Email from Big Oppressive Government Bill Nelson from Florida
February 10, 2011
Last month, I told you about Army Sergeant William McKenna, who died from cancer that the VA linked to toxic fumes he breathed while exposed to burning refuse in Iraq. I wrote the Pentagon and urged them to protect troops working around these garbage pits—known as burn pits—from potentially lethal fumes.
This week, I received a response from U.S. Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, specifying the steps the Pentagon is taking to reduce and eventually eliminate the risks from burn pits. The steps include:
The shutdown of all open-air burn pits in Iraq.
Establishing a timeline for closing all remaining burn pits in Afghanistan.
Installing 200 solid waste incinerators at U.S. bases in Afghanistan.
Issuing new safety requirements where burn pits still exist; and
Identifying within 60 days ways to ensure greater access and use of protective equipment to mitigate exposure to harmful fumes.
Chairman Mullen assured me that the safety of personnel deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan remains the highest priority. This is a good start, but you can be sure that I will keep a close eye on this issue to make certain that all of these toxic burn pits are shut down. We owe a debt of gratitude to all our service men and women, and I will do all I can to ensure they are not needlessly put in harm’s way.
WHY do we have are military near these burning pits??????
The question isn’t why are we keeping troops away from these pits and where don’t we stop telling the people of Afghanistan and Iraq how they must live. Why should the United States pay the tab for the new solid waste incinerators? Using the incinerators on our bases is one thing if they are needed but 200? Enough waste is enough…. It is time to start asking the hard questions which all start with WHY are we doing these things at OUR expense when those countries can start paying!!
Bill Nelson is just another BIG spending Democratic Socialist spending you into economic slavery.