The military and TCE
About 1,400 Defense Department sites across the nation are contaminated with trichloroethylene, or TCE, including military bases and depots. The map shows sites that have some of the heaviest contamination or were studied for possibly causing health hazards. A sampling of problems nationwide:
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday March 31, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 2 inches; 71 words Type of Material: Correction
Risks of solvent: Due to an editing error, an article in Wednesday's Section A about the regulation and dangers of the industrial solvent trichloroethylene, or TCE, quoted Alex A. Beehler, the Pentagon's top environmental official, as saying: "We are all forgetting the facts on the table. Meanwhile, we have done everything we can to curtail use of TCE." Beehler actually said, "We are all for getting the facts on the table."
Contaminated sites
McClellan Air Force Base, Sacramento:
The Pentagon is cleaning up 12 different TCE plumes affecting about 25% of the former base's property. About a half dozen public water wells have been shut and the cleanup is expected to continue for decades.
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F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Cheyenne, Wyo.:
TCE was discovered at 13 decommissioned Atlas missile silos in Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska. Contamination at some of the sites reached 3,500 parts per billion. TCE polluted an aquifer that Cheyenne, Wyo., planned to use as a municipal water source.
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Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant, Arden Hills, Minn.:
A TCE plume covered 25 square miles and spread to private residential wells. The water supply for a nearby trailer park contained 720 parts per billion TCE. The site is now undergoing a cleanup under Superfund program supervision.
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Stratford Army Engine Plant, Stratford, Conn.:
Elevated TCE vapors were discovered in several buildings the Army planned to lease to private concerns. Federal health authorities judged the vapors too high for general public exposure. A cleanup is underway.
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El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, Irvine, Calif.:
TCE contaminated the groundwater under the base, now closed, which long ago complicated plans to reuse the property for private housing and a public park. The government will retain about 900 contaminated acres to continue cleanup for the indefinite future.
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Kelly Air Force Base, San Antonio:
TCE use at the shuttered aircraft repair depot contaminated a shallow aquifer that has migrated about 4 miles off the base, through a low-income neighborhood. Health authorities have found elevated rates of cancer and birth defects in the neighborhood.
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Anniston Army Depot, Anniston, Ala.:
Extremely high concentrations of TCE, up to 200,000 parts per billion, were found by government investigators in groundwater under the depot, which included a number of dumps, a plating plant and other industrial activities. TCE levels above allowable drinking water standards have been found at springs and wells on the base.
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Camp Lejeune, N.C.:
Tens of thousands of Marine families were exposed to TCE in the base's drinking water supply. A preliminary study has found elevated rates of leukemia among children conceived at the base. The TCE was discovered in 1980 but not disclosed until 1985.
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Sources: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Natural Resources News Service, Associated Press, California Department of Toxic Substances Control. Graphics reporting by Tom Reinken, Ralph Vartabedian
