depleted uranium (DU) is slightly radioactive, most experts agree that its primary health effect is as a heavy metals poison. In addition, the US "shells" (projectiles) which use DU are all inert kinetic energy projectiles. None of these projectiles contain energetic materials (explosives) in the body of the projectile, with the exception of tracer compounds present in small amounts in the base of some of the projectiles. Since these projectiles do not explode, the likelihood that "exploded US shells" containing DU caused the maladies listed is non-existent, unless the DU projectiles were stacked and detonated as a disposal procedure. This is also very unlikely, as EOD personnel are aware that US DU projectiles are basically inert.

DU projectiles do, however, often undergo a pyrophoric reaction and impact breakup when they hit a surface.

Very respectfully,

Thomas F. Hall, Jr.
On Sep 24, 2004, at 1:59 PM, military-request@list.cpeo.org wrote:

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Today's Topics:


   1. Vapor Intrusion: The New Frontier of Toxic Cleanup (Lenny Siegel)
   2. Kerr-McGee perchlorate remediation (Lenny Siegel)
   3. Starmet uranium cleanup (Lenny Siegel)
   4. Uranium Casualties (Lenny Siegel)
   5. perchlorate left out of Santa Clarita water plan (Lenny Siegel)
   6. Cherry Point joint land use studies (Lenny Siegel)
   7. October 6 Dover open house for EDS chem weapons disposal
      (Lenny Siegel)
   8. Appropriations for California perchlorate projects (Lenny Siegel)


----------------------------------------------------------------------


Message: 1
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 13:56:40 -0700
From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>
Subject: [CPEO-MEF] Vapor Intrusion: The New Frontier of Toxic Cleanup
To: Military Environmental Forum <military@list.cpeo.org>
Message-ID: <41533873.9EE37FBD@cpeo.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

[Please pardon the duplicate posting.]

Vapor Intrusion: The New Frontier of Toxic Cleanup

By Lenny Siegel
BNA's Daily Environment Report
September 20, 2004

The characterization and cleanup of vapor intrusion at sites
contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is the new frontier
of environmental response. Most vapor intrusion responses have focused
on the direct vertical transport of contamination into overlying homes,
but increasingly it is being recognized as a neighborhood phenomenon,
both indoor and outdoor. The most common VOC, trichloroethylene (TCE),
has been identified in at least 852 of the nearly 1,500 sites on the
superfund National Priorities List and is found at thousands of other
sites across the country. No one yet knows how many of the sites that
have TCE intrusion pose a risk to public health.

The vapor intrusion problem also exists at sites where soil has been
excavated and groundwater treatment remedies are in place. At these
sites, regulatory agencies and responsible parties are re-opening their
programs to consider this previously ignored exposure pathway.
Furthermore, the presence of VOCs in groundwater or soil also presents a
challenge for development or redevelopment. There are no clear rules of
thumb for determining when or how sensitive uses, such as day-care
centers, homes, and schools, should be located above sites contaminated
by carbon tetrachloride, perchloroethylene, TCE, and related compounds.


...

for the entire article, see
http://ehscenter.bna.com/pic2/ehs.nsf/id/BNAP-654FYC?OpenDocument


--



Lenny Siegel Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041 Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545 Fax: 650/961-8918 <lsiegel@cpeo.org> http://www.cpeo.org


------------------------------


Message: 2
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 14:35:12 -0700
From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>
Subject: [CPEO-MEF] Kerr-McGee perchlorate remediation
To: Military Environmental Forum <military@list.cpeo.org>
Message-ID: <41534179.BB4A4C83@cpeo.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

As a member of the ITRC (Interstate Technology Regulatory Council), on
September 8, 2004 I received a series of briefings about the Kerr-McGee
perchlorate cleanup in Henderson, Nevada, and the following day I took
part in a bus tour of the Henderson area. The lead presenter was Todd
Croft of the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection (NDEP). While
I had received similar briefings in the past, this two-day interchange
offered opportunities to ask penetrating questions and view the site up
close. Furthermore, the cleanup is further along than reported just a
few months ago.


The primary groundwater plume in Henderson emanates from the former
Kerr-McGee production site northward to the Las Vegas Wash, which it
enters through a surface seep as well as groundwater. Kerr-McGee, under
direct oversight by NDEP, intercepts the plume at three locations: On
site with a slurry wall and extraction wells; with wells mid-plume at
Athens Road, which is just upstream of local sewage treatment system
recharge basins; and with more extraction wells on the edge of the Wash.


The system now catches about 90% of the original perchlorate flow into
the Wash. By October, 2004, it expects the residual releases to fall to
about 100 pounds of perchlorate per day.

Water from all three extraction locations is pumped into a new two-stage
Fluidized Bed Reactor at the former production plant. This is a rather
large ex situ bioremediation system, based upon similar, but smaller and
simpler systems at the Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant (TX),
Aerojet-Rancho Cordova (CA), and the McGregor Naval Weapons Industrial
Reserve Plant (TX). The Kerr-McGee treatment system has proven more
challenging to operate, not only because the quantity of contaminant is
much higher, but because high concentrations of other (naturally
occurring) chemicals are present in the water.


American Pacific, owner of the plume from the nearby Pepcon Plant (site
of a massive 1988 explosion), is characterizing its flow, and NDEP
expects it to prevent perchlorate from that source from reaching the Las
Vegas Wash. The industrial park owner is investigating other property in
the area. While it's possible that other perchlorate (from Kerr-McGee or
other sources) may enter the Wash in the future, NDEP does not expect
the quantities to be significant in comparison to the main Kerr-McGee plume.


Perchlorate which has settled in the gravels of the Las Vegas Wash is
beyond the capture systems. However, additional extraction is not
planned. NDEP's modeling shows that with the current level of releases
into the Wash most of those deposits will flush out within about two
years, the time it would take to build a system to treat the gravels.
Sampling thus far is consistent with the model.

Additional modeling, coordinated with the results of Metropolitan Water
District sampling downstream in the Colorado River, suggests that
downstream perchlorate concentrations will fall below 2 parts per
billion by mid-2005.

Of course, outside of Nevada there is no cleanup-oriented investigation
of water originating in the Colorado River. No one is looking at the
groundwater basins that have been recharged with contaminated Colorado
River water.

Nevertheless, assuming that the NDEP reports and projections are
accurate, the asserted success in capturing and destroying perchlorate
suggests that there is unlikely to be new treatment of Colorado River
water in California and Arizona. Concentrations are already below
California's Public Health Goal of 6 parts per billion (ppb), they are
unlikely to rise, and in fact they are likely to approach 2 ppb by the
time any new treatment system could be built. Only a promulgated
drinking water standard of 1 ppb would force such treatment.

Meanwhile the massive, expensive extraction and treatment system above
the Las Vegas Wash is approaching full efficiency, and it is expected to
operate for decades.


Lenny
--



Lenny Siegel Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041 Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545 Fax: 650/961-8918 <lsiegel@cpeo.org> http://www.cpeo.org


------------------------------


Message: 3
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 15:51:50 -0700
From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>
Subject: [CPEO-MEF] Starmet uranium cleanup
To: Military Environmental Forum <military@list.cpeo.org>
Message-ID: <41535369.3B1BFA2E@cpeo.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Superfund cleanup set for two sites

By Davis Bushnell
Boston Globe Correspondent
September 23, 2004

Field work is scheduled to begin next month at two of the region's most
contaminated sites, Starmet Corp. in West Concord and the former Rocco's
Landfill in Tewksbury. Both properties were placed on the US
Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund list in June 2001.


The EPA recently approved work plans featuring extensive water and soil
samplings at the two sites. Once a determination of the extent of
contamination has been made sometime next year, a process to look into
possible health risks can begin, officials said.

The federal agency and the state Department of Environmental Protection
will hold a public information meeting Tuesday on the Starmet field
work, which is expected to begin Oct. 4. The meeting will start at 7
p.m. in the main hearing room of the Concord Town House, 22 Monument Square.


...

for the entire article, see
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/09/23/ superfund_cleanup_set_for_two_sites/


--


Lenny Siegel Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041 Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545 Fax: 650/961-8918 <lsiegel@cpeo.org> http://www.cpeo.org


------------------------------


Message: 4
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 15:56:37 -0700
From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>
Subject: [CPEO-MEF] Uranium Casualties
To: Military Environmental Forum <military@list.cpeo.org>
Message-ID: <41535488.69292D6F@cpeo.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

Uranium Casualties

Action on warfare?s new silent killer has been slow and inconsistent

By Ron Chepsiuk
Axis of Logic
September 23, 2004\

Members of the 42nd Military Police Company of the New York National
Guard remember the place in Iraq where they were stationed as a
hellhole. "The place was filthy; most of the windows were broken; dirt,
grease, and bird droppings were everywhere," Sergeant Agustin Matos
later recalled. "I wouldn't house a city prisoner in that place." There
were also the frequent sandstorms, blowing dust right into the area
where Matos and his fellow company members were based. Sergeant Hector
Vega, a retired postal worker from the Bronx who had served in the
National Guard for 27 years, said the smoke "was so thick, you could see it."


Both Matos and Vega survived the war and returned to the US, but all
hasn't been well since then. They and other members of their company now
suffer from a variety of maladies: nausea, dizziness, shortness of
breath, fatigue, joint pain, and excessive urination, for starters.


The soldiers repeatedly asked to be tested, but the army refused.
Eventually, they contacted the New York Daily News with their story.
Early this year, the newspaper asked Dr. Asaf Durakovic, a former Army
doctor and medical expert, to conduct laboratory tests. His conclusion:
four soldiers "almost certainly" inhaled radioactive dust from exploded
US shells manufactured with depleted uranium (DU).

...

for the entire article, see
http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_12059.shtml

--


Lenny Siegel Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041 Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545 Fax: 650/961-8918 <lsiegel@cpeo.org> http://www.cpeo.org


------------------------------


Message: 5
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 16:08:04 -0700
From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>
Subject: [CPEO-MEF] perchlorate left out of Santa Clarita water plan
To: Military Environmental Forum <military@list.cpeo.org>
Message-ID: <41535736.787E639D@cpeo.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

Court Voids SCV?s Water Plan


Leon Worden The Signal (Santa Clarita Valley, CA) September 23, 2004


Local environmental activists won a major victory Wednesday when an appellate court invalidated the valley's Urban Water Management Plan.

The court found that the local water agencies failed to provide adequate
information about perchlorate contamination in the groundwater supply
when they adopted the plan in 2000.


The plan, required by state law every five years, was compiled by the
Castaic Lake Water Agency and ratified by the area's four water
retailers. The plan forecasts water availability over a five-year period
and the information is used by the city and county in their development
approval decisions.


The Sierra Club, Friends of the Santa Clara River and the county of
Ventura sued the water agencies over the plan, alleging that it was too
optimistic in its projections of water availability. Ventura County
withdrew from the lawsuit after a Superior Court judge upheld the water
plan in February 2003, but the other plaintiffs appealed.

It was the first time in California that an Urban Water Management Plan
had been challenged in court.

...

for the entire article, see
http://www.the-signal.com/News/ViewStory.asp?storyID=5404

--


Lenny Siegel Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041 Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545 Fax: 650/961-8918 <lsiegel@cpeo.org> http://www.cpeo.org


------------------------------


Message: 6
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 16:30:25 -0700
From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>
Subject: [CPEO-MEF] Cherry Point joint land use studies
To: Military Environmental Forum <military@list.cpeo.org>
Message-ID: <41535C71.4CCA97F6@cpeo.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

City to focus on JLUS plans

Tom Boné
Havelock News (NC)
September 23, 2004

It will be a night of acronyms.

The Havelock city board will hold a public hearing Oct. 11 night to
share plans for complying with recommendations designed to clarify noise
and aircraft mishap potentials city-wide.


The meeting will focus on long-term goals, but will also carry
short-term implications.

City commissioner Jimmy Sanders, who also serves as president of Allies
for Cherry Point?s Tomorrow (ACT), says the combination of community and
military representatives who recently completed their Joint Land Use
Study (JLUS) came up with recommendations that will help avoid the
biggest threat to military installations - encroachment.


...

for the entire article, see
http://www.havenews.com/Details.cfm?StoryID=1681
--


Lenny Siegel Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041 Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545 Fax: 650/961-8918 <lsiegel@cpeo.org> http://www.cpeo.org


------------------------------


Message: 7
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2004 11:32:51 -0700
From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>
Subject: [CPEO-MEF] October 6 Dover open house for EDS chem weapons
	disposal
To: Military Environmental Forum <military@list.cpeo.org>
Message-ID: <41546844.9202C605@cpeo.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 24, 2004

Contact: Karen Drewen
Public Affairs Officer
Non-Stockpile Chemical Materiel Program
E-mail: karen.j.drewen@us.army.mil

Contact: Jason Huffine
Public Affairs Officer, TVA
Non-Stockpile Chemical Materiel Program
E-mail: jason.huffine@us.army.mil

Army's mobile technology prepares for action
Explosive Destruction System to support Dover Air Force Base


ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. - Dover Air Force Base officials have
requested support from the Army's Non-Stockpile Chemical Materiel
Program here to dispose of a chemical warfare munition discovered in Delaware.


The Army plans to safely dispose of the World War I-era munition in
mid-October using the Explosive Destruction System. The Army has used
the EDS to successfully treat more than 200 chemical warfare items,
including 22 items recently treated at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah.

NSCMP officials have scheduled an open house so the public can view the
EDS Wednesday, Oct. 6, from 2 to 8 p.m. at the Delaware Agricultural
Museum and Village in Dover. Officials from the Air Force, Department of
the Army and Army Corps of Engineers will join NSCMP to answer questions
about the technology and planned operations.


According to an Air Force press release, Dover AFB explosive ordnance
disposal personnel brought the munition to the air base July 19 after a
local state trooper found the item in Bridgeville, Del. Air Force
officials requested support from the U.S. Army Guardian Brigade's
Technical Escort Unit, also located at APG, to assess the item.

TEU confirmed the substance was the chemical warfare blister agent
mustard. The munition remains safely stored at Dover Air Force Base.

Headquartered at the Edgewood Area of APG, NSCMP is mandated by Congress
to treat chemical warfare materiel recovered on military installations
or formerly used defense sites in a safe, environmentally sound and
cost-effective manner.


The EDS uses an explosion and vapor containment chamber to detonate a
munition, then neutralizes the chemical agent inside the airtight
chamber. Army officials ship the remaining liquid and fragments to a
permitted commercial disposal facility. Teams from the Edgewood Chemical
Biological Center, also located at APG, operate the EDS.


Since 1999, NSCMP has built a solid performance and safety record with
the EDS through successful missions including Rocky Mountain Arsenal in
Commerce City, Colo., the former Camp Sibert in Gadsden, Ala., and
extensive testing overseas at Porton Down, United Kingdom. In the summer
of 2003, NSCMP used the EDS to successfully treat 15 World War I-era 75
mm projectiles, which also contained mustard agent, recovered at a
burial site in the Spring Valley area of northwest Washington, D.C.


The Army is committed to accurately assessing and classifying recovered
suspect chemical warfare materiel, and providing maximum protection to
workers and the public while complying with all applicable environmental
rules and regulations.


NSCMP leads the nation in the development and use of advanced technology
to safely eliminate America's non-stockpile chemical materiel in an
environmentally sound and cost-effective manner. A division of the U.S.
Army Chemical Materials Agency, NSCMP researches and develops treatment
options and destruction plans that comply with all federal, state and
local regulations, and encourages public participation in its
activities. For additional information visit the CMA Web site at http://www.cma.army.mil.


# # #

--


Lenny Siegel Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041 Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545 Fax: 650/961-8918 <lsiegel@cpeo.org> http://www.cpeo.org


------------------------------


Message: 8
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2004 11:38:46 -0700
From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>
Subject: [CPEO-MEF] Appropriations for California perchlorate projects
To: Military Environmental Forum <military@list.cpeo.org>
Message-ID: <415469A7.88A4CEC1@cpeo.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Howard Gantman
http://feinstein.senate.gov

Senate Appropriations Committee Approves FY2005 VA/HUD Funding Bill

Washington, DC ? U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) announced
today that the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved legislation
to fund vital projects in California to clean up perchlorate contamination.


"Perchlorate contamination poses a major threat to the health of
Californians and all Americans," Senator Feinstein said.  "I am pleased
that the Appropriations Committee has approved $2 million to aid
perchlorate clean-up and remediation efforts in California.  It is
imperative that we reduce the perchlorate in our drinking water and
protect Californians, especially pregnant women, the unborn, infants,
and young children, from this threat to their health."

Perchlorate, which is used in munitions and jet fuels, has contaminated
drinking water supplies or the environment in 34 states. If ingested,
perchlorate can interfere with thyroid function, and scientific evidence
suggests that this effect can impair the normal development of the brain
in fetuses, newborns and infants, permanently damaging cognitive
abilities and brain function in affected children.


Specifically, the committee on Tuesday approved the following as part of
the FY2005 Veterans Affairs/Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Bill:


·        $700,000 for the City of Rialto?s pilot demonstration for an
integrated approach for perchlorate remediation and treatment;

· $300,000 for the treatment of perchlorate contaminated wells in
the Inland Empire;


·        $200,000 for the City of Ontario?s wellhead treatment for
perchlorate and nitrate;

·        $500,000 for the City of Pasadena?s pilot project for
perchlorate removal using biological treatment; and

· $300,000 for perchlorate cleanup in the Santa Clara Water District.

...


--



Lenny Siegel Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041 Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545 Fax: 650/961-8918 <lsiegel@cpeo.org> http://www.cpeo.org


------------------------------


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End of Military Digest, Vol 1, Issue 18 ***************************************


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