In-Depth Look at El Toro Marine Base TCE Contamination Begins Next Week

Time to get to the bottom of a big environmental mess involving a former Marine Corps base in Southern California.

Aircraft like this at El Toro were cleaned with a chemical degreaser called TCE, made by DuPont, that was washed straight into the base water system. Photo: home.inreach.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - For years, a chemical degreaser called Trichlorethylene, or TCE for short, was used to clean fighter jets at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in Southern California. The U.S. government is notorious for poor environmental practices, and this ranks among its most profound; as generation after generation of Marines were exposed to the toxic and lethal nature of TCE, a product primarily manufactured by DOW Chemicals.

Tim King as an 18-year old Marine in September, 1981

Various squadrons on the base used the deadly degreaser and all of the runoff was hosed away down the flightline and into the water basins.

The base of the 'TCE plume' as it is called, flowed right through the Marine Wing Support Group-37 area. This is where I spent the majority of a three year enlistment as a Marine; totally oblivious to the condition of the water and the ground that we worked on every day.

One of my sons had a collapsed bowel at the age of four months, it almost killed him. His mother and I lived in El Toro base housing during that pregnancy. It took more than twenty years for me to learn that TCE often attacks this region of the human body.

Another child possibly affected, my stepson was born with an enlarged epiglottis, that flap that keeps food from going into your lungs, which was the size of an unhealthy 40-year old man's. His mother was living at El Toro throughout her pregnancy. That type of abnormality is another common effect of TCE contamination. It is called a mutation. I'm sure you get the idea. It is possible that a connection does not exist, but it is also possible that one does.

Stories out of Camp Lejeune involve thousands of deaths; many were stillborn. The number of people potentially affected is too large to remain quiet, particularly in this new age of mass communication.

I am very concerned about all of the Marines who served at El Toro, all of their family members and the base civilian employees. I am also worried about the people who live near the base today, and about low income housing projects that are allegedly being built in the contaminated sections of the former base at the time of this article.

El Toro was named an EPA "Super Site" and what happened there with TCE contaminated water is not a secret, really, but the government is not taking the appropriate steps to bring it under control.

While the Navy and Marine Corps try to pass the blame, the story of Camp Lejeune is more known, and it is gaining a foothold on the American conscience as more and more news agencies pay attention to the movement that has begun over it.

Through an association of former Marines including Robert O'Dowd from mwsg37.com, John Ulrich and several others, we are bringing together the resources to get this story in front of every American. For now, a few hundred dollars ($600 is the goal) will cover my travel expenses next week for round one. There is much to be done, and this effort will likely end up taking on the form of a full length television documentary. We are moving forward.

If you want to help, use the PayPal button above.

You can also send a check to:
Tim King
P.O. Box 5238
Salem, Oregon 97304

Watch for the reports on El Toro next week on Salem-News.com. Those interested in working with us on the documentary should send an email to Tim King; my address is at the bottom of this story.

These are all related Salem-News.com reports on TCE:

Federal Agency Money Bickering Could Spell Doom for Sick Marines

Marine Who Lost Child From Contamination at Camp Lejeune will Appear in Washington

Marine Death Camp: Camp Lejeune Trichlorethylene - the Culprit

El Toro Marines Should be Aware of Possible Contaminant Based Health Hazards

Former Marine Testifies Over Deadly Contaminated Water at Camp Lejeune

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Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. Today, in addition to his role as a war correspondent in Afghanistan where he spent the winter of 2006/07, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website, affiliated with Google News and several other major search engines and news aggregators. Tim's coverage from Iraq that was set to begin in April has been delayed and may not take place until August, 2008. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com

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I was stationed at Tustin 83-87. I remember being "volunteered" for a job of disposing oil drums filled with who knows what- one evening. I remember the sgt. stating the base was going to be inspected and we had to dispose of them. We were wearing goggles and long latex gloves. I remember getting splashed in the face. A few days later, my skin boiled up, massive head ache. Still have the scars to prove it.And its in my medical records.

Tim King: Damn Mike, that is powerful, if you're into letting me take this to the next step, please write to me at  tim@salem-news.com Semper fi

I just found out about the problems at El Toro. I was stationed there from 85 to 88, I was a heavy equipment operator and ate alot of El Toro dust when we tore up and re graded the football field. I spent many hours operating a crane at the Mech. hangars. I have un explainable liver disease, and many dijestive problems. I know that there have to be many more out there with similar problems, and if we all shout togather someone has to hear.

Tim King: Thanks for writing, I was there until '83 at MWSG-37.  Sorry to hear about your illness, feel free to get in touch and anything we can share is yours.  My email is tim@salem-news.com Semper fi!

God's speed, Tim.

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