Poison left behind

Serious problems remain after decades of cleanup on Peninsula military bases.
BY PATRICK LYNCH AND JOHN M.R. BULL

June 10, 2007
The military has polluted Peninsula creeks and ponds with cancer-causing chemicals and dangerous contaminants such as mercury and arsenic.

The water tables under the four major bases are extensively contaminated with fuel and other toxins.

At one base, an industrial solvent has been found flowing into the York River at levels almost 4,000 times the federal drinking-water limit.
At another, fish skeletons have been deformed by military pollution.

And tests show elevated levels of nasty polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, in fish, oysters and crabs in public waterways near three of the bases - particularly around Tabb Creek near Langley Air Force Base.

And despite those tests, a communications glitch between state agencies allowed at least 175 bushels of oysters to be sold to consumers last year out of waters contaminated with PCBs, a carcinogen that accumulates up the food chain into humans.

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