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Bella Vista man blames illness on U.S. contractor in Iraq Saturday, Jun 21, 2008 By Aaron Sadler Stephens Washington Bureau WASHINGTON - A Bella Vista man told congressional investigators Friday he was forced out of his job for a U.S. contractor in Iraq when he warned that workers were being poisoned by a cancer-causing agent spread throughout a work site. Ed Blacke said his exposure to the chemical known as sodium dichromate in 2003 caused in him chronic thyroid problems and early signs of cancer. Blacke was a safety inspector for the construction company KBR, then a subsidiary of oil giant Halliburton. He said supervisors initially ignored his alarm about contamination at the Qarmat Ali water injection plant near Basra, Iraq. "In my mind, it was criminally negligent of (the company) to make a decision to continue to expose personnel to sodium dichromate poisoning," when his employers knew of the danger to workers and the U.S. troops that provided on-site security, Blacke said. A KBR spokeswoman said Friday that safety and security of its employees is a top priority. "We take issue with the assertion that KBR knowingly harmed troops and was responsible for an unsafe condition," spokeswoman Heather Browne said in a statement. "Further, the company in no way condones any action that would compromise the safety of those we serve." KBR was not represented at the Democratic Policy Committee oversight hearing. A committee spokesman said the company, the largest U.S. contractor in Iraq, refused an invitation. The committee created by Senate Democratic leaders is comprised solely of Democrats and has no legislative authority. Friday's hearing was the 15th in a series on possible waste, fraud and abuse by contractors in Iraq. Blacke said he thought KBR ignored the dangers of the chemical so as not to slow down its work. "They would have been able to complete the contract on time and under budget," he said. "They would have made money on the contract." Nine workers have sued the company because of exposure to the toxic dust at Qarmat Ali. Sodium dichromate, a reddish-orange dust, was strewn all over the ground and equipment at the plant, Blacke said. Another worker, Danny Langford of Texas City, Texas, said the dust caked "on your hands, in your eyes, on your clothes, just everywhere." Langford and other workers blamed the chemical for breathing difficulties, bloody noses and sore throats while in Iraq. Like Blacke, Langford said he has experienced chronic troubles from the contaminant. Blacke said he set out to investigate the chemical when he was told by an Iraqi interpreter that members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party spread the agent in order to sabotage the plant. Its primary use was as an anti-corrosive agent used in the water supply system for oil fields, he said. Higher-ups at KBR visited the plant to reassure workers that the chemical was "a mild irritant at worst," Blacke said. Blacke was escorted out of that meeting for pressing the issue, he added. "It was made clear to me that my presence in Iraq and Kuwait was no longer appreciated and that I would be better off going home," after he pursued his complaints up the ladder at KBR, Blacke said. |
