March 3, 2009
'Safe Water' May Have Been Contaminated; Suit Alleges Military Contractor
Supplied Toxic Water; Certain WV Guardsmen Asked to Get Medical Screenings
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) - A water plant in Iraq, maintained by a defense contractor, may have contained toxic levels of the same chemical about which Hollywood's Julia Roberts played impassioned legal investigator Erin Brockovich. Hexavalent chromium, which is used in the removal of pipe corrosion, has been linked to lung cancer.
The Army Times reported that a civilian computer aide who served with with the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing sued KBR , Nov. 26 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, claiming that safe water for hygienic and recreational use , safe food supplies and properly operating medical waste incinerators. Sixteen Indiana guardsmen sued in December alleging respiratory tumors have developed from exposure at that site. The Military Times called it "an open burn pit" at the largest U.S. base "may have exposed tens of thousands of troops, contractors, and Iraqis to cancer causing dioxins." The "plume" from the pit covered 15-square miles, according to the Military Times.
Now, the West Virginia National Guard needs to locate about 25 troops who served in that area six years ago. The VA wants them to report for a medical screening.
Two U.S. Senators have since learned that the contract for the Qarmat Ali plant left KBR with a risk assessment duty too.
The company, a spin off of Halliburton, has been the subject of other suits, including one for corruption that was settled by the military for $559 million dollars in late January 2009. (Click: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/26/AR2009012602 374.html).
For details of the Military Times and Army Times stories, click: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2008/10/military_burnpit_102708 or http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/12/military_kbr_lawsuit_121508w/
The Southern Texas District Court was the venue where many Enron cases have been litigated. http://www.txs.uscourts.gov/notablecases.
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'Safe Water' May Have Been Contaminated; Suit Alleges Military Contractor
Supplied Toxic Water; Certain WV Guardsmen Asked to Get Medical Screenings
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) - A water plant in Iraq, maintained by a defense contractor, may have contained toxic levels of the same chemical about which Hollywood's Julia Roberts played impassioned legal investigator Erin Brockovich. Hexavalent chromium, which is used in the removal of pipe corrosion, has been linked to lung cancer.
The Army Times reported that a civilian computer aide who served with with the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing sued KBR , Nov. 26 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, claiming that safe water for hygienic and recreational use , safe food supplies and properly operating medical waste incinerators. Sixteen Indiana guardsmen sued in December alleging respiratory tumors have developed from exposure at that site. The Military Times called it "an open burn pit" at the largest U.S. base "may have exposed tens of thousands of troops, contractors, and Iraqis to cancer causing dioxins." The "plume" from the pit covered 15-square miles, according to the Military Times.
Now, the West Virginia National Guard needs to locate about 25 troops who served in that area six years ago. The VA wants them to report for a medical screening.
Two U.S. Senators have since learned that the contract for the Qarmat Ali plant left KBR with a risk assessment duty too.
The company, a spin off of Halliburton, has been the subject of other suits, including one for corruption that was settled by the military for $559 million dollars in late January 2009. (Click: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/26/AR2009012602 374.html).
For details of the Military Times and Army Times stories, click: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2008/10/military_burnpit_102708 or http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/12/military_kbr_lawsuit_121508w/
The Southern Texas District Court was the venue where many Enron cases have been litigated. http://www.txs.uscourts.gov/notablecases.
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Make HNN Your Homepage (IE Users Only)
