Military Toxics

OUR OWN WORST ENVIRONMENTAL ENEMY:
THE U-S MILITARY'S TOXIC LEGACY

Over the last fifty years, the making of war and the ongoing war economy have been the wold's most environmentally destructive activities, both in regard to the preservation of the natural World and to human and other species. We know very well what war does to the environment. We only need to remember the vision of hundreds of oil fires burning in Kuwait, or recall the millions of pounds of Agent Orange dropped in Vietnam or hear stories about the four million land mines in Cambodia, which had made that country the amputee capital of the world. Most people know that "war is not good for children and other living things".

But most people do not think about the ongoing activities of the military as being threats to the natural and human environment. A brief description of the problem suffices to make the case.

The Department of Defense is the nation's largest toxic polluter. By the DOD's own admission, there are over 11,000 toxic "hot spots" on 1,855 military facilities. More than 100 Department of Defense (DOD) installations are on, or proposed for inclusion on, the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Superfund list of the most poisoned pieces of real estate in the U.S. Since 1989, 91 U.S. bases with over 1,600 active toxic cleanup sites have been slated for closure, In addition to its own bases, the Pentagon is listed as a Potentially Responsible Party in poisoning 53 privately-owned Superfund sites, including dumps, properties formerly operated by the military, and contractor-owned weapons plants.

The problems go far beyond past dumping. In producing, maintaining, testing and dismantling military vehicles, explosives, nuclear and chemical weapons and rockets the military continues to generate enormous amounts of deadly waste products, Military bases across the country threaten surrounding communities with toxic releases ranging from plumes of groundwater contaminated with heavy metals to uranium exposure from weapons production to poisonous emissions, from the open burning of solid rocket fuel.

DOD 'cleanup' efforts frequently increase the immediate public health threat through the release of deadly poisons into the atmosphere. For example, public health researchers have found increased cancer rates around Otis Air Force Base in Massachusetts, which they believe is linked to the military's burning of spent rocket fuel. Pollution from defense contractors adds to the-overall toxic burden of the military. The top 10 military contractors are listed 133 times by the EPA as Potentially Responsible Parties at the nation's 100 most seriously polluted Superfund sites.

The military's drain on resources and its addiction to dangerous chemicals is equally devastating. The DOD is the largest user of trichloroethylene, a carcinogen that has contaminated virtually every military installation in the United States. It is also the largest user of CFCs, the chemicals chiefly responsible for destroying the ozone layer. It is also the largest purchaser of oil, paper, many precious metals, and a host of other resources. In the last several years, the military has generated more toxics annually than the five top chemical companies combined.

In terms of its drain on economic and intellectual resources, the DOD accounts for approximately 70% of all federally sponsored research and development. The costs of cleaning up the mess the Departments of Defense and Energy have created range from $300-$500 billion. This amount does not account for ongoing environmentally destructive activities. Meanwhile, the Defense budget continues to sail through Congress at $265 billion with only a tiny fraction allocated to clean up the mess the Pentagon has created.

Many of the communities defending themselves from military environmental threats are poor white communities, communities of color and indigenous peoples. There have been more nuclear bombs exploded on Western Shoshone lands in Nevada than any other place on the planet. The people being courted to take nuclear waste as "economic development" are the Mescallero Apache in New Mexico. Military base and contractors have devastated the ecosystem and sacred lands of Hawaii and Alaska, destroyed the salmon breeding grounds relied upon by many native tribes along the Columbia River basin in Washington, contaminated poor minority communities from Oklahoma City to Savannah to Albuquerque to Denver and scores of other communities around the nation.

The Military Toxics Project, based in Maine, is working with over 100 grassroots groups in five networks to support local organizing campaigns and build enough power to get the Pentagon to clean up its act.

• Citizens Base Closure Network (36 activists from 13 states representing groups concerned about contamination at bases slated to be closed). The base closure network works at the national level to expand cleanup monies and promote sustainable re-use and supports groups at the local level to win the right to participate in cleanup and conversion decisions.
• Chemical Weapons Working Group (20 activists representing 9 communities targeted for incineration, one with a facility already operating). The group has discovered there are over 200 communities nationwide that have stockpiles of chemical warfare materials potentially targeted for incineration. The communities facing the immediate threat of incineration want to join forces with the group of 200 to undertake a joint campaign for sate disposal alternatives. The Kentucky Environmental Foundation has become the lead grassroots group in facilitating the Chemical Weapons Network.
• Citizen's Depleted Uranium Network (29 activists from 17 states representing groups working on issues related to the production of weapons and tanks with depleted uranium). Depleted uranium weapons are low-level radioactive hazards, particularly when the uranium oxidizes, and they are toxic as well. The Depleted Uranium Network considers DU weapons the potential "Agent Orange of the 90s", and is working to raise public awareness about its dangers and discontinue its use. The Gulf War was the first time that DU weapons were deployed. Studies will soon be underway to determine if the health problems reported by many returning veterans are linked to their exposure to uranium weapons during the Gulf War.
• Conventional Munitions Network (22 activists from 13 states representing groups working on conventional Munitions issue"), This network represents communities situated next to firing and bombing ranges, or facing health risks from the open burning of conventional weapons. They are working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to initiate rules regarding the testing and disposal of conventional munitions.
• Rocket Toxics Network (18 activists from 11 states representing groups working to oppose solid rocket fuel use and open pit burning of rocket fuel). The rocket toxics groups expect to continue their work to derail the development of the Advanced Solid Rocket Motor, and will also be working for safe disposal alternatives. This network will probably expand into a military contractor network.

There is a lot of talk these days about sustainability, and very little sense of what it means. It is impossible to imagine that our society will ever move to anything remotely resembling "sustainable" until we demilitarize and detoxify.

Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice (CCAEJ)
PO Box 33124 * Riverside, CA 92519
Phone (951) 360-8451 * Fax (951) 360-5950
Website: http://www.ccaej.org
E-Mail: admin@ccaej.org