EPA Investigating Radioactive Waste Dumped Near Camp Lejeune
AP Via Yahoo:
The Environmental Protection Agency is investigating whether cancer-causing radioactive material was buried in the 1980s near a rifle range at Camp Lejeune, the Marine Corps' primary base on the Atlantic Ocean.
A recently recovered Navy document dated 1981 said the material included 160 pounds of soil and two animal carcasses laced with strontium-90, an isotope that causes cancer and leukemia.
"We are looking into this information to determine if we need to sample and where," said Dawn Harris-Young, a spokeswoman for the EPA's regional office in Atlanta. "It's really early."
The document said the dirt, carcasses and other materials containing strontium-90 originated at a naval research lab near the base and were buried in a remote area.
Over three decades, tens of thousands of Marines at Camp Lejeune and their families drank and bathed in water contaminated with as many as 40 times more toxins than permitted by safety standards. The wells had been contaminated with industrial solvents and were shut off in the mid-1980s. The base's water now meets federal standards.
At least 850 former residents of the base have filed claims against the military, seeking nearly $4 billion, for exposure to the tainted water. Read more...
Good morning, Mr Frist
Tony Snow, spokesman for the Bush administration, was quick to blame the mess on Bill Clinton.
"We have to fool the American people into believing there are WMD over there so we can divert their attention from the WMD over here."
Me
Am I the only one blown away by the first sentence???
"The Environmental Protection Agency is investigating..."
Wow. Really??? It can't be.
Cheney must be working on having this agency eliminated as we speak.
Timothy Rose @ 4:
And the irony here is that Nixon founded the EPA.
Ok, so let me get this straight: an environmental assessment was done in 1981 that said that the toxin levels were dangerous, but the wells weren't shut off or the public notified until 1985. Then it took ten more years, in 1996, to open an investigative panel... and now another ten years later, they're starting to take legal action.
Jeez... justice sure moves at glacial speed doesn't it?
Blue Buddha @ 5:
And the irony of the irony here is that Nixon actually got us out of a wrong and highly unpopular war.
And..... he reached out to foriegn nations with unfavorable opinions of the United States like China.
Holy crap... has it gotten so bad that Nixon is starting to look that much better?
When it doesn't involve brown people killing or raping Pretty White Women, yes, yes it does.
Karl Rove:
"You see, as long as people don't understand that the U.S. is corporatized, then we can carry on this compartmentalization. Maintaining the appearance of compartmentalization, we can point fingers to the military, or the Pentagon, or the White House, or WHOEVER we want to as long as it is a distraction from the important truths, like the fact that everything is owned by the same few individuals. When the consumers see an article in our MSM, they'll think there's still a faction running the governement, in this case the EPA, who are REALLY doing their job. We work these distractions into the script and budget, because, frankly, experience has taught us, you don't just let things happen, you direct what happens."
more do as I say not as I do from the military industrial complex
Is this not terrifying? Who's to say you don't have something buried under your daughter's bedroom that's going to give her leukemia? And why will the MSM report something like this, while leaving other real news (such as the Giuliani debacle on 911 and the 7 years prior). And the burial of this strontium-90 toxin was paid for by our government, who is owned by the same corporations that own the media. Tell me this article doesn't add to your boiling pot of fear, and then tell me we don't have homegrown state-sponsored terrorism right here. Are you afraid enough yet?
Timothy Rose @ 7:
YES when compared with the lummox currently occupying the WH, Nixon looks like a star!
The base’s water now meets federal standards.
Over the years --- at least since 1994 -- when the Republican's took over Congress with their "Contract ON America" --- EPA standards began being raised to what the R's used to call "risk-based" health effects standards... which means, that if you couldn't prove that a low regulatory limit prevented ill effects in humans, then that regulatory limit was too lowand put "undue burden on" (read that as: took profit out of the hands of) the polluting industry. All levels were raised in all areas: heavy metals, pcb's, pesticide and herbicide pollution and yes, radiation levels. Given that, and the fact that the US military dump sites are some of the worst of the worst of the Superfund sites of the 80's...where the attitude was just bury it... out of sight out of mind... it will just go away and never exist.
The Public has not been served by this standard and it was only a matter of time before these type of stories began to be reported. Heh. It only took 13 years. Expect more of the same.
Thats nothing there are 3 lost nukes from the 50's and 60's some were in North Carolina that still havent been found. Not to mention the 34 nukes plus 1 reactor lost some where north of Havana, Cuba.
http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2007/07/thermonuclear-oops-list.html
Blinky strikes again!
This is Clinton's fault and O'Reilly has super awesome ratings.
Blue Buddha @ 6:
The FDA removed mercury from pet vaccines in the 80's for fear of lawsuits. It took the FDA years to act to "slowly phase out" mercury in vaccines and contrary to what the CDC/FDA and doctors say in the press is STILL has not been completely eliminated. Trace amounts still overexpose infants and its still in full amounts in most of the flu and tetanus shots and scheduled to be the preservative in many of the in-line vaccines coming on the market (thus the FDA never instituted a ban).
Mercury is right behind uranium and the second most toxic element.
OT:
Yesterday Busholini admitted that someone in the WH leaked Plame's name, but now it's a done deal -- you know, 'spensive investigation...time to move on
Isn't this the guy who said that if someone in his WH broke the law, he/she would be FIRED?
Just another lie in an endless stream of lies.
Radioactive waste possibly buried near the rifle range? Well, that'd certainly explain the healthy glow Marines have ...
It is no secret that the U.S. military has used the ocean as trashcan for munitions in the past.
“The Army now admits that it secretly dumped 64 million pounds of nerve and mustard agents into the sea, along with 400,000 chemical-filled bombs, land mines and rockets and more than 500 tons of radioactive waste - either tossed overboard or packed into the holds of scuttled vessels.”
Semper Fulg -- Always Glowing
You have got to be f***ing kidding me.
Stephen @ 14:
Fortunately, those nukes have most likely decayed so that it is impossible for the radioactive core to create nuclear fission/fusion (it takes about twenty years for plutonium to decompose to a point that it is "unusable" as a weapon). Unfortunately, the radiation hazard still exists, and the conventional explosives that are used to start the reaction have probably become unstable.
"We're the government. We're here to help."
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Damn, and I was one of those Marines that served at Camp Lejeune. No wonder the water there always tasted funny.
Joe O. @ 25:
Let me also add that my company and I trained all over Camp Lejeune and had been to the rifle range many times. Hell, we probably set up or hooches right on top the crap at one or another and never even knew it.
EPA is investigating???,,,I didn't think they cared under the corrupt Bush administration. This must but just for show. This story will be buried soon.
OT, but the Edwards' campaign has received its third suspicious package in almost as many months.
Does anyone know if this is happening to other candidates?
It's Radioactive Man!!!
Oh and the shopkeepers near Edwards' campaign are complaining that the evacuations due to death threats are bothering *them*.
Can you say, "Gulf War Syndrome"?
ysbaddaden @ 29:
Could be worse than that. For me, my first job in the Marines was to guard nuclear and/or special weapons. Then, I was trained in NBC warfare along with going into the usual gas chamber every year for qualification. Add on to that, my dad is a Vietnam veteran and had agent orange dumped on him he said during some combat ops back then. Add to that, I am his first born son. Now, we have this chemical dump at Camp Lejeune which I was probably exposed to as well. Man, I am batting a 1000 on the overly contaminated scale! :lol:
Joe O. @ 32:
At least you wont need a night-light to take a, , in the dark.
32 Joe O.
I shoulda said, "JIminiy Jillikers, it's Radioactive Man!"
"There's no need for profanity, Fall-out Boy."
If the government can't get you killed in action, Marines, they will get you and your family in your own home. I'm sure anyone who tries to get the government to own up to this, will spend the rest of his/her days begging for help that never comes. It's happened before, is happening now and will happen again.
Isn't there a large plume of radioactive sludge making its way to the Columbia River in Washington State? . . . . or did they clean that up?
AJ Fan @ 36:
PNNL seeks supercomputer to battle radioactive plume
http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid80_gc...
(Bush EPA hasn't cleaned anything up, they've just kept everything quiet . . . . Paris Hilton?)
Ah, but it's us damn liberals who don't support the troops. Got it.
AJ Fan @ 37:
Repubs have been gutting the EPA for years and now under the last 6 years of Bush... they have pretty much done away with them altogether except in name only.
EPA Investigating Radioactive Waste Dumped Near Camp Lejeune
The EPA is investigating whether cancer-causing radioactive material was buried in the 1980s near a rifle range at Camp Lejeune. Yeah, and what do they plan to do??? “We are looking into this information to determine if we need to sample and where,...
The Marines again? Not only do they rape and murder unarmed civilians, they iradiate their own!
When are these animated nitwits going to be disbanded?
They bring such shame to our country.
Terrorists don't have attack us.....we're all being poisoned by are own.
ummmm......*our......oh well you got the gist.
Living right next door to the base I am surprised that this message isn't glowing!!!!!
Timothy Rose @ 4:
What's sad is that the crime must be so egregious that the EPA working under the cronyism, anti-environmentalism, and flat out corruption of the neocon Bush Admin is still investigating it. That's how bad it is.
Why more Dems aren't making hay out of this, I can't imagine. Republicans DO NOT SUPPORT THE TROOPS. REPUBLICANS SELL THE TROOPS OUT at every possible turn. Why aren't Dems hammering them on this?
This is all very amusing, but do any readers know of any organizations that might assist someone currently with cancer who spent the early 80's in Lejeune get some answers?? Who do we contact for help? Thanks....
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