Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Cleanup Workers, 1989

re: Steve Provant - AK DEC	Mother-Margaret	12/27/2005
Joe Hazelwood Mask	Mother-Margaret	10/18/2005
What happened to workers?	Mother-Margaret	10/18/2005
re: What happened to workers?	Mother-Margaret	10/20/2005
re: What happened to workers?	Mother-Margaret	11/19/2005
re: What happened to workers?	Mother-Margaret	12/22/2005
re: What happened to workers?	Mother-Margaret	12/27/2005
Native Workers	Mother-Margaret	10/18/2005
AHTNA - Native Corp	Mother-Margaret	10/18/2005
re: AHTNA - Native Corp	Mother-Margaret	5/26/2006
Alaska's Epidemiologist, 1989	Mother-Margaret	10/18/2005
Who is Responsible? . *	Mother-Margaret	10/19/2005
Brothers . . . . . . . . . . *	Mother-Margaret	10/20/2005
Worker Survey . . . . . *	Mother-Margaret	11/19/2005
Telling the story - an overview . . . *	Mother-Margaret	11/23/2005
17 year 'anniversary' March 24, 2006 . . . . . . *	Mother-Margaret	2/2/2006
re: 17 year 'anniversary' March 24, 2006	Mother-Margaret	2/2/2006
re: 17 year 'anniversary' March 24, 2006	Mother-Margaret	2/2/2006
re: 17 year 'anniversary' March 24, 2006	Mother-Margaret	2/3/2006
re: 17 year 'anniversary' March 24, 2006	Mother-Margaret	3/25/2006

In Valdez, Alaska the head of Alaska DEC, Steve Provant die after surgery for gall bladder removal. In his case he had CLL (Chronic Lymphocydic Leukemia).

His wife said he was a chemist and ALWAYS careful to wear his protective suit. What she did not realize, is that the beaches he was on ... could have fresh fumes from the Inipol EAP 22 or Corexit. Or the wind could have blown the fumes into his eyes. I would consider him a casualty of the Exxon Valdez oil spill cleanup. Obituary

http://www.valdezlink.com/evos/joe_hazelwood_mask.htm

Sent: 10/18/2005 5:08 AM

WANTED: Exxon Valdez oil-spill cleanup WORKERS

The non-union VECO or VRCO men who applied Exxon's Inipol 13 or Exxon's Inipol EAP 22

The union Norcon, VECO men in the Corexit trials

The Boatsmen who sprayed chemicals from the pontoon boats

The gals who washed the gear, & brought the lunches/supplies to beach workers

The longshoremen who moved leaking barrels of chemicals...

The captains and crew who transported chemicals,

The Coast Guard monitors

The DEC monitors

The Medics

Those who cleaned

Those who cleaned the boom

Those who washed the boats

Those who washed the otters/birds

Those who worked at the Dayville dump

Those who cut off lids to blue 55 gallon barrels there

& steam cleaned them

Those who incinerated oil mixed with chemicals

Those who lived in Robe River Subdivision, 1989

Those who unloaded blue barrels of chemicals at the airport

Those Who Took Samples on the Beaches or from the Sound July, 1989 and on

Those who worked with skimmers, siphoning oil and chemicals from the water

Navy personnel of #39 and the Deluth, and whatever other Navy ships were stationed in Valdez area in July, 1989 - Who housed the crews and handled "Corexit" and shuttled the beach crews to and from the beaches.

Anyone who drank water from a big boat that had transported 2-butoxyethanol-chemicals

.... not just Inipol EAP 22, but also Corexit & multiple other experimental chemicals...

NOAA photo - Hot Water washing

I believe there were a lot of Native workers from Alaska who worked on the Exxon Valdez oil spill cleanup. If someone were to take a project of going to the Villages and the cities and inquiring what happened to those who worked on the Exxon Valdez oil spill, we would be horrified.

BUT, we don't know, do we?

Said this worker, "I am a native of Alaska. I needed to work because there was no fishing in my area. I was allowed to work by the union hall. I worked July, Aug, Sept, 1989 on a barge that was just out from the beach workers applying the chemicals. I was the deck wench operator. Our barge was about 50 feet out from land and the oil response technicians. I watched the lead supervisor of the beach crews to know when to position the barge upwind or downwind from them, and brought them gear & picked up gear from them: Rubber boots, etc; it was washed and brought back to the main barge - to a Navy Boat . . . Actually I was assigned to a diving barge co, but it went bankrupt. We ate and slept on the little barge. It was around Disk Island that we worked.

How do I feel? I have diabetes, high blood pressure & there is some concern about my eyes. The blood veins are shrinking - vision is blurry; I'm on all kinds of pills. There was a cyst removed from my kidney. I think it was non cancerous.

I do feel tired and depressed sometimes, too. The hair came out of my head - the size of a silver dollar. It has grown back and fallen out again.

leathery skin:

Another worker shared similar things, and that the skin around the back of his neck was all leathery. Nothing seemed to help.

Dear JD,

Thank you for calling today.

From the time period you worked and the general location you were working in during the Exxon Valdez oil spill cleanup, there is a strong possibility that you, too, came in contact with the Inipol EAP 22 that the bioremediation workers were using.(10-12% was 2-butoxyethanol)

I have enclosed some information on a disk... you can put it in any computer; tell them this is a new disk & I just made these copies for you and your doctor. I hope you have medical help that is open to checking into what I have learned about. In general doctors are not trained in chemical poisoning, but there are chemical experts who are willing to work with medical doctors. Your doctor can order the same tests for you. This page is good to share more information with your doctor: valdezlink.com/evos/no_fear.htm

They need to check the blood in depth, Complete Blood Counts; check the percentage of juvenile red blood cells to the whole red blood cells; look at the red blood cells under a microscope. Look for hemolytic anemia. It should have showed up in 1989. It should still be with you.

Do this homework: www.valdezlink.com/men.htm

and valdezlink.com/inipol/pages/survey.htm

You say you have diabetes. . .

high blood pressure?

It could be that the chemicals we are learning about

cause endocrine disruption...

and affect the immune system.

Not JUST diabetes,

but multiple other systems are not functioning as they should.

You need to regularly be checked for kidney and liver function; you need to avoid all chemicals as much as possible Especially avoid alcohol (same family as 2-butoxyethanol)

We need to learn from the workers what has happened. I hope you will share your medical information. As you take a stand, you will help others... and together you can stop this from ever happening to another group of workers.

Sincerely,

Margaret Diann

PO Box 233

Valdez, AK 99686

Please share this info with other workers

& ask them to call, too

1-888-853-5333

Some of these worked the same?

Louise Nutter worked for AHTNA Native Corp during the Exxon Valdez oil spill cleanup - don't know what job specifically ... but when she returned home afterwards she died soon after. I wonder what she died of? & if the other signs of this chemical's pattern were there?

Slim & Howard were neighbors in Kenny Lake, AK and both worked in red bagging area with AHTNA as union workers. Howard Pete of Kenny Lake, worked for Ahtna in those days:

Exxon Valdez oil spill cleanup worker -

Alaska Native - Deceased

Who was your employer?
Laborer with AHTNA?

Period of working on cleanup.
April 1989 to September 1989

Did you work on the beaches?
? Probably 'red bagging' waste near 'duck flats'

Did you work around the containers that held the barrels of chemical?
Yes - A laborer at Dayville Dump site where incineration was to happen or bags would be barged elsewhere. Co-worker spilled an open 5 gallon bucket of 'Corexit' on his hands and feet.

Other Comments

Symptoms of Overexposure to chemicals *

Widow stated - Swollen all through his chest cavity.

If you were around the chemicals, or had to handle them in any way?

Did you ever have blood in your urine? ? checking records

Do you have any health problems? YES

Date of Death? December, 1997

Age at time of Death? 55 years of age

Cause of Death as stated on the Death Certificate?

Acute Renal Failure,

Liver Failure;

B-Cell Lymphoma, S/P Chemo;

Neutropenia;

E-Coli Sepsis;

Cardiac Arrest/Asystole