A Long Beach law firm is investigating injuries and deaths connected with former MCAS El Toro.
(LONG BEACH, Calif.) - A Camp Lejeune lawsuit filed this week for injuries from exposure to trichloroethylene (TCE) and other organic solvents and a growing list of injuries linked to organic exposure from Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) El Toro, California have one Long Beach law firm actively pursuing clients injured at El Toro.
Michael Gates, attorney with Carroll, Kelly, Trotter, Franzen & McKenna, 111 W. Ocean Boulevard, Long Beach, California, said his firm “has been actively investigating [El Toro] for a few months and are eager to hear from injured parties. We want everyone and anyone with serious injuries to contact us.”
The law firm’s interests includes El Toro Marine veterans, dependents, civilian workers and anyone who may have been injured by the organic solvents on the base and those living or working nearby.
Michael Gates can be contacted on email at megates@cktfmlaw.com or by phone at: (562) 432-5855. Facsimile: (562) 432-8785.
As reported yesterday by Tim King in the Salem-News, a lawsuit was filed in Federal District in North Carolina by a “Marine wife over exposure to toxic chemicals in the water at Camp Lejeune, a Marine Corps base in North Carolina. The suit was filed jointly by two law firms from Washington D.C. and Winston-Salem, North Carolina.” See: http://www.salem-news.com/articles/july092009/lejeune_water_7-9-09.php">17 Male Breast Cancer Victims Have Ties to Camp Lejeune Marine Base - Salem-News.com Staff)
A trichloroethylene (TCE) toxic plume was discovered in 1985 off of MCAS El Toro. The toxic plume has spread miles off the base into nearby Orange County.
El Toro was placed on the EPA Superfund list in 1990, closed in July 1999, and most of the land sold at a public auction in 2005. MWSG-37 (EPA Site 24) was the source of the toxic plume spreading off the base. Multiple contaminants were found on base near landfills, including radionuclides (Uranium 235, Radium 226 and Radium 228).
TCE was used at El Toro as a metal degreaser for aircraft parts for decades before sound environmental disposal practices were known.
Radium 226 was used in a Radium Paint Room in Hangar 296 at El Toro for a number of years. The Navy requests for unrestricted radiological use of the hangar from the California Department of Public Heath was filed in July 2002, but has not been approved by the state.
Besides the hangar, radiation was found in the groundwater in the immediate area of several base landfills.
EPA and the Navy estimated 8,000 pounds of TCE in the soil and groundwater under the base. A TCE plume spreads miles into Orange County, but both Navy and EPA contend that the toxic chemical poses no danger to the local water supply.
The city of Irvine’s consultant estimated the amount closer to 700,000 pounds. The Navy disputes the higher amount.
El Toro’s Contaminants
EPA identified multiple contaminants of concern (COC) at El Toro. According to EPA, “These are the substances that are addressed by cleanup actions at the site. Identifying COCs is a process where the EPA identifies people and ecological resources that could be exposed to contamination found at the site, determines the amount and type of contaminants present, and identifies the possible negative human health or ecological effects that could result from contact with the contaminants.” (See: cfpub.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.Contams&id=0902770)
EPA’s website has not updated to include radionuclides (Uranium 235, Radium 226 and Radium 228). However, Envirostor, the state’s website, shows radioactive isotopes as a potential contaminant of concern. (See:
Law Firm Pursuing El Toro Injuries and DeathsSalem-News.com