Environmental legacy: US promises to remove all hazardous waste before pulling out from Iraq

US removing hazardous waste during Iraq withdrawal

BAGHDAD — The U.S. military is removing tens of millions of pounds of hazardous waste accumulated during seven years of war amid concerns about America’s environmental legacy in Iraq, officials said Monday.

Brig. Gen. Kendall Cox said the military spent $55 million last year to build two treatment centers for waste and has numerous collection centers around the country.

Officials acknowledged that the effort has begun late in the conflict that started with the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 but expressed confidence in the measures being taken to eliminate dangerous materials such as contaminated soil and old oil.

“The systems that are in place are recent in terms of disposal of waste materials,” U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. Stephen Lanza said. “In some cases there are seven years of materials … that we want to make sure are accounted for properly in terms of mitigation and disposition.”

The waste clean up effort is part of the preparations for a massive handover efforts ahead of a deadline for a full U.S. withdrawal by the end of next year.

Cox insisted the process would be completed by that time.

“We have now moved an excess of 300 million pounds of hazardous waste, which has been treated and disposed of,” he said at a press conference. “We averaged 1.75 million pounds of hazardous waste disposed of in the first two quarters of this year.”

Troop numbers have dropped to around 85,000 from a peak of more than 170,000 during the height of violence, and the U.S. has relinquished control of 373 of the 500 bases it had in January 2008, the military said.

The Times of London reported Monday that some toxic waste has turned up in open dumps and affected Iraqis who came into contact with it.

Cox said he had seen no evidence of that, although some Iraqis had refused to use sewage lagoons at some of the bases that were handed over. The military adjusted by making sure they cleared the lagoons before leaving, he said.

The U.S. military faces a massive logistics operation as it prepares to draw down to 50,000 forces this fall after ending combat operations by the end of August.

Some American troops also have alleged they were exposed to toxic fumes because of military contractors’ practice of burning tires and other waste in so-called outdoor burn pits.