[CPEO-MEF] HEALTH: Blog on Ft. McClellan (AL)

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

[I didn't fact-check this entire blog, but the assertion in the first  
paragraph in incorrect.  Ft. McClellan was closed under the Base  
Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, not by EPA. The blog does  
provide some important background on the proposed Ft. McClellan  
Health Registry Act. - LS]


Toxic Vets - The Poisonous Legacy of Ft. McClellan


By Denise Williams,
Chicago Now
August 7, 2013

Ft. McClellan Alabama no longer exists as an Army base, at least not  
officially. In 1999, the Environmental Protection Agency shut down  
the base, labeling it a hazardous site. The area is so toxic that it  
is illegal to sink a well in the surrounding communities.

Even though the base no longer houses military personnel, portions of  
the site are still used as a training facility and as a depot. The  
training conducted there is by various entities, including local,  
state and federal agencies. I wonder if they issue warnings about the  
site before candidates or employees are sent there, or if they, like  
the tens of thousands of veterans who once called Ft. McClellan home,  
get to find out about the contamination through word of mouth.

...

For the past three years, there has been a bill in one form or  
another called the "Ft. McClellan Health Registry Act" (current  
incarnation is HR411) sitting in the Health Subcommittee of the House  
Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Basically, this bill calls for the VA  
to grant what is known as 'presumptive status' for those who are  
seeking treatment and served at Ft. McClellan.

...

For the entire blog, see
http://www.chicagonow.com/uncommon-sense/2013/08/toxic-vets-ft- 
mcclellan-08072013/

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
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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