Burn pit caused injuries, suit says
Disposal of toxic wastes improper, servicemen claim
By Paul Bowers
Derrol Turner returned in December 2005 to Goose Creek from the U.S. Air Force's Joint Base Balad with a chronic cough and shortness of breath. A doctor told him his lungs looked as if he had been smoking a pack of cigarettes a day for 20 years.
Turner had never smoked a cigarette in his life.
Turner, 50, a technical sergeant in the Air Force Reserve, attributes the damage to the noxious smoke he inhaled every day from a trash-burning pit on the Iraq base. He is one of three Charleston-area servicemen who filed a class-action lawsuit Wednesday against Kellogg, Brown & Root, the company the Department of Defense hired to run day-to-day services, including waste disposal, at many U.S. military bases.
The lawsuit
Read the class-action lawsuit against Kellogg, Brown & Root, (17 page PDF)
"Balad was the M.A.S.H. unit for Iraq," Turner said. "So you can imagine what they were burning."
The lawsuit alleges that KBR burned hazardous waste on various U.S. military bases, including not only human corpses and biohazardous medical supplies, but also Styrofoam, tires, lithium batteries, asbestos insulation, paint, items containing pesticides and latrine waste.
"The pit was in the northeast corner of the base, and guess which direction 98 percent of the wind came from? The northeast," Turner said.
KBR Director of Communications Heather Browne said in an official statement that the company did not operate the Balad burn pit. Browne did not comment on activities at
other bases where KBR is alleged to hold waste-removal contracts.
"It should also be noted that any burn pit operated in Iraq or Afghanistan is done pursuant to Army guidelines and regulations," Browne said.
Attorney Elizabeth Burke and the Burke O'Neil law firm represent Turner and two other servicemen, Vincent C. Moseley of Summerville and Alex Harley of Goose Creek, in the case.
"KBR has just shown an utter disregard for the health of the soldiers in Iraq," Burke said. "They've put money over safety at every turn."
Turner's case is the latest in a nationwide series of unresolved lawsuits against the company that began with a Texas case in November. Other plaintiffs have experienced cancer, gastrointestinal diseases and dermatological conditions.
Houston-based Halliburton Co., which owned KBR until April 2007, also is named as a defendant in the case. Its public relations personnel were unavailable for comment.
Turner now must await the lawsuit's outcome, but he has not sat idly. Turner traveled to Washington, D.C., for a press conference Thursday with Rep. Tim Bishop, D-N.Y., who proposed a bill to regulate the upkeep of burn pits by contracting companies such as KBR.
"KBR thinks it's a joke," Turner said.
He keeps a steroid inhaler on hand for his weakened lungs, which have significant scarring and seven hardened masses.
"I feel it getting worse," Turner said. "I've got shortness of breath, and I've got shorter shortness of breath."
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counterpoint (anonymous) says...
It's Obama's fault.
June 12, 2009 at 9:28 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
desspec (anonymous) says...
Any time some one files suit and runs to the press a red flag goes up ...
June 12, 2009 at 10:19 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MRSCVS (anonymous) says...
Oh stop it everything is OBAMA fault I guess thatthe fact that your still breathing is his fault as well.
Get a life and give the President a chance...
June 12, 2009 at 11:01 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
realamerican (anonymous) says...
Evidently Cheney's corporate goons thought they could get away with poisoning the troops as well as electrocuting them.
They are traitors to the country and the troops just as Cheney and Bush are. We need criminal trials not civil trials for these enemies of the people.
Hang em high!!
June 12, 2009 at 11:36 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
majorjohnson (anonymous) says...
How can this be KBR's fault if they didn't even run the burn pit at Balad? On top of that it was run under military guidlines and regulations. You "hate bush so much I quit using my brain" types are just pretty incredible. The only thing you know about this case at all is that there is a KBR in it and is negative and therefore it's got to be true. If someone printed a story saying KBR was killing children in Charleston with meat cleavers you'd all be saying the same thing. You're pitiful.
June 12, 2009 at 12:38 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
zoomru (anonymous) says...
Hmm......
....and how many service men and women serving in Djibouti experience the SAME thing...???
That is why I've learned about the PLASMA Converters from www.startech.net that should be installed in ALL cities to close landfills.
The Djiboutian Landfill is burned regularly at least twice a week; and when prevalent WINDS blow, those in tents are exposed to who knows WHAT...!!
I know ...I experienced "The HAZING" along with a number of fellow South Carolinians serving with me in Djibouti.!!!! The best I can do for OUR soldiers and fellow citizens is to EDUCATE everyone in the comment SECTION about the SOLUTION to the PROBLEM that WASTE Management and County Council and Newspaper Editors across our state specifically ...Ignore !!!!!
June 12, 2009 at 1:27 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
zoomru (anonymous) says...
Attorney Elizabeth Burke and the Burke O'Neil law firm.....
Well....well.....well
Miss "Libeth" Burke.....how are you?? Have you ever been to ABERDEEN Proving grounds ...???
They have a PLASMA Converter ...!!!
Do you KNOW how other trash is disposed of in NAPLES, Italy....or Sigonella.....or Souda Bay..???
Mrs. Burke......where is your TRASH DUMPED...!?!?!
1) Do you realize that it is ....ENERGY ???
2) Do you realize that with Recycling and Plasma Converters that ALL Landfills in the NATION could be closed FOREVER....!?!?!?!
Mrs Burke...........
June 12, 2009 at 1:37 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
apostolou22 (anonymous) says...
I don't know who runs the burn pit at Balad, but the denial by KBR or responsibility is likely a crafty (although probably legal) evasion.
I'm here in Balad on my third trip since 2006, and can say that the burn pit was far more noxious in 2006 than it is now. While improvements have been made to the operation, many of us who have spent time here believe that it is the cause of many maladies we have collectively experienced.
I don't know whether the pit was run "pursuant to Army guidelines and regulations", I do know that the fumes were (and are) noxious. I also know that I have personally had issues with my respiratory system and sinuses, since first being exposed to the burn pit from July through October 2006.
Whether KBR or the Army is culpable in this scenario is really beside the point. The point is that our military, it's allied partners, civilian contractors (like myself), local nationals and third country nationals believe they have been adversely impacted by the operation of this burn pit. Many of us have medical documentation and official memoranda to substantiate our conjecture.
Partisanship and personal politics really have no place in this debate.
Instead of bickering about that, we should be trying to help the people impacted by this problem, attempting to get them the help they need, and determining who the responsible parties are and holding them accountable.
Matthew Apostolou
June 12, 2009 at 4:11 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
majorjohnson (anonymous) says...
I do agree that it sounds like a wrong situation, my response wasn't to indicate that there was no problem. I was pointing out that posters, based on no real factual information, chose to find KBR and even Dick Cheney guilty as alleged.
I also am most concerned with fixing the current situation and helping any troops affected. Finding fault should be the secondary concern. Ultimately the army is at fault if they allowed kbr or any other company to build improperly and endanger the troops. Hard to believe that at the MASH unit for Iraq this kind of condition could have been unoticed by the Army. If a company was streaming raw sewage through the camp for 4 years could the army say they just never noticed and the fault lies with the company that did it?
And these servicemen should be getting any health care or disability pay needed from the government. The suit with KBR is nothing but money, so the only people they CAN sue is the deep private pockets somewhere.
June 12, 2009 at 4:56 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Kingjackabobo (anonymous) says...
I was there in 06. I don't know if Turner's claim is 100% valid or not, but whoever ran the burn pit, KBR of one of its many shell comapnies burned aything and everything. i used to fly over that huge burn pit every night, and it was horrible. Its entirly possible that he could have been exposed to something. I will tell you that people burned or dumped things in that country that they would NEVER burn or dump in the states. It was shameful.
June 12, 2009 at 7:54 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
apostolou22 (anonymous) says...
June 24, 2009 - Little update. The past week there has been a steady stream of trucks removing the remnants of the burn pit here at Balad. Seems suspect to me.
June 24, 2009 at 5:20 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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