Biography
Bob O’Dowd is a former U.S. Marine who served in the same Marine Aviation Squadron at MCAS El Toro as Tim King, founder of Salem-News.com. With their combined on-site knowledge and research ability, Bob and Tim and a handful of other Marine veterans, have put the contamination of former MCAS El Toro, an EPA Superfund site, on the map. El Toro was closed in ’99, and most of the former base sold by the Navy at a public auction in ’05. Bob and Tim have teamed together to write a documentary on the contamination at El Toro and Lejeune due to be published in the Fall 2011. Look for A FEW GOOD MEN, TOO MANY CHEMICALS. You can email Bob O’Dowd at rodowd@live.com.
At former MCAS El Toro, the Navy has shown no interest in using ground penetrating technology to locate buried TCE drums.
July 15th, 2011 | Posted in Vet News | Read More »
Over 40,000 civilians have been killed in the drug cartel wars in Mexico. There’s little likelihood that the killings will stop anytime soon.
June 23rd, 2011 | Posted in Military | Read More »
Former CIA Asset Claims U.S. Special Forces Assisted Mexican Soldiers In Assault on Stash Site
June 20th, 2011 | Posted in Military | Read More »
Documentary film of Camp Lejeune’s contaminted water wells as seen through the eyes of a Marine veteran airs in Washington film festival.
June 13th, 2011 | Posted in Editors Picks,Military | Read More »
Korean War and Vietnam War veteran totally disabled. Daughter completes successful VA claim on the first try.
June 10th, 2011 | Posted in Military | Read More »
ATSDR’s health survey will compare two groups from Lejeune and Pendleton, two Superfund sites with expected higher incidences of cancer and other diseases.
May 26th, 2011 | Posted in Military,Support the Troops | Read More »
SALEM, Ore.) – Look for a quick air strike against Muammar Al-Gaddafi. France said they could strike within hours. It’s now dark in Libya, but a daylight attack against his forces appears imminent.
March 18th, 2011 | Posted in Military | Read More »
CNN’s Anderson Cooper reported on AC 360 Tuesday night that 50 Japanese workers suspended operations at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Northeastern Honshu.
March 16th, 2011 | Posted in World | Read More »
(SALEM, OR) – The Navy and Marine Corps are faced with the choice of ‘doing the right thing’ by supporting legislation to provide medical care and compensation to those injured from exposure to environmental hazards while on active duty or facing the backlash of a public outcry for not doing so, including lawsuits from dependents and civilian workers that could run into the billions of dollars.
February 24th, 2011 | Posted in Military | Read More »
(Salem, OR) – I don’t know if you believe in angels. I’ve never met one but when I’ve been in a tight spot and asked for help from my guardian angel, he always came through. Does this prove that angels exist? No. But, if you need proof, you wouldn’t believe this story no matter what I said.
February 16th, 2011 | Posted in WarZone | Read More »
EPA’s Superfund database lists Chemicals of Concerns (COCs) and their health effects, valuable information to medical care providers. (WASHINGTON, DC) – Thousands of veterans and their dependents lived and worked on military installations that are now listed as EPA Superfund sites. Former MCAS El Toro was once a proud Marine aviation base; today it is a [...]
February 14th, 2011 | Posted in Health | Read More »
(JACKSONVILLE, NC) – Federal Eastern District Judge Terrence Boyle denied a motion by the government this past Wednesday to reconsider requests to dismiss the $10,000 injury lawsuit of Marine spouse Laura Jones, who contracted non-Hodgkins lymphoma after living aboard Lejeune for three years with her husband. Judge Boyle has previously rejected two motions by the [...]
February 4th, 2011 | Posted in Military | Read More »
VA Boosts Process for Camp Lejeune Toxic Water Claims Tim King Salem-News.com Claims will be consolidated at one office that will focus on the contaminated water issues. This photo of Marine Corps Veteran Jim Fontella might be the most chilling reminder of what life has been like for warriors faced with unprecedented disease rates. One [...]
January 15th, 2011 | Posted in Veterans Affairs | Read More »
“Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans.” Jacques Cousteau (1910-1997) Updated 12/29/2010 (IRVINE, CA) – I don’t believe in ghosts. If I ran into one or two, maybe I’d change my mind. The stories of lights in the former Marine Corps Air Stations El Toro’s [...]
December 27th, 2010 | Posted in Military,Veterans Affairs | Read More »
By establishing a simple website hyperlink, the Veteran Service Organizations can provide valuable critical health information to their membership about the health effects of exposure to contaminants from EPA Superfund sites that would save lives.
November 1st, 2010 | Posted in Benefits,Regional,Top 10,Veteran Service Organizations,Veterans Affairs | Read More »
No government agency or Veteran Service Organization has notified veterans of the list of EPA Superfund installations and the risk of exposure and health effects to contaminants of concern at these military installations.
October 31st, 2010 | Posted in Health,Veterans Affairs | Read More »
United States Senator Kay R. Hagan (D-NC) today issued a statement on the new Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) report detailing ground water contamination at Camp Lejeune.
October 26th, 2010 | Posted in Vet News | Read More »
An Air Force veteran who worked as a fuels specialists has been sick for over 20 years with various serious medical conditions. He has a 50% service connection disability from the VA. His story is compelling and shows the impact on what exposure to toxic chemicals can do to an otherwise healthy young man.
October 26th, 2010 | Posted in Of Interest | Read More »
Veteran Service Organizationn need to publish the list of 130 military bases on the EPA Superfund list to their membership. Most veterans have no idea that bases they served on are now EPA Superfund sites. A number may have been exposed to deadly contaminants, are now sick, and have never connected the dots to military service. These men and women need to know what chemcials they were exposed to so their doctors can provide an effective treatment plan. Keeping them in the dark is definitely not helpful.
October 24th, 2010 | Posted in Health | Read More »
An informational meeting about the CAMP LEJEUNE WATER CONTAMINATION effects will be held Saturday, November 6, 2010, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel, located at 107 6th Street, Pittsburgh, PA.
October 17th, 2010 | Posted in Vet News | Read More »
Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs) have not notified veterans of their possible exposure to environmental hazards at 130 military installations on the EPA National Priority List (Superfund sites). There’s a critical need for the VSOs to exercise leadership by notifying their memberships of the 130 military bases on the NPL, including the Contaminants of Concern and health effects of exposure to contaminants.
October 17th, 2010 | Posted in Environment,Living,Of Interest | Read More »
(SALEM, OR) – Agent Orange is a deadly and dangerous toxic chemical that has killed and maimed millions of Americans and Vietnamese. For those of you who don’t know, Agent Orange is the code name for one of the herbicides and defoliants used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation [...]
September 29th, 2010 | Posted in Vet News | Read More »
Veterans of former Marine Wing Support Group-37, MCAS El Toro, California are unaware of their risk of exposure to carcinogens and many have ‘not connected the dots ‘of illness to military service. UPDATED OCTOBER 2, 2010 (IRVINE, CA) – Hundreds and maybe thousands of 55 gallon drums of trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE) were used at [...]
September 29th, 2010 | Posted in Vet News | Read More »
Information was reported to the Navy who ignored the need to search for the drums. (IRVINE, Calif.) – El Toro employees buried 55 gallon drums of toxic chemicals to avoid Marine Corps Inspector General inspections and, in the case of half empty drums, to support the need for ordering full drums of TCE/PCE. TCE/PCE was [...]
September 17th, 2010 | Posted in Vet News | Read More »
(IRVINE, CA) – The 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing left El Toro for Miramar for good in July 1999. The unwanted legacy left by the Marines was a trichloroethylene (TCE) plume, spreading miles into Orange County’s principal aquifer and threatening the local water supply; a lengthy list of contaminants of concern in the base’s soil and groundwater; a [...]
September 14th, 2010 | Posted in Top 10,Vet News | Read More »
Deceased Marine exposed to Agent Orange and benzene. UPDATED 9/10/2010 (IRVINE, CA) - A Marine veteran’s widow was awarded compensation for the death of her husband from progressive small lymphocytic lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) caused by exposure to burnings at landfills on former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, California. The four landfills on the base burned solid waste, oil, paint residues, [...]
September 6th, 2010 | Posted in Vet News | Read More »
(DAUPHIN ISLAND, AL) – Riki Ott, PhD, Marine toxicologist, sends open letter to EPA, criticizing the unabated dispersant spraying inland and near the shore waters of the Gulf of Mexico from Louisiana to the western Florida panhandle. Dr. Ott said the activity is illegal and is being done to sink visible oil. Dr. Ott has firsthand experience in dealing with [...]
August 31st, 2010 | Posted in Politics | Read More »
The Navy had the opportunity to inspect all of the wells before sealing them in concrete. (IRVINE, Calif.) – The death knell for Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, California, once the premier Marine Corps air station, was sounded in 1985 when trichloroethylene (TCE) was found in three wells during a routine well inspection by [...]
August 23rd, 2010 | Posted in Vet News | Read More »
El Toro’s shallow aquifer was contaminated with total dissolved solids (“salts”) and volatile organic compounds. Base wells were in the path of TCE plume. Purchase of municipal water saved lives.
August 22nd, 2010 | Posted in Vet News,Veterans Affairs | Read More »
El Toro’s shallow aquifer was contaminated with organic solvents like TCE, PCE, vinyl chloride. The Navy denies any contamination of the base waterr supply, despite evidence of TCE contamination in at least two wells. In 1998, Navy’s consulting engineer directed to inspect abandoned Well #4 for location of well screen prior to sealing well. Consultant reported 50 feet of well one screen interval in contaminated aquifer. Navy proceeded with well destruction process without inspecting remaining wells for well screen intervals.
August 16th, 2010 | Posted in Vet News | Read More »
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