KBR knew of exposure in Iraq

Documents: KBR knew of exposure in Iraq
By Tim Fought - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Nov 12, 2010 21:38:25 EST
PORTLAND, Ore. — Months after arriving on the job in 2003, a U.S. defense contractor trying to restore Iraq’s oil fields had blood and urine tests showing personnel with “significant exposure” to a toxic, cancer-causing industrial chemical, according to federal court documents.

The documents, first disclosed Thursday by The Oregonian newspaper, are part of a lawsuit National Guard troops filed in federal court in Portland against the contractor — Kellogg, Brown and Root of Houston. The troops allege they have health problems and increased risk of cancer and were exposed well after the dangers of sodium dichromate were known.

The company had a no-bid contract from the Bush administration, which hoped Iraqi oil revenue would help pay for the war.

Guard soldiers from Oregon, Indiana and West Virginia who provided security at the Qarmat Ali water plant are involved in suits against KBR. Their lawyers cite minutes of an Oct. 2, 2003, meeting, held at the request of Iraqi oil officials, to discuss an investigation by health, safety and environmental staff members of KBR.

“Urine and blood sample showed elevated levels of chromium, meaning that there was a significant exposure,” said the notes attributed to a KBR official, Chuck Adams. “Cannot allow personnel to be exposed, company will be liable if let this happen.”

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KBR knew of exposure in Iraq