KBR poisons soldiers, taxpayers paying

This video from the USA says about itself:

Jan 9, 2009

Vice President Dick Cheney is asked about how former Halliburton subsidiary KBR knowingly exposed members of Indiana’s National Guard to cancer causing chemicals at a water treatment plant in Iraq.

Sign IAVA’s petition here–

http://www.iava.org

Read more about it here–

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/12/23/kbr-indiana-chemical/

From the blog of Ryan J. Reilly in the USA:

KBR, Guilty In Iraq Negligence, Wants Taxpayers To Foot The Bill

Posted: 01/09/2013 9:37 am EST

WASHINGTON — Sodium dichromate is an orange-yellowish substance containing hexavalent chromium, an anti-corrosion chemical. To Lt. Col. James Gentry of the Indiana National Guard, who was stationed at the Qarmat Ali water treatment center in Iraq just after the 2003 U.S. invasion, it was “just different-colored sand.” In their first few months at the base, soldiers were told by KBR contractors running the facility the substance was no worse than a mild irritant.

Gentry was one of approximately 830 service members, including active-duty soldiers and members of the National Guard and reserve units from Indiana, South Carolina, West Virginia and Oregon, assigned to secure the water treatment plant, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Sodium dichromate is not a mild irritant. It is an extreme carcinogen. In November 2009, at age 52, Gentry died of cancer. The VA affirmed two months later that his death was service-related.

In November, a jury found KBR, the military’s largest contractor, guilty of negligence in the poisoning of a dozen soldiers, and ordered the company to pay $85 million in damages. Jurors found KBR knew both of the presence and toxicity of the chemical. Other lawsuits against KBR are pending.

KBR, however, says taxpayers should be on the hook for the verdict, as well as more than $15 million the company has spent in its failed legal defense, according to court documents and attorneys involved with the case.

KBR’s contract with the U.S. to rebuild Iraq’s oil infrastructure after the 2003 invasion includes an indemnity agreement protecting the company from legal liability, KBR claims in court filings. That agreement, KBR insists, means the federal government must pay the company’s legal expenses plus the verdict won by 12 members of the Oregon National Guard who were exposed to the toxin at the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant.

The military disagrees. A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contracting officer told KBR in November 2011 that litigation costs “are not covered by the indemnity agreement.”

The public doesn’t know what the indemnity agreement actually says because the military considers it classified. Until recently, the veterans exposed to the toxin couldn’t know either, nor could attorneys at the Department of Justice, who were left battling the contract in the dark, according to a source there.

Michael Doyle, a Houston-based lawyer who helped the successful suit against KBR, told The Huffington Post the military declassified the indemnification agreement on Dec. 21 and gave it to him under a protective order that banned him from sharing the language to parties not involved in the case. John A. Elolf, a spokesman for KBR, confirmed the declassification of the agreement and said the contractor also was prevented from providing a copy. HuffPost has requested the document under the Freedom of Information Act from the Corps of Engineers.

Doyle said the agreement may mean a taxpayer “bailout” for KBR. “It’s basically saying that no matter if we’re guilty of — willful misconduct, poisoning soldiers — taxpayers have to pay to cover us as well as whatever we decide to pay on lawyers at whatever rates and all these fees,” Doyle said. “That’s a pretty good bailout.”

…

It’s unclear how many defense contractors have secret indemnification agreements with the military. Under the law, most government agencies are banned from entering open-ended indemnification agreements, but the Pentagon and a handful of other agencies were exempted in an executive order signed by President Richard Nixon in 1971.

KBR originally claimed it didn’t know about the deadly toxin until the spring of 2003. Documents produced in the lawsuit, however, revealed that KBR knew the chemical was being stockpiled and used in massive quantities at the water treatment facility as early as January of that year. Prior to the U.S. invasion, Iraqi workers would treat water at the plant with sodium dichromate before injecting it under pressure into the ground, driving oil to the surface. Sodium dichromate helped increase the life of pipelines and pumps by preventing corrosion.

Soldiers assigned to guard the facility said the chemical dust came from bags stacked both inside and outside the plant, which some soldiers would sit on or use for protection from the wind. Wind spread the orange powder from the thousands of 100-pound bags. Gentry estimated the dust covered about half the plant’s area.

“There were soldiers that actually brought it up, asked what it was, and they were told it was a mild irritant at first,” Rocky Bixby, 45, a plaintiff in the Oregon National Guard suit that bears his name, told HuffPost.

“They had this information and didn’t share it,” Gentry said in a deposition two days before his final Christmas, in 2008. “I’m dying now because of it.”

Another soldier, Larry Roberta, now 48, was exposed to the chemical after a gust of wind blew it into his eye and into a chicken patty he was eating. After washing his face and mouth, he tried washing the chicken, because it was the only food he had left for the day. “It tastes like a mouthful of nickels,” Roberta said. “I just kept washing my mouth and I couldn’t get that taste out.”

Roberta said he now requires an oxygen tank because he has less than 60 percent of his lung function and gets migraines stemming from the eye that was exposed to the chemical. He had surgery to fix the muscle at the top of his stomach that prevented food from coming back up. “I can’t throw up, I can’t even burp,” Roberta said. “You know, when you can’t burp, the air has to come out the other end, which makes me the stinky dog that nobody wants to let in the house.”

Roberta said he doesn’t think U.S. taxpayers should have to pay for KBR’s mistakes.

“The United States Army Corps of Engineers is not in the business of restoring oilfields, therefore they hired KBR as their subject expert,” Roberta said. “KBR was paid a good sum of money to do a job and unfortunately it didn’t get done well. … The end results were okay, but they made some mistakes along the way.”

Gentry’s wife said the “bailout” fits a KBR pattern.

“Whether it’s morally, ethically or even fiscally, there was no accountability then and there is no accountability now,” LouAnn Grube Gentry told The Huffington Post. “In fact, they continue their negligence and indifference. And just as an example of that is they continue to overbill the government for the legal fees. And to me that in itself proves that they are profit-mongering and their sole motivation is profit.”

Gentry said her husband initially declined to get involved in the litigation because of his loyalty to the National Guard and the Army. Gentry even praised KBR’s work during his second tour in Iraq, calling company safety measures “top grade” during a deposition. He decided to join the litigation late in his life because he felt KBR was being dishonest about what it knew about the chemical.

“Once KBR denied accountability, denied knowing, my husband became very angry,” Gentry said.

A federal jury in Oregon found on Nov. 2 that KBR negligently exposed troops to the toxic dust and ordered the company to pay $85 million in noneconomic and punitive damages to the Oregon National Guard members. A separate suit against KBR on behalf of national guardsmen from both Indiana and West Virginia, as well as troops from the U.K., is pending in federal court in Houston. That case awaits a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals on whether the case can proceed with claims based on wartime activity.

Bixby, who said he was at the water treatment plant for as many as five days, said it makes no sense for taxpayers to pick up the bill for KBR’s mistakes.

“I think it’s fraudulent and I think it’s criminal on their part to do this,” Bixby told HuffPost.

Secret indemnity agreements shouldn’t be a problem in the future, because of a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2013 pushed by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). The act requires the Pentagon to disclose indemnification clauses that hold military contractors harmless and to justify the agreements to Congress.

“What KBR received — and Oregon soldiers and the American taxpayers may be stuck paying for — is a get out of jail free card that no one outside of the Pentagon had any say in giving them,” Wyden said in a statement last month. “Thanks to that plum deal, KBR could be let off the hook after negligently exposing Oregon servicemembers to toxic chemicals. Some indemnification agreements are justified, but many are not, and the Pentagon should have to justify these agreements to Congress.”

Related articles

• War Criminals (brainiac-conspiracy.typepad.com)
• Defense Contractor Guilty Of Poisoning Soldiers Wants Taxpayers To Pay (huffingtonpost.com)
• KBR May Have Knowingly Poisoned U.S. Soldiers in Iraq, But It Won’t Pay a Penny (pogoblog.typepad.com)
• KBR, Guilty In Iraq Negligence, Wants Taxpayers To Foot The Bill (blacklistednews.com)
• KBR, Guilty In Iraq Negligence, Wants Taxpayers To Foot The Bill (anastasia-1782128.newsvine.com)
• War Contractor: Feds Should Pay Lawsuit Damages (abcnews.go.com)
• KBR shouldn’t be able to sue government, Oregon members of Congress tell the Pentagon (oregonlive.com)
• KBR May Be Abusing Indemnification Provision in Iraq Contract (pogoblog.typepad.com)

United States marbled murrelet decline

A very happy 2013 to all readers of my blog!

Unfortunately, I have to begin the new year with not so happy news.

This video from the USA is called Mysterious Marbled Murrelet.

From Wildlife Extra:

Population of threatened Marbled Murrelet down almost 30 percent in last ten years

Rare birds declining due to habitat loss

December 2012. US Federal conservation efforts haven’t come close to reversing or even halting the decline of the Marbled Murrelet, a seabird that nests in old growth forests in the Pacific Northwest. That’s the conclusion of a major new peer-reviewed study of the status of the Marbled Murrelet, which was prepared by scientists from the US Forest Service, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Crescent Research, a private research firm.

The study found that Marbled Murrelet numbers in five different study areas fell sharply between 2001 and 2010, from a total count of roughly 22,200 to a total count of roughly 16,700. The five study areas encompass all but one of the Marbled Murrelet conservation zones identified in the federal Marbled Murrelet Recovery Plan.

“This study confirms the fears that many conservationists have held for years,” said Steve Holmer, Senior Policy Analyst for American Bird Conservancy. “By showing that the Marbled Murrelet is still in sharp decline, the study emphasizes the need for stronger, more aggressive conservation measures.”

Nest in tall trees

Marbled Murrelets nest in tall trees found in forests in Washington, Oregon and California. The authors of the study cite the loss of nesting habitat as a major cause of the murrelet’s decline over the past century; they add that it still may be a contributing factor, thanks to major fires, logging and big wind storms.

Human proximity

Other changes cited as potentially important ranged from increased nest predation to reductions in the quality and availability of marine creatures eaten by the birds. Increased nest predation seems to be associated with the presence of more crows and ravens, which in turn is linked to growing human settlements and the presence of campgrounds.

Logging halted

This study was published on the heels of a court ruling that stopped timber sales and logging in three state-owned Oregon forests that are home to Marbled Murrelets. Federal District Court Judge Ann Aiken recently granted an injunction that prevents the state from proceeding on 11 timber sales, plus any other logging in occupied murrelet nest sites in the Elliot, Clatsop and Tillamook state forests. The ruling stops logging in murrelet habitat until the resolution of a case filed by Cascadia Wildlands, the Center for Biological Diversity and Portland Audubon Society. Those groups are asserting that the state’s logging practices are harming the federally-protected seabird.

The Marbled Murrelet was Federally listed in 1992 as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, a designation that requires Federal agencies to carry out conservation programs for each listed species and ensure that any actions the agency funds, authorizes, or carries out are not likely to jeopardize the survival of the species, or to adversely modify species designated critical habitat.

The study was published in the international research journal The Condor.

Related articles

• New Study Finds Population of Threatened Marbled Murrelet Down Almost 30 Percent in Last Ten Years (salem-news.com)
• Timber sales withdrawn over marbled murrelet nesting (oregonlive.com)
• Oregon Stops Logging To Protect Marbled Murrelet (naturalhistorywanderings.com)
• Marbled Murrelet numbers continue to fall, 10-year study shows (oregonlive.com)
• United States birds at risk (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Biodiversity: Northern spotted owl gets more protection (summitcountyvoice.com)

Trogloraptor spider, new species, video

This video from the USA says about itself:

Trogloraptor – A New family of Spider (photo montage)

Aug 24, 2012

Trogloraptor marchingtoni: This video shows close up images set to music. Stay tuned for a Science in Action video coming soon.

SAN FRANCISCO (August 17, 2012) — A team of scientists and cave conservationists discovered a relatively huge, unique spider in caves and forests of the Pacific Northwest. The novel combination of evolutionary features in this spider, Trogloraptor, compelled them to recognize a new family. A study of the new family and its evolutionary and conservation significance was published in the open access journal ZooKeys on August 17.

The forests of the coastal regions from California to British Columbia are renowned for their unique and ancient animals and plants, such as coast redwoods, tailed frogs, mountain beavers—and now, a large, newly discovered spider. Trogloraptor (or “cave robber”) is named for its cave home and spectacular, elongate claws. It is a spider so evolutionarily special that it represents not only a new genus and species, but also a new family (Trogloraptoridae). Even for the species-rich insects and arachnids, to discover a new, previously unknown family is rare.

A team of citizen scientists from the Western Cave Conservancy and arachnologists from the California Academy of Sciences found these spiders living in caves in southwest Oregon. Colleagues from San Diego State University found more in old-growth redwood forests. Charles Griswold, Curator of Arachnology, Joel Ledford, postdoctoral researcher, and Tracy Audisio, graduate student, all at the California Academy of Sciences, collected, analyzed, and described the new family. Audisio’s participation was supported by the Harriet Exline Frizzell Memorial Fund and by the Summer Systematics Institute at the Academy, which is funded by the National Science Foundation.

Read our story on Science Today here:

http://www.calacademy.org/sciencetoday/trogloraptor/

Velociraptor spider discovered in American cave

From mongabay.com:

Velociraptor spider discovered in Oregon cave (pictures)

Jeremy Hance

August 17, 2012

Scouring the caves of Southwest Oregon, scientists have made the incredible discovery of a fearsome apex predator with massive, sickle claws. No, it’s not the Velociraptor from Jurassic Park: it’s a large spider that is so unique scientists were forced to create a new taxonomic family for it.

“This is something completely new,” lead author of a paper on the species, Charles Griswold with the California Academy of Sciences, told SFGate. “It’s a historic event.”

The discoverers, who published their description paper in the open-access journal Zoo Keys have named the new species Trogloraptor, which translates loosely to “cave robber,” and they have dubbed a new spider family—Trogloraptoridae—to accommodate what they believe is a primitive spider. The full species name is Trogloraptor marchingtoni after one of its discoverers.

See also here. And here. And here.

Elusive cave spider found at one of the UK’s most popular nature reserves: here.

Related articles

• Bizarre Insectlike Creatures Found in Spanish Cave (news.discovery.com)
• Velociraptor: Facts about the ‘Speedy Thief’ (livescience.com)
• The Velociraptor Was Actually Nothing Like Its Hollywood Depiction (businessinsider.com)
• Shadows and Spiders: A Secret Cave in California (science.kqed.org)
• Pro-tip: Don’t use brass knuckles to kill a spider. (w/ video clip) [Dumbass] (fark.com)
• Three New Species of Springtails Discovered in Spanish Cave (natureworldnews.com)
• The Raptors in Jurassic Park Were So Big Because They Were Humans (motherboard.vice.com)
• Three new arthropod species have been found in the Maestrazgo Caves in Teruel (esciencenews.com)

Migratory birds die in the USA

This video from the USA is called Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge.

From Wildlife Extra:

Drought in USA has killed 10,000 birds so far this year

Avian cholera spreading amongst crowded birds

April 2012. Officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) are estimating that more than 10,000 migrating birds have died so far this year because of reduced water flow to the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon and California. Officials say the final death toll may be close to 20,000 birds.

Only 50% of wetland is wet

So far this year, the refuge has only received enough water to cover half its 30,000 acres of wetland marshes. That has forced the 2 million birds that migrate through the area, which is a key part of the Pacific Flyway for migrating birds, to congregate in much smaller spaces, thereby creating a climate much more favourable to spreading, quickly fatal, avian cholera. In order to reduce the further spread of the disease, volunteers have been dispatched to pick up carcasses of the dead birds and incinerate them in FWS furnaces.

The problem is that it has been a dry year and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) hasn’t allowed water into the refuge since December. BOR parcels out water for users, and their first priority for water that might go to the refuge is for endangered fish, followed by various tribal responsibilities, and then farming needs. Some experts say that the refuge could go dry in three months if water is not provided.

Wildlife is at the bottom of the pecking order

“The consequences to shutting off water to the Lower Klamath Refuge are enormous and unacceptable. We cannot continue to place wildlife at the bottom of the pecking order for so many things and not expect that at some point, we won’t face dire repercussions. Federal, state, and local officials need to come up with a plan that divides the water shortage compromises up more equitably,” said Dr. George Fenwick, President of American Bird Conservancy.

USA’s first waterfowl refuge

Established in 1908 along the northern border of California and the southern border of Oregon, the Lower Klamath Refuge was the nation’s first waterfowl refuge. This 53,600-acre refuge is a varied mix of shallow freshwater marshes, open water, grassy uplands, and croplands (that are managed to provide feeding, resting, nesting, and brood-rearing habitat for waterfowl and other water birds. Significant species of birds that use the reserve include the American White Pelican; White-faced Ibis; Snow, Ross’, and White-fronted Geese; Peregrine Falcon; Pintail; Gadwall; Canvasback; Western and Eared Grebe; Black Tern; and Tri-coloured Blackbird [see also here]. Snow Geese and Northern Pintails seem to be the hardest hit from the disease this year.

Less than 25% of original size

Historically, the Klamath Basin was dominated by approximately 185,000 acres of shallow lakes and freshwater marshes. In 1905, BOR initiated the Klamath Reclamation Project to convert the lakes and marshes of the Lower Klamath and Tule Lake areas to agricultural lands. As these wetlands receded, the reclaimed lands were opened to agricultural development and settlement. Today, less than 25% of the historic wetlands remain. To conserve much of the Basin’s remaining wetland habitat, six National Wildlife Refuges have been established; Lower Klamath, Tule Lake, and Clear Lake Refuges in California, and Bear Valley, Upper Klamath, and Klamath Marsh Refuges in southern Oregon. Prior to the changes in the wetlands, the area attracted peak fall concentrations of waterfowl over three times the current levels.

American White Pelicans of the Great Basin: here.

Western Grebe family photo: here.

Which Dutch animals die by traffic?

This video from the USA says about itself:

The Oregon Department of Transportation works with partner agencies to protect motorists and wildlife from collisions at wildlife crossing hotspots.

Dutch natural history site waarneming.nl has a list of the ten animal species most often reported as mortal victims of traffic.

Some remarks on this roadkill “Top Ten”: probably, small animals are reported less than bigger species victims, and common species are under-reported, contrary to “spectacular” rare species.

The list (translated from Dutch):

1 Hedgehog – Erinaceus europaeus 6073
2 Polecat – Mustela putorius 1303
3 Hare – Lepus europaeus 1057
4 Barn owl – Tyto alba 633
5 Common toad – Bufo bufo 614
6 Red fox – Vulpes vulpes 559
7 Beech marten – Martes foina 508
8 Rabbit – Oryctolagus cuniculus 499
9 Brown rat – Rattus norvegicus 435
10 Red squirrel – Sciurus vulgaris 354

Nashville warbler video

This is a video of a Nashville warbler; recorded by George Jameson in Oregon, USA.

Birds in Portland, Oregon: here.

Birds of Oregon, USA

From the Register-Guard in the USA:

PORT ORFORD, Ore. — Michelle Duarte is adept at luring visitors to her WildSpring Guest Habitat, even during the slowest months.

Now she has a new enticement to bring people to the South Coast: The 5-acre resort is one of only three commercial sites on the brand-new Oregon Coast Birding Trail.

Duarte was surprised to learn last year from one of the trail’s creators that WildSpring’s five wooded cabins share land with Pacific-scope flycatchers, tree swallows, chestnut-backed chickadees, golden-crowned kinglets, Swainson’s thrush [see also here], wrentits and a half-dozen other feathered varieties.

Birder Steven Shunk recognized all their calls in just a few minutes.

Cenozoic mammal fossils of Oregon: here.

By outfitting two British Columbia subspecies of Swainson’s thrushes with penny-sized, state-of-the-art geolocators, University of British Columbia researchers have been able to map their wildly divergent migration routes and pinpoint conservation hotspots: here.