Open-air trash burning in Iraq a hot issue

[unhappycamper]

The burn pit at a combat outpost in Baghdad earlier this year gives a glimpse of the amount and types of trash being openly burned at even the smallest U.S. bases in Iraq. Despite health concerns about the smoke released, officials have installed just 17 of the 41 incinerators purchased to mitigate the risks.


Open-air trash burning in Iraq a hot issue
By Michael Gisick and Joseph Giordono, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, November 7, 2008

Despite serious health concerns over the widespread open-air burning of trash at U.S. bases in Iraq, only 17 of 41 incinerators the military purchased four years ago to combat the problem are in operation.

And while plumes of smoke continue to rise over even the military’s most settled facilities, contractual issues have slowed the installation of the incinerators, which release lower levels of pollutants into the air.

While the military says it is trying to get more of the incinerators working, after several weeks, officials at the Defense Contract Management Agency could not answer specific questions about the contracting problems.

According to U.S. Central Command officials, 17 additional incinerators are now under construction in Iraq. But at least seven of the units are still sitting unassembled as they await funding. The incinerators, officials said, burn trash at a far higher temperature than open pits and are considered safer to people’s health.

A pair of government documents obtained by Stars and Stripes paint the problem in two very different lights. One document, a December 2006 memo by an Air Force environmental engineer at Balad Air Base, called the situation "an acute health hazard."


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=58672