[M]embers of a key Senate committee know the bill they advanced Tuesday will not soon stop the military from using burn pits overseas to get rid of waste.
Their goal is more modest and long term: to raise awareness among veterans and health care professionals about the health hazards caused by fumes from the burning of chemicals, paint, medical and human waste, metal and aluminum cans, munitions and other unexploded ordnance, often ignited with jet fuel.
They hope to get veterans to sign up on a national burn pit registry, to speed up research and create a “tipping point” so the federal government will acknowledge the connection sooner than it did with Agent Orange, which caused cancer among those that served in Vietnam.
The bill, S. 111, which passed the Senate Government Operations Committee 5-0, is expected to reach the Senate floor by the end of the week. If passed, as expected, it will move to the House, where leaders have said it will be taken up this session. One member of the Senate Government Operations Committee, Sen. Brian Collamore, R-Rutland, predicted the bill would be on Gov. Phil Scott’s desk in two weeks.
There was no committee discussion before the bill passed, but afterward members highlighted their hopes and concerns about the bill.
“I don’t think we’re going up against anybody,” said Sen. Jeanette White, D-Windham, the committee chair who sponsored the bill along with Senate leader Tim Ashe, D/P-Chittenden. She added: “We’re not taking on the VA (Veterans Affairs) or the Department of Defense.”
The idea, she said, is to have state agencies work together: like the Vermont Health Department and the Vermont Medical Society dispensing information to medical providers while the Vermont National Guard and veterans’ groups would get the word out to military members who served in the Middle East or Afghanistan.
Sen. Alison Clarkson, D-Windsor, said: “To me this is a bill about education and public awareness” for veterans, medical providers and the public. Raising the issue, she added, would also give Vermont’s federal delegation a greater ability to hold the government accountable for the health and environmental damage.
“They seem to get a get out of jail free card for polluting and poisoning all over the world,” Clarkson said of the military.
White sponsored the legislation after discussions with a constituent who served overseas.
The bill also comes after VNG Commander Brig. Gen. Mike Heston, the recipient of two Bronze Stars, died of pancreatic cancer last November after three tours of duty in Afghanistan, where he worked as close as 300 feet from open air burn pits. His widow, June Heston, along with other members of the military, including Wesley Black, who suffers from colon cancer, provided emotional testimony for the committee in recent weeks.
June Heston said Tuesday: “It is so encouraging to know S.111 has been moved out of committee, and I am not surprised based on the support from the Senate Government Operations committee for this legislation. I am optimistic the Senate and House will see the value of moving this forward.”
The proposed Vermont legislation highlights the contradiction in guidance from the federal government: warning veterans to watch out for possible symptoms that could be caused by exposure to the burn pits, on one hand, but then not officially acknowledging the connection to health problems.
Sen. Anthony Pollina, P/D-Washington, warned that opposition to the bill might not be overt.
“It’s not as if they’re going to come out and actively oppose what we’re doing. There’s this bureaucratic inertia that will have to be overcome,” Pollina said. Especially, committee members noted, because acknowledging the connection will cost money to provide veterans health care.
According to White, advocates in other states have asked about Vermont’s efforts. She said a wall of states could create pressure on the federal government to acknowledge the connection between burn pits and veterans’ health problems.
“If we even spark a little tiny bit of interest in Minnesota and Montana and Michigan and Mississippi, then I think we’ve done something,” White said.
As Clarkson noted, the number of Vermonters who have signed up for the burn pit registry, 394, has increased by 30 people over the course of their debate.
