The military burned solid waste in open-air pits despite building $11.5 million incinerators

Evidence

In Afghanistan and Iraq, bases have regularly used open-air burn pits despite the military’s prohibiting their use outside emergencies. At Camp Leatherneck, one of the largest U.S. bases in Afghanistan, investigators found that solid waste was being burned in open-air pits despite the construction of four incinerators costing $11.5 million. For years, military leaders denied any significant risk from the practice of burning waste in outdoor settings. A leaked 2011 Army memo, however, shows the Army warning that breathing air affected by the burning of waste could cause “long-term adverse health conditions” including “reduced lung function or exacerbated chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, atherosclerosis, or other cardiopulmonary diseases.” At Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, a base hosting up to forty thousand troops and contractors, hundreds of thousands on and off the base may have been affected by open-air burn pits during the U.S.-led occupation. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 393

Categorization

• QUESTION: Why were the four $11.5 million incinerators at Camp Leatherneck not used? Cost, maintenance, or volume? Worth chasing.