» Burn Pit Lawsuits

David Isenberg – KBR: Failing Upwards

March 5, 2010 — Ms Sparky

David Isenberg – Huffington Post
Author, Shadow Force: Private Security Contractors in Iraq (Praeger Security International)
Posted: March 5, 2010

I wonder who comes up with this KBR stuff?

Up is down, night is day, and now, in the best tradition of George Orwell’s 1984 newspeak KBR — the company that was the subject of a recent Department of Defense Inspect General report that found that the Army broke federal procurement rules in 2004, when two commanding generals improperly directed a contracting officer to pay millions of dollars in fees to KBR Inc., when funds should have been withheld, per the language in the contract with KBR – has been awarded its first task order under the newest version of LOGCAP.

For those who don’t know, LOGCAP is the mother of all logistics support contracts. Without it the U.S. Army simply can’t function.

The award also comes just a week after the Army announced that KBR would not be awarded $25 million in bonuses under the LOGCAP III Iraq support contract because KBR “failed to meet a level deserving of an award fee payment for work it did during the first four months of 2008.” Although the Army did not specifically cite it when announcing the withholding of the payment KBR’s “failed” work occurred during the time a Green Beret was electrocuted in a barracks shower in Iraq KBR was responsible for maintaining. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Law firms join forces to battle KBR on behalf of burn pit victims

February 26, 2010 — Ms Sparky

For Immediate Release

Media Contact:
Erin Powers
+1 281.703.6000 – phone
edp@powersmediaworks.com

Law Firms Motley Rice LLC and Burke PLLC Join Forces to Take on KBR and Halliburton on
Behalf of American Soldiers, Veterans and Civilians Exposed to
Burn Pit Hazards

Suit Claims Wartime Contractors Halliburton and KBR Knew Dangers of Burn Pit Exposure

CHARLESTON, S.C. – (February 24, 2010) Motley Rice LLC, one of the nation’s largest plaintiffs’ litigation firms, announces today that it has joined forces with Burke PLLC to jointly pursue claims for clients in the KBR, Inc., Burn Pit multidistrict litigation. The MDL encompasses suits against defense contractors who allegedly jeopardized the health and safety of thousands of American veterans, current service members and former contract employees by knowingly burning vast quantities of hazardous waste in open- air burn pits on U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yesterday, the Honorable Roger W. Titus of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland provided the parties with briefing schedules and hearing dates, including one on the defendants’ motions to dismiss.

Named defendants include: KBR, Inc. of Houston (NYSE: KBR); Kellogg, Brown & Root LLC, of Austin, Texas; Kellogg, Brown & Root Services, Inc., of Houston, Texas; Turkish-based ERKA Ltd.; and Halliburton Company, of Houston, Texas. The collective claims against these defendants include those for battery, breach of contract, breach of duty to warn, future medical expenses, intentional infliction of emotional distress, medical monitoring, negligence and wrongful death.

“The U.S. government entered into a contract with and paid millions to defendants Halliburton and KBR to ensure that they implemented our country’s strict safety standards for waste disposal. We believe these contractors failed to hold up their end of the deal by ignoring these standards, and now thousands have been unnecessarily poisoned,” stated Motley Rice co-founder, Joe Rice. “Our soldiers and service members understood the potential risk of warfare but never expected the harm to come from those who were hired to protect them.” (Read the rest of the story here…)

VA, DoD seek better data on burn-pit exposure

February 24, 2010 — Ms Sparky

By Kelly Kennedy – Staff writer – Army Times
Posted : Wednesday Feb 24, 2010 9:43:08 EST

As Veterans Affairs Department officials laid out a plan for the Institute of Medicine to look for links between certain symptoms and burn-pit exposure, they also quizzed Defense Department scientists about what they’ve already done in that regard.

“We have a particular need to solve this as best as we can,” said Victoria Cassano, acting director of VA’s Environmental Agents Service. “You tell us what the science is. You tell us what the evidence is. Do we have enough to [move] forward with a presumption or not?”

At the first meeting of the IOM’s Committee on the Long-Term Health Consequences of Exposure to Burn Pits in Iraq and Afghanistan, Cassano asked the panel to help VA determine if the symptoms of several sick service members could be linked to exposure to smoke from open-air burn pits in the war zones. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Arkansas veteran warns servicemen about the danger of “burn pits” in Iraq

February 23, 2010 — Ms Sparky

If you are having problems watching this video on MsSparky.com click HERE to watch at Channel 11. You can also read the transcript of the interview there as well.

Also, if you have a facebook account you have to check out the Burn Pits page run by Jill Wilkins. As you might recall, Jill is the widow of Major Kevin Wilkins who died of a brain tumor shortly after returning from Iraq. The burn victims could ask for no better champion for their cause!

Ms Sparky

David Isenberg: Supporting the Troops: Making Them Sick

February 21, 2010 — Ms Sparky

David Isenberg – Huffington Post
Author, Shadow Force: Private Security Contractors in Iraq (Praeger Security International)
Posted: February 21, 2010 03:08 PM

The biggest portion of U.S. private military contractors has always been, by far, on the logistics, not the weapons bearing security side.

These contractors deliver fuel and supplies, construct bases, prepare meals at the DFAC (Dining Facility), clean laundry, provide interpreters, and a host of other unglamorous but vital jobs.

Most of the time they do it very well, under very difficult conditions. Many of their supporters herald this as an unprecedented achievement in American military history. Such a view has long been the sound bite for which Doug Brooks, head of the International Peace Operations Association, a leading industry trade group, is best known for, i.e., “We have the best supported, supplied military in any military operation in history.” Indeed, if you search online for Doug Brooks and that phrase you get 1,400,000 hits.

That is why this article in the Los Angeles Times earlier this week grabbed my attention. It described how numerous returning veterans have reported leukemia, lymphoma, congestive heart problems, neurological conditions, bronchitis, skin rashes and sleep disorders — all of which they attribute to burn pits on dozens of U.S. bases in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Items burned in the pits have included medical waste, plastics, computer parts, oil, lubricants, paint, tires and foam cups, according to soldiers and contractors. (Read the rest of the story here…)

The KBR killing fields subsidized by US tax dollars

February 21, 2010 — Ms Sparky

Why did Sgt. Thomas die?

By Matthew Hansen – Staff Writer
Omaha World Herald – February 21, 2010

Sgt. Klayton Thomas looked every bit the poster boy Marine as he strode into a military hospital last September to get his back checked.

He taught karate and earned his abs in the gym. He had survived a 2007 deployment to Iraq, even thrived during his prolonged stay in the middle of the then-treacherous Sunni Triangle. He rarely drank. He didn’t smoke. Life seemed perfect on this mid-September Thursday, if only his back would stop aching. The 25-year-old Columbus, Neb., native thought he had wrenched it playing soccer. Three months and 10 days later, he died in hospice care.

This much is known: Thomas succumbed to an unstoppable lung cancer that crushed his vertebrae, blitzed his bones and invaded his brain, dumbfounding doctors who had spent their entire careers treating the disease.

His death leaves a medical mystery, one similar to those posed by hundreds of other American military personnel battling exotic cancers or struggling with rare respiratory problems.
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This mystery begins in the unlikeliest of places: Iraqi “burn pits” — large, primitive landfills where contractors set trash aflame, causing ever-present black smoke to drift over dozens of U.S. military bases.

Health experts, a high-powered defense lawyer, Congress and even the president have taken notice, asking questions like Klayton Thomas’ parents and doctors asked in the weeks after he fell ill.

Why would an otherwise healthy young nonsmoker contract a cancer that generally haunts older smokers? Why did this cancer spread like wildfire when experts say its normal path can take years?

Simply put: Why did Sgt. Klayton Thomas die?

“We were scared to death when he went to Iraq, scared of a mortar attack, an IED,” said his mother, Connie Thomas of Columbus. “But nothing like this. Not in our wildest dreams.” (Read the rest of the story here…)

Veterans speak out against burn pits

February 19, 2010 — Ms Sparky

A range of health problems are linked to the pits on military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. Toxic substances have been found in the smoke.

By David Zucchino
Los Angeles Times – February 18, 2010

A military environmental agency that tested air samples from Balad in 2007 found dioxins, metals, volatile organic compounds and other toxic substances in the smoke. (U.S. Air Force)

The noxious smoke plumes that wafted over the military base in Balad, Iraq, alarmed Lt. Col. Michelle Franco. The stench from a huge burn pit clung to her clothing, skin and hair.

“I remember thinking: This doesn’t look good, smell good or taste good,” Franco said recently. “I knew it couldn’t be good for anybody.”

She wheezed and coughed constantly. When Franco returned to the U.S., she was diagnosed with reactive airway dysfunction syndrome. She is no longer able to serve as an Air Force nurse.

Other returning veterans have reported leukemia, lymphoma, congestive heart problems, neurological conditions, bronchitis, skin rashes and sleep disorders — all of which they attribute to burn pits on dozens of U.S. bases in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“The military needs to step up and address this problem,” said John Wilson of the advocacy group Disabled American Veterans, which maintains a registry of more than 500 veterans with disorders they blame on burn pits. The fumes emanating from the pits, he warned, could become the Agent Orange of the current war zone.

Items burned in the pits have included medical waste, plastics, computer parts, oil, lubricants, paint, tires and foam cups, according to soldiers and contractors. Some say amputated body parts from Iraqi patients were burned in Balad, site of a large U.S. military hospital. (Read the rest of the story here…)

The Army made us burn it!

February 13, 2010 — Ms Sparky

KBR Tells Court It Was Following Military Orders When Employees Burned Toxic Waste in Open Pits
The military’s largest contractor is trying to avoid liability for health risks associated with burn pits to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the truth is emerging.

by Nora Eisenberg/Alternet
February 12, 2010 |

Balad Burn Pits

In October a class action suit combining 22 lawsuits from 43 states was filed in US District Court in Maryland against KBR, Halliburton, and other military contractors for damages to health from open air burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to plaintiffs’ lawyers the military contracting giant had been paid millions of dollars to safely dispose of waste on bases but negligently burned refuse in open pits, spewing toxins, including known carcinogens, into the air. Last week, KBR sought to dismiss the charges. Their tack was not to deny that they burned lithium batteries, petroleum, asbestos, trucks, cars, paint, plastic, Styrofoam, medical waste including human limbs, and more, as the soldiers have charged, but to challenge their liability for any ensuing problems. According to KBR’s press fact sheet on the suit, the Army, not KBR, decides if a burn pit or an incinerator will be used, where it will be built in relation to living and working facilities, and what it can burn. KBR insists it was and is still just “performing under the direction and control of military commanders in the field.” In short, they were only following orders and the soldiers are going after the wrong guy. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Full list of “Burn Pit” lawsuits against KBR (updated 02/08/2010)

February 8, 2010 — Ms Sparky

It’s been difficult keeping up with all the Burn Pit Lawsuits filed against KBR by the Law Firms of Burke LLC and Motley Rice LLC. There have been 43 lawsuits filed in 42 states (2 in Texas). I decided to publish them all in one post for easy reference and plan to keep this list updated as I find out about new cases. I will still post article about individual cases and you can find that in the Burn Pits Category. Be sure to check the Burn Pit Lawsuit site for even more information.

If you have Burn Pit photos, stories or need more information click HERE or contact the Law Office of Burke LLC.

Below is the current list of suits which includes plaintiff name, case #, State and District. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Houston National Guard troops file suit over Camp Taji burn pits

February 1, 2010 — Ms Sparky

Ill wind blows, some in Houston Guard unit believe
Baghdad burn pit operated by KBR said to cause migraines, breathing problems and rashes
By LINDSAY WISE and LISE OLSEN
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Feb. 1, 2010, 12:01AM

A front-end loader moves trash to a waste-burning pit at Camp Taji, about 100 yards from where ?soldiers of Houston's 72nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team are assigned. Photo by Mayra Beltran Chronicle

CAMP TAJI, Iraq — One night in mid-January, a shift in the wind sent a sudden flurry of white flakes into a detainee internment facility guarded by soldiers from Houston’s 72nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team.

The Texas Army National Guard troops weren’t witnessing a rare Baghdad snowfall. The flakes drifting from the pitch-dark sky were ash and bits of charred trash belched from an open-air burn pit about 100 yards from the outer walls of the internment facility.

Operated by Houston-based contractor KBR, the pit consumes 120 tons of garbage a day here at Camp Taji, a U.S. military base north of Baghdad. On calm days, noxious smoke billows upward and dissipates into a smog-like haze. When the wind blows, the acrid-smelling fumes pour into towers and yards where about 800 Texas troops from the 72nd keep watch. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Pentagon promises study on burn pits

December 26, 2009 — Ms Sparky

By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Stars and Stripes – Mideast edition
Saturday, December 26, 2009

WASHINGTON — Military health officials who have steadfastly denied that burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan cause serious health problems will launch a massive study next year to see if they’re wrong.

Officially, the Pentagon still says the toxic smoke from the pits is not to blame for the fatal cancers and respiratory illnesses suffered by some troops upon returning from the war zones. But Dr. Craig Postlewaite, director of the Defense Department’s Force Health Protection programs, said that researchers “are keeping the door open” on the issue.

“When we look at the health outcome data of those exposed [to the burn pits] we’re not seeing a great increase in respiratory illnesses,” he said in an interview with Stars and Stripes this week. “But we’ve become aware in the last several months that there have been a handful of conditions diagnosed by military physicians where they’ve indicated there could be an inhalational exposure cause.” (Read the rest of the story here…)

Burn pit data worthless, expert says

December 19, 2009 — Ms Sparky

Burn pit at Abu Ghraib

By Kelly Kennedy – Staff writer
Posted : Friday Dec 18, 2009 17:27:31 EST

The airman who first raised health concerns over burn pits at Joint Base Balad in Iraq says the Defense Department data — which officials used to say the burn pits cause no known long-term health effects — is worthless.

And Air Force Lt. Col Darrin Curtis, a bioenvironmental flight commander who retired in November, is the one who created the plan to collect the air specimens near the plume.

“You could only sample so much,” he said Friday. “I think it’s more than difficult; it’s impossible. It would cost as much to bring in incinerators as it would to do an adequate study.”

When they set up the sampling equipment, he said the smoke flew up in a 90-degree plume away from the air collectors. The equipment instead collected much cleaner air. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Military: Burn pits could cause long-term damage to troops

December 19, 2009 — Ms Sparky

Smoke from Balad burn pits behind hanger

By Adam Levine, CNN Pentagon Producer
December 18, 2009 8:36 a.m. EST

Washington (CNN) — The military is backing off its previous position and acknowledging that some troops exposed to the burning of refuse on military bases could be susceptible to long-term health effects.

Since the issue first arose two years ago, Pentagon health officials have insisted that, based on its analysis, troops who were near burn pits at Joint Base Balad in Iraq — the largest base in that country — faced no long-term health hazards. That covered most of the troops who passed through the base. (Read the rest of the story here…)

The Burn Pit Contracts: KBR and the Army (DC Bureau Video)

December 16, 2009 — Ms Sparky

Another awesome report from the DC Bureau. This video was created by Katie Manning, a multimedia journalist for DC Bureau. If you are having problems viewing this video here. Click HERE to view it at DC Bureau.

DC Bureau

US Military backs down from steadfast denial

December 15, 2009 — Ms Sparky

Military: Burn pits caused illnesses

Open burning has since been banned but many may face long-term effects.

By Matthew D. LaPlante
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 12/15/2009 12:41:38 AM MST

Working in the Balad Burn pit

Backing away from steadfast official denial, the U.S. military’s senior health protection official said Monday that some service members might suffer long-term medical problems as a direct result of exposure to smoke and fumes from open-air burn pits scattered throughout Iraq and Afghanistan.

Physician Craig Postlewaite, director of Force Health Protection and Readiness Programs, said that while scientific evidence has yet to prove the link, the personal stories of veterans coming forward to report long-term health problems have convinced him of the connection.

“We feel at this point in time that it’s quite plausible — in fact likely — that there are a small number of people that have been affected with longer-term health problems,” Postlewaite said Monday in an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Jill Wilkins…a voice for Iraq burn pit victims

December 7, 2009 — Ms Sparky

Eustis (Florida) Woman Is a Crusader against Burn Pits

posted by eric on 7th, 2009

Story By: Michael Harris
Photo By: Anthony Rao

Jill Wilkins

Jill Wilkins talks freely about her loss with anyone within earshot – and that may be over a cup of coffee in her dining room, sitting in her study and conversing with people over the Internet or in front of Congress if that is what is to be.

The Eustis resident calls the last year and a half an “adventure,” a ride that started in a tiny Veteran’s Administration office in Tavares where she felt absolutely sick after leaving that office just several months after her husband, USAF Major Kevin E. Wilkins, RN died of a brain tumor. img_1478

Her cause is one where she helps families of other Iraqi War soldiers make sure they collect their benefits and what is entitled to them as a possible result of exposure to toxic chemicals. The toxic chemicals are caused by burn pits – a waste-disposal system of KBR, the company contracted to provide services to the military bases overseas.

According to a lawsuit by the Washington law firm Burke O’Neil; their clients have seen batteries, unexploded ordnance, gas cans, mattresses, rocket pods, and plastic and medical waste (including body parts). The fumes contain carcinogenic dioxins, heavy metals and particulates, according to an Army–Air Force risk assessment, and they flow freely across bases.

It is believed that Kevin Wilkins died as a result of these toxins. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Class Action suit filed for KBR Burn Pit injuries George Lundy vs KBR

November 6, 2009 — Ms Sparky

Iraq Burn Pit-Courtesy of www.MsSparky.com

BOISE (CN) – KBR and Halliburton poisoned U.S. troops and civilian contractors by burning an immense variety of toxic, unsorted wastes in Iraq and Afghanistan to cut costs and preserve profits, according to a federal class action. The class claims at least 100,000 people were endangered by the contractors’ “utter indifference to and conscious disregard” of troops’ welfare.
The class claims the Pentagon contractors, “motivated by financial gain,” ignored contract requirements minimize risks, environmental effects and human exposure to toxic fumes when disposing of waste. Instead, the contractors cut corners and burned huge amounts of waste in open pits; fire and smoke rose hundreds of feet into the air, emitting toxic gases and carcinogens. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Senate DPC schedules hearing on Burn Pit issues for Nov 6

November 2, 2009 — Ms Sparky

Burn Pit Hearing

Witnesses at this hearing, which will be the twenty-first in a series of hearings held by the Democratic Policy Committee on contracting abuses and corruption in Iraq and Afghanistan, will discuss the health risks associated with the continued use of open-air burn pits by the U.S. military and contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although military guidelines allow the use of burn pits to dispose of waste only in emergency situations, most large U.S. military installations have continued to use burn pits for years, despite growing evidence that exposure to burn pit smoke may be causing an increased incidence of chronic lung diseases, respiratory ailments, neurological disorders and cancer. Hearing witnesses will testify that plastics, paint, solvents, petroleum products, rubber, and medical waste, including human body parts, have been burned in the pits. Former private contractors will testify that even at established bases in the Green Zone, companies continued to use burn pits instead of clean-burning incinerators to reduce costs and increase profits.

Hopefully we will be able to watch this on C-SPAN

The times are Eastern Standard Time

US military contractor burns recyclables, violating contract

October 30, 2009 — Forseti

KBR was contracted to recycle cafeteria waste at Forward Operating Base Warhorse. Such spotty accountability is coming under new scrutiny; an Oct. 30 report reveals that transactions worth $10.7 billion are being audited.

By Tom A. Peter | The Christian Science Monitor | October 30, 2009

Forward Operating Base Warhorse, Diyala Province, Iraq

In this desert fortress of housing trailers and concrete barriers, military contractor KBR has launched a recycling campaign – a kind of oasis in the military, an institution not exactly renowned for environmental activism.

As soldiers exit the dining facility, run by KBR and its subcontractor Najlaa International Catering Services Iraq, they see signs along the emerald walkway urging those who “like to recycle” to follow the path and “Think Green.” At the end of the path, soldiers sort aluminum cans and plastic silverware into separate bins.

But there’s one problem: The recyclable goods are thrown into a pit with the rest of the trash and burned. While this is likely to disappoint soldiers who “like to recycle,” it also is a breach of the government’s contract with KBR to run the dining facility on FOB Warhorse, according to the US government’s Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA).

The chimerical recycling program is apparently a microcosmic example of the spotty accountability under which contractors have operated – at substantial expense to US taxpayers. A report issued Oct. 30 by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) said that audits of $6.4 billion worth of contracts revealed “internal weaknesses,” including inadequate oversight of invoices and excessive change orders. The report also noted evidence of duplicate payments and payments sent to fictitious addresses and unapproved contractors.

Eyewitness account: ‘recycling’ burned in trash pit (Read the rest of the story here…)

KBR burn pit lawsuits transferred to Maryland

October 21, 2009 — Ms Sparky

‘Burn pit’ lawsuits land in Greenbelt

BRENDAN KEARNEY
Daily Record Legal Affairs Writer
October 20, 2009 7:53 PM

A raft of lawsuits filed across the country by soldiers and contractors who say they were sickened by “burn pits” in Iraq and Afghanistan have been transferred to a federal judge in Maryland.

The suits against Halliburton Co. and its former subsidiary, KBR Inc., allege a variety of waste — from batteries to medical detritus, including human remains — was tossed and torched in huge, uncovered holes near army bases.

The plaintiffs, who hope to become a class of thousands, say the hazardous smoke from these sites caused ailments from rashes to upper respiratory problems to cancer.

Some of the 22 suits also allege the defendants did not properly treat water or provided substandard food.

“It was their obligation to do this in a safe manner, and they didn’t do so,” plaintiffs’ attorney William T. O’Neil said in an interview Tuesday.

His Washington, D.C.-based firm, Burke O’Neil LLC, filed all 22 of the cases and did not object when KBR sought to have them transferred to U.S. District Court in Greenbelt for pretrial management.

The Texas-based defendants acted “egregiously merely to make more money for themselves,” O’Neil wrote in the suit originally filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court in January.

In an e-mail, a KBR spokeswoman said the “general assertion that KBR knowingly harmed troops is unfounded.” (Read the rest of the story here…)

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KBR was contracted to recycle cafeteria waste at Forward Operating Base Warhorse. Such spotty accountability is coming under new scrutiny; an Oct. 30 report reveals that transactions worth $10.7 billion are being audited.

Forward Operating Base Warhorse, Diyala Province, Iraq

Eyewitness account: ‘recycling’ burned in trash pit (Read the rest of the story here…)

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