Contact Deborah Lee James, SECAF

This is my letter to Deborah Lee James, Secretary of the Air Force, asking her to release of records and request a new Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), Public Health Assessment for George AFB.

What can I do?

Contact the Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James, the President, your Senators, and Congressman or Congresswoman and request a new Public Health Assessment for George AFB.

Over fifty thousand people may have been exposed to hazardous chemicals at the former George Air Force Base, CA, “EPA Superfund ID: CA2570024453” and surrounding community. We desperately need the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) conduct a new Public Health Assessment for George AFB and surrounding community.

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Frank Vera III
P.O. Box 1313
Jamestown, CA 95327-1313
Phone:
Email:
www.GeorgeAFB.Info

5 May 2014
BY CERTIFIED MAIL: 7013-1090-0002-0602-7392

Deborah Lee James, SECAF
Secretary of the Air Force
1670 Air Force Pentagon
Washington, DC 20330-1060
Phone: 202-703-7376

Re: George Air Force Base, CA, “EPA Superfund ID: CA2570024453″

Dear Ms. Deborah Lee James, SECAF:

Please request a new Public Health Assessment for the former George Air Force Base, CA, “EPA Superfund ID: CA2570024453″.

The Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board recently released Deed Restrictions for George Air Force Base as required by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) §120(h).

Because of these CERCLA §120(h) Deed Restrictions, we now know that there were numerous Completed Exposure Pathways (CEPs) to the George AFB personnel, their families, civilian employees, and the surrounding community. The contaminated buildings, soil, air, upper and lower aquifers (these contaminated aquifers were the source for municipal and domestic drinking water supply wells for George AFB, Adelanto, several homes, and the Victor Valley Country Club) provided the Completed Exposure Pathways.

Hundreds, possibly thousands, of people, including children, are sick, dying, or dead after exposure to the extremely toxic contamination at George AFB. We desperately need the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) to conduct a new Public Health Assessment for George Air Force Base so that we can get medical care for friends and families, and help bring closure for those who lost their loved ones.

Please direct the Air Force to:

1. Grant the “Public-Interest Fee Waivers” status to www.GeorgeAFB.Info
2. Grant the “Representative Of The News Media” status to www.GeorgeAFB.Info
3. Declassify the records pertaining to the source of and the contamination at George AFB
4. Release all of the records pertaining to the contamination at George AFB
5. Release all of the Epidemiological, Environmental, Health Surveys for George AFB
6. Request a new ATSDR Public Health Assessment for George AFB
7. Notify the former base personnel of their exposure to potentially life threatening environmental contamination at George AFB
8. Notify the Department of Veterans Affairs about our Veterans’ potential exposure to hazardous chemicals at the former George Air Force Base so these veterans can get medical care
9. Notify CHAMPVA about our families’ potential exposure to hazardous chemicals at the former George Air Force Base so that our families can get medical care
10. Notify the San Bernardino County Health Officer that people living in the surrounding community were potentially exposed to hazardous chemicals from the former George Air Force Base so these people can get medical care

In closing, Ms. Deborah Lee James, as the Secretary of the Air Force, you are in a unique position to correct this injustice. Please help us.

Thank you,

Frank Vera III
www.GeorgeAFB.Info

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Please feel free to use this letter as a template for your letters.
Contact Elected Officials | Download a Sample Letter | Download the Groundwater and Soil Contamination Map

These CERCLA §120(h) Base Housing Deed Restrictions are included in the sample letter

For more information about the Housing Deed Restrictions
See: George AFB Housing – Completed Exposure Pathways

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Problems with Air Force FOIA

In order to get the records necessary to ask for a new Public Health Assessment I filed several FOIA requests for documents pertaining to the contamination at George AFB. In my FOIAs I had requested a “Public Interest Fee Waiver.” In the denial letter Mr. Thomas, Assistant Deputy General Counsel, AF, told me that it is not in the public’s interest or there is no public interest in releasing the information and/or furnishing the information will not contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the Air Force.

“Based on my review, I have determined that your request does not qualify for a [Public Interest] fee waiver.”

David L. Thomas, Assistant Deputy General Counsel
(Fiscal, Ethics and Administrative Law)
Department of the Air Force

Source: FOI AF – Appeal Denial – Fee Waiver – 15 April 2014

Mr. Thomas’ response when we are trying to get medical help for our loved ones is callous at best and possibly criminal considering the number of children who have died because of their in utero exposure, mothers’ exposure while nursing, and/or the children’s exposure to the contamination at George AFB.

FOIA Public Interest Fee Waiver:

“Documents shall be furnished without any charge or at a charge reduced below the fees established under clause if disclosure of the information is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester.”

Presidential Memorandum For Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies
75 F.R. § 4683, 4683 (Jan. 21, 2009)

“SUBJECT: Freedom of Information Act

The Government should not keep information confidential merely because public officials might be embarrassed by disclosure, because errors and failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract fears. Nondisclosure should never be based on an effort to protect the personal interests of Government officials at the expense of those they are supposed to serve.”

Source: MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES

The FOIA Appeal that was denied: 

• FOI AF – Appeal – Denial of Fee Waiver – Air Force Civil Engineer Center (AFCEC) – 13 March 2013

The FOIA Request:

• FOI AF Civil Engineer Center Record Bibliography Classified George AFB – 20 Feb 2013
• FOI AF Civil Engineer Center Technical Report Bibliography – 20 Feb 2013
• FOI AF Civil Engineer Center Sabol – 20 Feb 2013

This page was updated on: 05/14/2014