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Lawmakers seek 12-month limit on burn pits

Lawmakers have proposed an amendment to the 2010 defense authorization bill that would prohibit the military from operating open-air burn pits for more than 12 months during combat operations.

“The Secretary of Defense shall prohibit the disposal of covered waste in an open-air burn pit during a contingency operation lasting longer than one year,” the amendment states.

That mandate comes after 400 service members have reported to Disabled American Veterans that they believe they are sick because of exposure to the smoke from the pits, despite assurances from Defense Department health officials that there are “no known long-term health effects” associated with the pits.

The amendment to HR 2647, submitted by Reps. Tim Bishop, D-N.Y., and Carol Shea-Porter, D-N.H., states that the secretary of defense would have one year after enactment to carry out the order. The Pentagon also would have 180 days to submit a report to Congress about the types of waste burned in the pits, as well as the feasibility of using other methods to dispose of waste.

The amendment covers hazardous waste, medical waste and solid waste — including plastic.

Will Jenkins, a spokesperson for Bishop, said the 12-month mark is a first step toward reducing the use of burn pits in the war zones. The open-air pits have been a feature of almost all U.S. bases in Iraq and Afghanistan since the start of the wars. Many are kept burning 24 hours a day.

Shea-Porter also added language requiring the secretary of defense to submit a report on the health and environmental standards for solid-waste disposal for U.S.-hired contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It asks the military to describe the ability of existing medical surveillance programs to identify and track people who have been exposed to burn pit toxins, as well as how that system could be improved.

Concern about burn-pit exposure began when Military Times launched an investigation last October, citing a document from Air Force Lt. Col. Darrin Curtis, former bioenvironmental flight commander for Joint Base Balad in Iraq.

“In my professional opinion, there is an acute health hazard for individuals. There is also the possibility for chronic health hazards associated with the smoke,” Cursit wrote.

Since then:

* Fourteen lawsuits have been filed against KBR, the contractor who operated many of the burn pits throughout Iraq and Afghanistan.

* Lawmakers have written letters to Gen. David Petraeus, chief of U.S. Central Command, asking about the safety of the pits.

* Disabled American Veterans has created a list of about 300 people who have respiratory problems and about 100 who have cancers and heart problems since they deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

* Bishop and Shea-Porter introduced their legislation to more tightly regulate burn-pit operations and more closely track troops who may have been exposed.

Ten other lawmakers have signed on as co-sponsors: Reps. Bob Filner, D-Calif.; Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y.; Bart Gordon, D-Tenn.; Keith Ellison, D-Minn.; Allyson Schwartz, D-Pa.; Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz.; James McGovern, D-Mass.; Alan Grayson, D-Fla.; and Adam Smith, D-Wash.

Bishop has also requested data from an initial burn-pit testing at Balad that the military has classified. A second report, according to the Defense Department, showed the burn pit toxins appeared at an “acceptable” level.

But according to an Air Force memo distributed through the secretary of defense’s office, “The mixture of trash, latrine wastes, medical wastes, and uniquely increased plastic drinking bottle wastes, combined with the less-than-ideal incineration conditions of an open pit yield a hazardous operation with potential impacts to human health and environment.

Military regulations state that burn pits should be a short-term solution, but the pits in Iraq and Afghanistan have been burning since the wars in those countries began.