Salem-News.com Marine Corps articles Page 42

`A Few Good Men, Lots of Chemicals`

Camp Lejeune’s "The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten" website adds link for MCAS El Toro Marines veterans. Attempts to learn more about the exposure of El Toro Marines to toxic chemicals continue.

(SOMERDALE, N.J.) - Former MCAS El Toro could be used as a movie script for the “perfect environmental crime.” Dump 8,000 pounds of TCE (trichloroethelyne) and other goodies into the soil and groundwater; watch a mostly TCE plume go through the area of the base wells into Orange county; put the base on the BRAC hit list; lose documentation; put thousands of acres up for sale; and pocket $650 million from the sale to a land developer. In this case, the victims are mostly “invisible Marine veterans,” who have no clue of what hit ‘em.

We’re a long way from understanding the extent of exposure of Marines at El Toro to TCE/PCE (perchloroethelyne)and other contaminants. This would be a “cold case,” if it were not for the efforts of a few El Toro veterans who refuse to accept the government’s “don’t worry; there’s not need for concern.”

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) is attempting to locate documentation to determine the risk of exposure to TCE/PCE for El Toro Marines.

Orange County Turns Blind Eye to Toxicity of Former Marine Base

Orange County learns few lessons in the world of business as a toxic waste site is prepared for habitation.

(SALEM, Ore.) - One of the only U.S. counties to ever declare bankruptcy, Orange County, California, has a bear of a problem on its hands. That problem is the former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro; a shell of its former self that now rests within the confines of Irvine, since it was annexed.

El Toro was placed on the U.S. government's Base Realignment and Closure list and the last fighter jets lifted off the flight deck at El Toro in 1999. The initial plans for the reservation involved creating a new airport for Orange County; one that would have relieved the strain on traffic patterns at the John Wayne Airport. That plan was scrapped in favor of developing the area in to a housing community and park.

The big secret that hides behind the gates of this former military air base is that the Marines and Navy turned it into a virtual toxic waste dump. It isn't that much of a secret really, plenty of people know that trichloroethelyne or TCE, was used to clean planes here for decades and that it is a problem, but few comprehend the significance of the problem.

El Toro`s Wells Still Suspect

The quest for information into the history of serious toxic contamination at a now-closed Marine base in Southern California continues.

(SOMERDALE, N.J.) - Marines at the El Toro air station in Orange County, California were contaminated by a toxic chemical and government agencies seem to have lost copies of the multi-million dollar contracts.

The Marine Corps Air Station at El Toro is closed now; the base wells abandoned and destroyed. For over 50 years, the Navy spent millions to purchase water for El Toro and the nearby Santa Ana Air Facility. But today the Navy can't explain why the water was purchased or the reasons the base wells were abandoned. The integrity of the wells and the dates abandoned are important since the wells were located in the path of a major trichloroethylene plume.

Trichloroethylene or TCE, is a chemical degreaser marketed and sold by Dow Chemical. For decades the product was used on military bases like El Toro to clean military equipment. At El Toro the TCE was used to strip grease from Marine jet fighter aircraft.

Marine Military Police Beat at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq (VIDEO)

Marine Corps Military Police have their hands full with a never ending list of tasks necessary for war zone security.

(Al Asad, Iraq) - Marine Corps military police in Iraq have a never ending yet ever changing job description. In one day here at the Al Asad Air Base in the Anbar Province, I will see these Marine MPs search base housing units of foreign employees, inspect commercial trucks that deliver supplies here, operate a traffic check point, and even search a FedEx jet delivering supplies to Iraq.

Most of these Marine MP's are actually from aviation roles, but a shortage of Marines has them performing jobs more closely related to security.

Marines Unaware of Risks

More information about the toxic waste exposure of Marines at the El Toro Air Station is emerging, but government data regarding the site remains elusive.

(SOMERDALE, N.J.) - The Marine Corps takes great pride "in taking care of its own", but the Naval services have not done a good job notifying veterans who were stationed at former MCAS Toro that they are at risk for exposure to toxic chemicals as a result of the contamination of the soil and groundwater. Very few know of their exposure.

Marines who served at Camp Lejeune, El Toro and possibly several locations, have been exposed to trichloroethylene (TCE) and Perchloroethylene (PCE), and they may suffer serious health consequences, and have no idea of what hit them. Most Marine and Navy veterans stationed at El Toro have no knowledge of the toxic chemicals found on the base, its place on the EPA Superfund, eventually closure in 1999, and sale at a public auction by the Navy in 2005 to a joint venture for $650 million.

TCE Expert Talks With Former El Toro Marine About Toxic Waste (VIDEO)

This is the fifth video in a continuing series about a deadly chemical dumped into the groundwater by Marines at El Toro that is moving in the water tables beneath neighborhoods in Irvine, California.

(IRVINE, Calif.) - Lethally toxic chemicals were dumped into the groundwater over the decades at the now closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in Irvine, California. Marines and their family members have become sick over the years and the health problems can be passed on generationally. TCE, (Trichloroethylene) is known to cause liver failure, several types of cancer, mutations and intestinal disorders.

Contaminated Marine Base in Irvine Slated for Public Park and Community Development (VIDEO REPORT)

This is part four in a continuing video news report series on TCE chemical waste stemming from the now-closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

(IRVINE, Calif.) - A veil of secrecy seems to cloud and obscure the real facts behind the closure of the El Toro Marine air base. Documents from the Navy confirm that El Toro is a hazardous waste zone. It is not new information, an environmental cleanup project has been underway for some time, but the extent of the problem and the distance the toxic contamination has traveled from the base is a serious issue, particularly for the Irvine community of Woodbridge.

Memories of the El Toro Marine Air Base: a Modern Day Ghost Town

This feature is part of a series report on contamination at the El Toro Marine base; it includes a special slideshow presentation.

(IRVINE, Calif.) - The sound of afterburners from fighter jets soaring into the California sky over the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station have been silent for almost a decade. They are replaced by an eerie silence that envelopes the looming buildings and hangars.

I have many memories of my time as a Marine at this place and they have been flooding back over the last several days as I've spent time here investigating a massive hazardous waste situation created when the Marines dumped massive amounts of TCE- Trichloroethylene, into the groundwater. Contact with the potent chemical degreaser can quickly turn fatal.

Deadly Toxic Chemicals From Marine Base Threaten Irvine Neighborhoods (VIDEO REPORT)

A legacy of deadly, hazardous waste from a closed Marine air base is quietly invading parts of Orange County, California. This is Part 3 in a continuing series of video reports on Salem-News.com.

(IRVINE, Calif.) - Toxic waste from the now-closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in Irvine is seeping underground into one of the richest neighborhoods in southern California, putting people at risk.

Irvine, California Threatened by Contaminated Water From El Toro Marine Base (VIDEO REPORT)

What happens when wealthy Republicans suddenly find out that the home they invested so much in, could be sitting on top of one of the most dangerous, polluted places in the nation?

(IRVINE, Calif.) - A number of government agencies deny that the city of Irvine has big, big problems from TCE, Trichloroethylene; a toxic chemical used in the maintenance of Marine Corps jet fighters at the former at the Marine Corps Air Station. They reject the notion that the TCE has penetrated the groundwater here and as a result, is a serious health hazard for residents in Irvine, California.

But large amounts of evidence tell another story.

Reports from the U.S. Navy indicate that TCE contamination stemming from the Marine base at El Toro is in fact a huge issue in this part of Orange County.