KBR Denied $20 million; Less than a Time Out but More than a Slap on the Wrist
Written by Katie Manning Tuesday, 02 March 2010
The greatest risk for 
in Iraq didn’t come from enemy fire. Maseth was electrocuted to death due to U.S. private military contractor KBR Inc.’s shoddy electrical work. Now, for the first time, KBR is losing millions of dollars as a consequence. The Army decided to deny KBR bonuses, which were routinely awarded to the firm for “excellent” work.
According to KBR’s Security and Exchange Commission 8-K filing, they have been denied $20 million so far. Barry Piatt, press secretary for Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND), said, “The AP reported the figure at $25 million, but we are not sure where they got that figure.” If KBR’s SEC filing is accurate, $20 million could be just the beginning. If this review process continues, they’re expecting to lose $132 million in award fees for their work from January 2008 through December 2009. A press release from the Democratic Policy Committee on Thursday said that this is the “right call,” but only a “first step.” Senator Dorgan, the soon to retire chairman of the DPC, sat through 21 hearings about waste, fraud and corruption in military contracting since 2003. His countless hours listening to accounts of KBR’s “widespread sloppy contracting work that killed soldiers,” impacted KBR little, until now. Dorgan said that the Army’s decision “will send a long overdue message to military contractors that they will be held accountable for their performance, but the Army needs to send that message much more powerfully.”
Two Months Later: Where are they now?
Written by Katie Manning Tuesday, 26 January 2010
Two months has passed since the Democratic Policy Committee hearing on Burn Pits in Iraq and Afghanistan where Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) gave a verbal lashing to KBR. Although KBR did not attend, a video of the hearing is online for all to see.
The good news: The burn pit at Joint Base Balad is closed! The bad news: There are dozens more. KBR operated approximately 100 burn pits across Iraq and about 30 in Afghanistan, according to lawyer Susan Burke. Burke represents Russell Keith, an army medic and one of the witnesses at the Senate hearing. He suffers severe health problems from inhaling the toxic burn pit smoke during his service in Iraq. Civil and class action lawsuits are pending before Judge Roger W. Titus in federal court in Maryland. Burke says that the cases will not go to trial for at least another two years.
Trento’s Take: KBR: The Pentagon’s Imaginary Friend
Written by Joseph Trento Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Imagine being in the Armed Forces and assigned to Iraq. You arrive in Iraq, go into brand new barracks built by KBR, step in the shower, are electrocuted, and die.
In Balad, Iraq, you go outside – wars require that – and breath in a toxic chemical stew emanating from giant burn pits all courtesy of KBR. Maybe you were deployed by your state National Guard unit early in the war; you were ordered to guard a facility near Basra, and you discovered that KBR did not make the facility safe, even though that was their job. In fact they did such a poor job of cleaning up the place that you find out those symptoms you came down with back in Iraq – the nose bleeds and breathing problems – are now terminal cancer.
That is the world of KBR.
No Contractor Left Behind Part IV: Congress’s Powerless Probe
Written by Adam Lichtenheld with reporting by Byron Moore Tuesday, 13 October 2009
“When you have contractors that have demonstrated that they have fleeced the government agency or the taxpayer, I don’t think there should be a slap on the wrist or a pat on the back. They should be debarred. …This is the most significant waste and fraud in the history of our country. It’s not even close.” Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
After a flurry of Pentagon contracting scandals involving KBR went unaddressed by Republican lawmakers under the Bush administration, Democrats ran on promises of “real and serious” oversight in their successful 2006 campaign to win back Congress.
No Contractor Left Behind: Part III: “Just Suck It Up and Move On”
Written by Adam Lichtenheld with reporting by Byron Moore Friday, 09 October 2009
.jpg)
Military Exposure Guidelines permissible exposure limit for chromium: 5,700 parts per million.
Chromium soil concentrations found by KBR samples at Qarmat Ali on August 7, 2003: 16,459 parts per million
Like KBR, the military failed to look after its own at Qarmat Ali.
“Unfortunately,” Sgt. Russell Powell said in Congressional testimony, “many of the soldiers who served at Qarmat Ali are paying the consequences for the Army’s failure to warn and protect the troops.”
At the treatment plant, as soldiers expressed concerns about sodium dichromate, the military brass remained taciturn and downplayed the danger posed by the chemical. Once the toxic conditions at Qarmat Ali were revealed, the Army relied on a questionable and surreptitiously administered medical test to fend off claims of a hazard, and used the results to deny health care for exposed veterans.
No Contractor Left Behind Part II: KBR’s Negligence
Written by Adam Lichtenheld with reporting by Byron Moore Wednesday, 07 October 2009
KBR, a global engineering and construction firm, has become a poster child for war profiteering. Questions about the company’s dubious activities and astronomical profits have served as powerful ammunition for those warning of what President Dwight Eisenhower called “A Military Industrial Complex,” created from a dangerous symbiosis between private corporations and the U.S. military.
The origin of KBR’s role in Iraq has already shrouded the company—and its political patrons—in controversy. In 2004, reports surfaced that the contract under which KBR was working in Basra, Project Restore Iraqi Oil (RIO), was awarded by the Army Corps of Engineers under a secret, no-bid agreement in coordination with the office of then-Vice President Dick Cheney. Cheney became a multi-millionaire in the 1990s as the head of Halliburton, KBR’s parent company. A further outcry followed an investigation last year by the Boston Globe, which found that KBR hired workers for project RIO through two shell companies in the Cayman Islands as part of a ploy to avoid paying hundreds of millions of dollars in Social Security and Medicare taxes.
No Contractor Left Behind Part I: KBR, the Pentagon and the Soldiers Who Paid
Written by Adam Lichtenheld with reporting by Byron Moore Monday, 05 October 2009
No Contractor Left Behind is a series chronicling how a toxic time bomb followed three Army National Guard units home from Iraq. It reveals how a notorious military contractor exposed American soldiers to a cancer-causing carcinogen on the battlefield and how the Pentagon tried to downplay the consequences. And it describes how Congress has relegated its investigation to a toothless forum that lacks the political clout and oversight powers to ensure effective accountability.
DC Bureau is staffed by award-winning journalists dedicated to bringing you in-depth stories covering the Environment and National Security. Help us by donating or by signing up for our newsletter.
Follow us on Twitter
VIDEO: The testimony of KBR employees who worked at the Qarmat Ali water treatment facility in Iraq.
The Army's Suspicious Science:
VIDEO: Dr. Herman Gibb, a leading authority on chromium health effects: By the time CHPPM conducted its sampling the results would not have adequately gauged initial exposure levels to sodium dichromate. Learn more about the science here.
Documentary: No Contractor Left Behind: KBR, the Pentagon and the Soldiers Who Paid
VIDEO: No Contractor Left Behind tells how American soldiers were not told they were exposed to a cancer-causing chemical at the Qarmat Ali electrical plant near Basra in the first months of the Iraq War. KBR, the Pentagon's biggest private contractor, was supposed to clean up the site. It did not. Instead, the company and the Army exposed hundreds of soldiers to a rust inhibitor that is a well known carcinogen and did not tell them about it until years later.
Documentary: The Burn Pit Contracts: KBR and the Army
VIDEO: KBR exposed soldiers and their employees to toxic burn pit smoke at Joint Base Balad in Iraq. KBR denies any responsibility even though their contract with the army contradicts their denial. Soldiers and KBR workers have suffered from health problems consistent with exposure to burn pit smoke since returning home.
Too Big to Fail: The KBR-AIG Dream Team
Since AIG retained full responsibility for KBR’s claims, it was at their discretion—not KBR’s—whether to follow up by ordering further blood tests. Determining the amount of hexavalent chromium in workers’ blood would have been critical to link their illnesses to the exposure at Qarmat Ali, thus making them eligible for worker’s compensation. AIG decided against it.
Subscribe to DC Bureau
For news on Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan visit:
Latest from Environmental Health News
-
Selling the blue sky.The market for greenhouse gas emissions is a bazaar - dependent entirely on government regulation - selling various types of pollution. But can it reduce emissions? The answer so far: Not yet. Second of three parts.
-
Satellite pollution data has surprises.Air pollution over the Indian subcontinent shows some surprising seasonal changes, say U.S. scientists analyzing 10 years of satellite data. During the monsoon season, rains wash some of the dust and soot from the air, but other man-made pollutants continue to build up.
Copyright © 2010 DC Bureau - Investigative Journalism, Environmental News, and National Security Stories That Matter. All Rights Reserved. Designed by JoomlArt.com
DC Bureau Address 1830 Connecticut Ave, NW Washington, D.C. 20009 - 202-466-4310. A Product of the Public Education Center.
| Support Us - Staff - Privacy - About Us - Contact Us - Site map - Submit a tip! - Donate - Press - Log-in |
Share Our Stories
Feel free to republish our articles, graphics and blog for free. Just credit us and link to us, but please don't edit our material or sell it separately. (We're licensed under Creative Commons, which provides the legal details.)
