[CPEO-IRF] South Weymouth (MA) manganese

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Submitted by Dave Wilmot <DCatbird37@aol.com>


Hello Mr. Congressman, Mr. Senator, EPA et al,

        Two weeks has past since my last request for answers, and I 
have heard back from no one's office.
That's not quite true. I got a response from Tyke Crowley of Senator 
Kerry's office.
        It must be much longer than a year since my former Kerry 
contact, Meaghan Hohl let me know that Tyke would be handling my 
concerns from now on.
        This correspondence from Tyke was the first of any kind I ever 
received from him, and it was just to tell me he's moved on to new 
responsibilities. Any new correspondence or concerns should be aired to 
a particular phone number, I'm told.  Communication from constituents 
evidently no longer warranted from my Senator's office.
         After Mr. Kerry shut down the ability for constituents to 
contact him personally via email, even the requested postings to his web 
site go unanswered.
         What power does the common man have to share concern?

        After years of close contact, my Congressman's office, even 
though assuring me on his boilerplate email received message,  that  "A 
response will be coming as soon as humanly possible", I find myself 
still waiting for responses three years after the fact.
        How can I not be disappointed.

        My own physical strength is being drained from me.

        The ongoing threat of my mental strength's decline is always 
over my shoulder.
        How can I not be disappointed by my elected leaders and my 
federal government?
              I, like many around me, suffer from a neurological disease

        As my disease could only be environmentally triggered by a 
breach of my body's Blood Brain Barrier (BBB), and Manganese is capable 
of doing this. Exposure to neuro-toxic levels of the metal has continued 
to interest me, the more the government steers clear of giving me clear 
answers to my questions.
         Why are the EPA and IRIS forced to ignore evolving science ?

         Does Manganese's federal definition as a "Strategic Metal" 
afford it some kind of unjust protection from environmental law?
          Why can't I let these ignored questions rest?

          As I suspected, and reported on my last ignored email,  the 
just released Geo-Chemical Section of the long awaited Basewide 
Watershed Assessment plainly outlines Manganese as a major component of 
the orange flocculent filling the lifeless Frenches Stream as it flows 
off the former airbase into our neighborhoods.
        Why does the EPA find it responsible to leave Manganese off 
it's list of substances tracked for adverse health outcomes, while 
knowing high levels of this metal are neurotoxic in nature ?
        The EPA knows that the neurological affliction of "Manganism" 
is directly related to welders inhaling Manganese fumes. Studies now 
report that inhaling hot shower steam from water high in Manganese can 
cause these same neurological problems.
        And yet the public protectors find it acceptable here on the 
former South Weymouth Naval Air Station(SWNAS), to let neuro-toxic 
levels of this substance, most likely the result of decades of unsound 
disposal of coal-burning on-base power plant fly-ash refuse, to go 
unchecked in our environment.
        Manganese is only one of the many toxic-level substances in 
ill-disposed fly-ash.
        Arsenic is another heavy metal component.

        The state department of public health, had been engaged in a 
long study of the still unresolved cases of arsenic poisoning in South 
Weymouth neighborhoods. Might uncontrolled disposal of Navy fly-ash be 
the answer? I never heard that possibility discussed at community 
meetings...
        Why have I spent years asking the same questions regarding 
Manganese?
        Welders proven to be suffering Manganese poisoning are plagued 
with nerve degeneration, weakness in the muscles, muscle tremors, 
burning and tingling sensations, gait changes, debilitating movement 
issues, disturbances of memory and cognitive function, over-powering 
fatigue, learning disabilities, disturbances of smell and taste 
function, impotence, changes in libido, and a laundry list of other 
neurological consequences.
          People like myself suffering from Multiple Sclerosis share 
the same symptoms; why shouldn't what I consider to be irresponsible, 
immoral regard for my family and others like us living in harms way by 
former military installations, be brought to my elected "leaders" and 
command their attention !!!
           Someone owes me a sound reply !

                   sincerely,

                   David Wilmot, Abington, Massachusetts

                   01-26-07




--


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org


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