Pesticide Contamination Military Family Housing – News

Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe

• The lawsuit alleges breaches of contract, violation of the landlord-tenant code, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, fraud and unfair and deceptive trade practices.
• The lawsuit alleges the company failed to properly inform military families of potential health dangers posed by contaminated soil under and around the foundations of older buildings which were demolished and replaced between 2006 and the present.
• According to the company’s soil studies recently provided to the Department of Health, chemicals found included chlordane, heptachlor, aldrin, dieldrin, and endrin, formerly used to protect buildings’ foundations against ground termites and other pests. Most are known or probable carcinogens. Contact with contaminated soil, ingestion, or inhalation of chemical residue can cause other health effects. These products are no longer allowed for general use.
• Residents, children and their pets suffered chronic respiratory, neurological and skin disorders, and some children required emergency resuscitation, repeated trips to emergency rooms, excessive medical care and medications to simply breathe, Barber said.

Hawaii Monitor: Contaminated Dirt Triggers Military Housing Lawsuit
Honolulu Civil Beat-Jun 18, 2014
Hawaii Monitor: Contaminated Dirt Triggers Military Housing Lawsuit. It started with four plaintiffs, but a judge will decide if families’ claims at …

Hawaii military families file lawsuit; say housing project made them sick
Hawaii Reporter-Jun 5, 2014
The homes, which contained mold, sat atop contaminated soil that contained … When the military housing was built in 2005, tests confirmed the …

George Air Force Base, CA

George AFB’s Family Housing – Completed Exposure Pathways

On 1 October 2007, the Air Force placed the following conditional use clause in the George AFB Family Housing Quit Claim Deed:

“Grantee covenants and agrees that it will not use, or allow others to use, the Property for residential purposes (including mobile or modular homes), hospitals for human care, public or private schools for persons under 18 years of age, nursery schools, or day care centers for children.”

“Pesticides. The Grantee is warned of the presence of Dieldrin or other possible pesticide-related constituents (“Pesticides”) on the Property in certain portions of the soil and in the upper aquifer [and lower aquifer] of the groundwater, which may have resulted from past applications of pesticides. The Grantee is cautioned to use due care during use, occupancy, and Property development activities that may involve soils containing Pesticides.”

• The Air Force is required by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) 120(H) to make full disclosure of known contaminants when the property is transferred.
• The Air Force failed to list all of the Pesticides used under and around the George AFB Housing.
• The Air Force  chose to deceive the public and the recipient of the property by using the following vague phrase: “Dieldrin or other possible pesticide-related constituents (“Pesticides”)”
• It was common practice for the Air Force and DOD to use the following  “Pesticides” chlordane, heptachlor, aldrin, dieldrin, and endrin to protect buildings’ foundations against ground termites and other pests.

It has been almost seven years since this deed restriction was issued, and the Air Force yet to inform military families of the potential health dangers posed by contaminated soil under and around the George AFB Housing.

Dieldrin:

• 1974
  •  The Environmental Protection Agency banned dieldrin use in 1974, except to control termites, because of concerns about damage to the environment and potentially to humans.
• 1987
  • In 1987, EPA banned all use.
• There are no federal drinking water standards for dieldrin.

Treasure Island Naval Station

Developer expects earlier start to Treasure Island work
SFGate-May 23, 2014
Even as the Navy gears up to conduct radiation contamination tests … and much of the former military housing became subsidized rentals for …