Our military is the largest polluter in the world. The amount of hazardous waste the United States military produces overshadows the amount made by corporations like Dupont and Exxon. The military has produced incredible amounts of waste from manufacturing bombs, defoliants, chemical weapons, fuel, and so much more over the years, and it still continues to do so. Thousands of acres of land are contaminated with nuclear waste, and millions of gallons of underground water are contaminated with solvents, hazardous wastes, gasoline, and much more. All this contamination was caused by activities at these military installations and the contractors who work for the Department of Defense.
The health problems caused by all this toxic contamination is not confined to the bases themselves but go beyond the guarded entrances to the communities they are near. Women with miscarriages, children born with birth defects, different kinds of cancer, and blood diseases are all just some of the results of exposure to the air, water, and soil contaminated by the military.
From radioactive waste dumps to water wells contaminated with dry cleaning fluids, the military has a toxic legacy on these lands. A news analysis by TruthOut magazine reviewed public data on the military and toxic waste back in the 1980s. Based on the government’s own data, it was estimated the government was creating a ton of toxic waste per minute. They were the largest polluter in the nation. This figure was not even including the Department of Defense nuclear energy plants or any of the Pentagon’s civilian contractors, who have their own toxic legacies as well. Outside of Denver, Colorado, the Army Corp of Engineers christened the 100 acres at Rocky Mountain Arsenal, “the Earth’s most toxic square mile.” That area was used as a dump for storing waste from the production of nerve gases, pesticides, and a host of unknown chemicals from the 1940s through the ‘70s.
For the past 90 years, perhaps longer, the United States Defense Department has created thousands of toxic waste sites across the country. Many of these are located on military bases, research facilities, and current and former manufacturing locations. The waste ranges from high-level radioactive waste that will be active for centuries to come to old dumps used to dispose of unused mustard gas, toxic nerve agents, and other weapons of war.
Military bases are in every state in our country. They range in size from a few hundred acres up to many square miles in size. The one thing all these bases have in common is the public knows nothing about what is happening inside the fences. This lack of transparency has led to many of the bases having toxic waste sites where previous military or disposal activities have taken place.
The focus of this chapter is hazards for both people living on and near the base. The biggest obstacle in the discussion is the lack of accountability and transparency of the polluters. While much has already been exposed and made known about specific sites, there is plenty more that has not been found yet. This is further complicated by the wide range of toxins currently used and those used in the past. Tracking such a large amount of information, much of which is unknown, is exceedingly difficult. Thankfully, there are several outstanding databases and websites that list locations and suspected contaminants. By being aware of what already exists, we have an idea of what to look for. Our concern focuses both on avoiding exposure to the known hazards as much as possible and avoiding the ones that may turn up later.
According to recent figures, in 2017 there are 130 sites that are military bases and installations on the National Superfund List. The sites placed on this list are the worst of the worst. There are about 1,317 Superfund sites in total, so the military has created 10% of them. Again, that is only counting sites known to date. Many military installations and proving grounds are completely off limits.
The lack of transparency creates long-term situations that outside of a military setting may have been taken care of. A good example is Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. For decades the water at Camp Lejeune was contaminated by cancer-causing chemical solvents, including known carcinogens such as trichloroethylene, perchlorate, and benzene among others. Exposure to these chemicals are associated with miscarriages, birth defects and a range of cancers.
Who knew what and when they knew it is still in dispute, but, there were over 900,000 people both on and off the base between the 1950s and 1990s who drank, cooked with, and bathed in the water, never told it was contaminated with all these toxic chemicals. There are terrible stories of cancers, miscarriages, and children born with physical and mental disabilities. Moreover, children born there later suffered childhood diseases and cancer that could not otherwise be explained. Eventually, the base acknowledged the issue, but not until a large number of people were affected for life.
A website from the Veterans Administration lists diseases which may have been a result of living on the base for 30 days or longer during a period of years exposure was uncontrolled. They are leukemia, bladder and kidney cancer, liver cancer, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and parkinson’s disease. There are quite a few more as well.
Part of the problem is people in the service have to unquestioningly follow orders. The opportunity to avoid a situation is sometimes out of individuals’ control regardless of what they know about the risks they are taking.
The biggest environmental threats from these bases comes from actions the bases fail to take. Once known about, the waste can usually be monitored to ensure the contamination is not spreading farther and contaminating water resources or additional lands. The unknown, hidden, or ignored damage is hardest to address. Many of these contaminated sites were created with full knowledge of the substances and what the results would be from handling and disposal of the wastes.
An old report from the Federal General Accounting Office to the Department of Defense stated that they had a problem and expected it to be taken care of. The report back then said, “Over 15 million acres in the United States are suspected of being or known to be contaminated with military munitions. These sites include ranges on closing military installations, closed ranges on active installations, and formerly used defense sites.” Much of this has yet to be taken care of despite the Department of Defense’s responsibility to do so.
There are many thousands of people affected by the tremendous extent of military base pollution. On the base or in the surrounding areas, very little is left untouched by the toxic legacy the military created. The main areas of danger from the known hazardous waste sites are similar to other toxic dumps. Because of what is not being told to the public and what is being hidden, the potential risks increase exponentially.
On base or nearby, water supplies for tens of thousands of people have been contaminated with everything from radioactive materials to dry cleaning fluids and PFOS. Other chemicals disposed of improperly include toxic wastes illegally disposed in unlined pits and old nerve and mustard gas burned out in the open. There seems to be no end to the ways the military has polluted and contaminated the drinking water supply, not only for their own bases, but for many towns and cities nearby. There also seems to be no end to new discoveries of places where toxic waste has turned up to add another town to the growing list.
The dangers of known and unknown toxic contaminants in water supplies make living on or near a military installation a questionable gamble. Many of these military bases and neighboring communities are at risk from widespread use of a substance group known as PFAS. This stands for “perfluorinated alkyl substances.” Since this chemical substance has been invented, it has worked its way into almost every human body. This substance is one of a group of chemicals called “forever chemicals.” They never break down and persist in the environment and human body. Originally, PFAS were proclaimed a miracle substance as one of its original widespread uses was non-stick cooking pans and pots.
Many other uses for these substances have been developed over the years. One of the other widespread uses was for fighting fires. PFAS was added to firefighting foam because it excelled at quickly smothering and extinguishing fires. Unfortunately, this chemical is now suspected to be cancer-causing, contaminating water supplies at many military bases and the communities they were in. In a report from the Pentagon’s PFAS Task Force released Feb. 13, the Department of Defense had previously identified 651 active or former military bases where perfluorooctane sulfonate or perfluorooctanoic acid, also known as PFOS and PFOA, may have been used or released. In fact, at the former England Air Force Base near Alexandria, Louisiana, PFAS concentrations of 20.7 million parts per trillion were found. The EPA sees 70 parts per trillion as the threshold level.
The Pentagon further reported a minimum of 126 military sites had potentially dangerous levels of PFAS in the drinking water. The Department of Defense tested 2,668 wells that depend on local groundwater and found 61% of them exceeded the EPA’s safe level for PFAS. The CDC issued a report that this substance can be hazardous at 1/10th the level the EPA’s legal limit.
In Newburgh, New York, the toxic chemical PFOS was found in private wells and the public water supply, Lake Washington. Residents for years used the water for drinking, cooking, and bathing. The town says the source of the pollution is the Stewart Air National Guard Base nearby. The base is also the site of a Superfund .
In Fallon, Nevada, near the Naval Air Station there are high rates of certain rare diseases and cancers, including childhood leukemia. The population of Fallon is 8,000 total. In 2000, nine children were diagnosed with a rare leukemia. Sixteen more were diagnosed over the next six years, ultimately marking the town as having the most significant cluster of childhood leukemia cases in the history of the country. Possible links to a leaking pipeline carrying jet fuel (which contains PFAS) and groundwater possibly contaminated with radiation were investigated as they may have been a cause. Other experts pointed to high arsenic levels in the water and levels of tungsten. No conclusive cause has ever been found, only suspected possibilities, most traceable back to the military base.
On beautiful Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Military Reservation is believed to be the source of perchlorate found in the water supply for the town of Bourne. The chemical is used in rocket artillery., and the contaminated well is located one mile from the base. Tests showed 70% of the town’s water supply had been contaminated. Ingesting perchlorate over a period of time has an effect on the thyroid gland. The exposure may reduce thyroid activity leading to a serious condition known as hypothyroidism. This condition can have adverse effects on the nervous, pulmonary and the cardiovascular system. It also is known to affect the liver, kidneys, muscular and reproductive system.
In South Carolina, houses located near Fort Jackson had their water source test positive for RDX. The chemical RDX is an ingredient in making hand grenades. The affected wells have been closed, and the Army is supplying water to the houses while they figure out what to do. While the CDC does not know what effects drinking water contaminated with RDX has on humans, they have determined it is a possible human carcinogen. In addition, rats and mice who ingested RDX showed signs of liver and kidney damage.
Outside Spokane, Washington, people living around Fairchild Air Force Base in the Airway Heights area drank water contaminated with PFOA and PFOS. This chemical was used in firefighting foams, probably for decades, before the contamination was discovered or at least made public. The city is trying to find an alternative source of clean water for the residents. In the meantime, the residents are on their own to find alternatives to drinking more of the contaminated water. Many wells in the area exceed the EPA’s safety standards dozens of times over.
Research into all the health effects are ongoing, but the chemicals have been linked to lower birth weights in infants and birth defects. Increased risk for certain cancers is also associated with high exposure to these compounds according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
At a Naval station in Virginia Beach, Virginia, there was a spill of 94,000 gallons of jet fuel. The fuel spilled into a nearby waterway less than one mile from the ocean. Two local creeks were contaminated by the fuel, and there were 200 homes in the neighborhoods impacted by the spill. The Navy paid to relocate 48 families to other housing while the fuel spill was being cleaned up. Over 1,700 tons of contaminated soil needed to be removed and disposed of. While the Navy said no people were directly affected by the spill, there was concern. Exposure to jet fuel may cause damage to the liver and impaired neurological functioning, and if the skin is exposed to the fuel, the chemicals will be absorbed through the skin. People exposed in other cases have shown chemicals in their blood, fat, brain, lungs, and liver.
Buried underground, sometimes deep, sometimes just below the surface, is waste carelessly disposed of on and near military installations. The way this waste was disposed of shows severe disregard for the environment and the people who live in the areas they polluted.
Near Frederic, Maryland, next to Fort Detrick, a developer was hoping to build a planned community. The discovery of biological, radioactive, and chemical waste changed these plans. For years, the army routinely buried this waste on the base in unlined pits as many others did. Leaking radioactive and chemical waste contaminated the groundwater underneath and created a plume that spread off-site to the areas outside the base. One cancer-causing chemical, trichloroethylene, was detected at a level 42 times the maximum set by the EPA. The EPA says this solvent is associated with central nervous system disorders, immunological and developmental effects, and some cancers.
San Diego, California, is home to a massive Navy base. The Navy has the distinction of being named the largest polluter in the San Diego area. Over the past 80 years, 100 toxic waste sites have been credited to them. The naval base currently has eight active hazardous waste sites listed as undergoing some type of remediation. The chemicals include dioxins, arsenic, PCBs, radioactive elements, heavy metals and explosives. The contamination may extend beyond the boundaries of the base onto private and public lands in addition to contamination of the groundwater. According to Propublica in California overall, the military has 598 military locations with at least one hazardous waste site.
In Paducah, Kentucky, radioactive waste was found outside the fenced area where a Department of Energy facility produced enriched uranium to be used in nuclear weapons, commercial power plants, and the Navy’s nuclear submarines. The latest find of more radioactive waste was located in a lot covered up by a layer of soil.
Recently, evidence of radioactive metals in the groundwater and radioactive ooze was discovered by workers near the plant who noticed the ground oozing a tar-like substance after they drove their truck through an area outside the plant boundary.
Thousands of tons of radioactive waste have routinely been buried in ditches and in piles inside the plant property. Workers at the facility alleged radioactive waste was also being dumped outside the plant in the woods and areas easily accessible to the public.
Workers from the plant also said radioactive waste was sent to a nearby landfill that was not authorized to accept any hazardous waste. The Department of Energy disputes that and claims no knowledge of any waste not disposed of properly. The department produced records from their private hauler that show only uncontaminated trash and garbage being taken to the landfill.
In 2018 workers at the plant took multiple truckloads of contaminated soil to a nearby residents home who was looking for fill dirt.
The groundwater near the plant and the site itself has been contaminated with trichloroethylene, which was also found in some residents’ wells along with traces of uranium. The groundwater also is contaminated with radioactive technetium-99 and PCBs. There are two plumes of contamination approximately 2-4 miles long traveling out from the base. Billions of gallons of TCE contaminated water has been pumped up and disposed into a nearby creek running past neighbors homes and into the Ohio River. One of the creeks being used run through a 120 acre property belonging to a long time resident. Signs are posted all along the creek warning not to contact the water. The well which used to supply the property with water has been padlocked due to TCE contamination from the DOE facility. TCE causes damage to the central nervous system and causes kidney cancer according to the National Cancer Institute. It also could increase risks of liver cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The family living there has severe gastrointestinal issues they attribute to the water prior to finding out it was contaminated.
In San Francisco, California, radioactive items were found less than a foot from the surface of the ground at the upscale neighborhood known as the San Francisco Shipyard. The area features condos selling for close to $1.5 million. In this project, which some call the area’s $8 billion neighborhood, residences were built over what used to be a top secret nuclear testing facility run by the Navy. One of the many functions they performed there was to examine ships and equipment that had been exposed to atomic bomb explosions. The radioactivity from the objects found would expose anyone in contact with it to radiation over six times the limit for nuclear power plant operators.
There is now concern the converted former shipyard may be holding more radioactive items beneath the surface. One past employee who worked at the shipyard during its Navy days claimed radioactive objects similar to the one discovered were routinely just thrown away. In the ‘90s, when people began to move into the housing, chemicals including DDT, lead, and dioxin were discovered under the area of the schoolyard, daycare center, and in some of the homes’ yards. The residents were told by the Navy not to worry but to not garden or disturb the soil. A few years later, lead, dioxin, and benzene were also found under the schoolyard. One sample of lead registered 22 times the level deemed safe by the EPA. DDT levels were found at 31 time EPA levels considered safe. One count had a total of 1,289 radioactive items that have been removed.
Rashes, asthma, thyroid issues, and ovarian cysts have all been reported by people living in these properties. Records reviewed by news agencies confirm complaints were made to the state about asthma, lumps, children losing hair, and cancers. At one point the state of California advised residents not to allow pets or children to track any soil from the yards inside the house.
The issues are ongoing at this project, and there are more toxic and hazardous materials expected to be found. Nobody really has any type of solution or knows the additional health effects on residents from exposure to the materials already found and yet to be discovered.
The spread of contamination from these installations is challenging to determine. With other operations, such as a trash incinerator, researchers are able to do independent testing and review paperwork and records (with varying levels of trustworthiness) to determine what is coming out of the smokestack. The military, on the other hand, disposes of and stores hazardous wastes and materials in a variety of different ways. This confusing array of practices creates additional exposure, but just what this exposure is and where it is located isn’t readily apparent. It is hard to tell what to even look for.
Despite this level of confusion, many of the obvious risks posed by military bases are airborne pollutants. There are installations where open air burning of old bombs, ammunition, and hazardous materials send thick, billowing clouds of toxic materials over all the neighboring areas. There are open and uncovered waste dumps where leaking and half-full drums of chemical defoliants and other chemicals sit, allowing their toxic contents to evaporate into the air to float someplace where they are inhaled. There are fuel spills large enough to fill the tanks of dozens of vehicles, possibly occurring on an almost daily basis. Furthermore, the military has been known to utilize mobile incinerators to burn everything from hazardous waste to contaminated soil. Nobody ever really knows what is happening, and that it is very scary for those who live near one of these bases.
In West Valley City, Utah, at the ATK Bacchus Facility Naval Industrial Reserve Ordnance plant, there is an area set aside for open burning of hazardous waste. In spite of there being safer alternatives than open air burning with no pollution control devices at all, the base continues the practice. No place in the entire United States is allowed to burn hazardous wastes open air like this except on military bases. Sixty one of them according to Propublica. Across the entire country there are bases just like this one burning hazardous waste in the open without regard for the environment and human health.
We honestly do not know for certain how much pollution is sent into the air and what it may contain. We do, however, know for certain this happens, and it happens in many more ways than the several examples we used. By her own admission, Maureen Sullivan, the person in charge of the Pentagon’s environmental program, has to deal with 39,000 different contaminated sites under her jurisdiction.
Tony and I are continually stunned when we hear that yet another discovery of hazardous waste has been made. We really should not be, but we are. To us, it is incomprehensible how so much has been destroyed by our government. Much of the pollution is ongoing to this day. There are still about five dozen or so military sites where they burn hazardous waste in open pits. As documented by the EPA, there currently are sites operated by the Department of Defense or their contractors that annually burn and destroy millions of pounds of waste, including explosives, not in specially constructed furnaces or disposal units to prevent any pollution from escaping, but in the open. Everything that goes up in smoke also goes into the air and the environment.
It was announced in 2019 that the Radford Army Ammunition Plant in Radford, Virginia, will be constructing an incinerator to be able to burn waste onsite. The hope is much of the waste that is currently burned in open pits with no pollution controls at all will now be incinerated in equipment offering some type of reduction in toxic emissions. The Army is, however, still keeping the possibility of open burning, depending on future needs. It is also entirely possible that the base may start receiving hazardous waste from other military bases around the country, making this area the epicenter for hazardous waste disposal in the country.
In Arizona where I currently live, there is an Air Force base. It has a hazardous waste site on it that has contaminated some of the underground water supply. The distance between the base and me is about 10 miles. Because it is an Air Force base, there are many jets taking off and landing. There are many days when they deafeningly fly directly overhead. However, when we moved into the area, we were told about this, signed a knowledge of disclosure, and are simply fine with watching our military pilots in the air. The point is, we were told and knew.
If you have a choice in how close you locate near a government or military installation, we suggest placing some distance between you and the base. Plumes of contaminated water have been known to travel distances of 4-5 miles (such as the Gruman plume in Bethpage, Long Island, New York). Giving yourself up to five miles is reasonable. Almost without a doubt, there are going to be more public discoveries of new hazardous waste situations at almost every one of the places.