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Carol Shea-Porter: Protecting Troops from Toxic Pollution

by: Dean Barker

Thu Jul 15, 2010 at 10:16:08 AM EDT


Military and environmental policy rarely cross paths.  Which is a great shame, because our men and women in uniform are often asked to perform under some of the worst environmental conditions around.

But it doesn't have to be this way.

Carol Shea-Porter helped bring soldiers' concerns about KBR's use of open air burn pits to the light of day:

The noxious smoke plumes that wafted over the military base in Balad, Iraq, alarmed Lt. Col. Michelle Franco. The stench from a huge burn pit clung to her clothing, skin and hair.

"I remember thinking: This doesn't look good, smell good or taste good," Franco said recently. "I knew it couldn't be good for anybody."

She wheezed and coughed constantly. When Franco returned to the U.S., she was diagnosed with reactive airway dysfunction syndrome. She is no longer able to serve as an Air Force nurse.

Shea-Porter got to work, and a law was signed by President Obama:

Today Eller, Sheridan, and the many others affected by these pits are getting some good news, thanks in part to the work of Rep. Tim Bishop, Democrat of New York, and Rep. Carol Shea Porter, Democrat of New Hampshire, who have championed their cause for months. They successfully lobbied for the inclusion of provisions to limit the use of these toxic pits in the National Defense Authorization Act, which the president will sign into law this afternoon. Under this new law, open-air burning of medical and hazardous waste will be prohibited except where the Defense secretary deems there is no alternative, the DoD must justify the use of burn pits to Congress, and it will develop a plan to eliminate the use of burn pits entirely.

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Dean Barker :: Carol Shea-Porter: Protecting Troops from Toxic Pollution
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To be honest, the KBR practices were (0.00 / 0)
procedures that were a long-standing routine in the American military.  Indeed, one of the main rationales for closing many stateside bases and installations was to leave behind the pollution that decades of lax hazardous waste disposal had caused.  The military rationale was always that "national defense" is more important than worrying about poisoning the environment.  
On the other hand, the privatization of government functions was attractive to private industry in part because it held out the promise of avoiding environmental constraints by coming under the national security umbrella.

How to get out of cleaning up one's messes is always a concern.  Funny how the "professionalized" American military has hit upon the British practice of hiring in-country or third country nationals as modern-day coolies in Iraq and Kuwait, etc.



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