The Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans is one of the most distinctive military aviation stations in the United States, located in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, along the Mississippi River. It is the first of its kind in the nation, having been designed, constructed, and put into service as a combined air reserve training facility. As a consequence of past operations involving the AFFF firefighting foam, PFAS may be present in the soil and/or groundwater at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans.
For more than 60 years, Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans has supplied Navy and Naval Reserve troops with aviation intermediate maintenance, comptrollership, and personnel support services. One of the principal missions of Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans is to train Naval Reservists as well as to provide 24-hour operational, logistical, and administrative support to tenant commands and transient aircraft.
Additionally, the facility acts as a staging area for help with homeland security air defense by the Louisiana Air National Guard and search and rescue operations for a large portion of the gulf coast by the United States Coast Guard Air Station. The Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans area is home to around 10,000 Marines, Navy, Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, and Louisiana Air National Guard soldiers and their families, as well as civilian employees and retirees. The health of all of these individuals has been harmed as a consequence of their constant exposure to PFAS.
For decades, companies such as 3M, Chemguard, Tyco, and Dupont have marketed PFAS-based firefighting foam, which is produced using the hazardous chemicals PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl compounds).
The most prevalent military action that may have resulted in the release of PFOA, PFOS, and other PFAS into the environment in the past has been the use of firefighting foam, more precisely, aqueous film-forming foam, or AFFF, for testing, training, firefighting, and other life-saving emergency responses.
PFAS are emerging as a growing source of worry since they are not covered by the Safe Drinking Water Act and do not need regular water quality monitoring. Lifetime health advisories issued by the EPA are non-binding and non-regulatory, and they offer technical information to state agencies and other public health authorities about the health consequences, analytical methods, and treatment technologies related to drinking water pollution.
PFAS has been known to be harmful for decades, yet companies have continued to use them, concealing the risks, denying the toxicity, and failing to provide adequate warnings about the dangers they entail.
The Environmental Protection Agency of the United States has categorized PFAS as an "emerging" and "unregulated" pollutant, which means that it is not subject to regulatory requirements. Chronic effects occur when individuals ingest a contaminant at levels over EPA’s safety standards over the course of many years.
If you are a veteran who was stationed at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans and you are concerned about your health, tell your doctor about any exposure to PFAS and any symptoms you have. PFAS chemicals have been linked to a number of serious, permanently debilitating conditions that qualify service members to file a toxic exposure claim:
If you or a loved one is suffering from a health condition associated with PFAS exposure at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans we can help you receive not only medical care but also the full amount of financial compensation to which you are entitled.
If you are a veteran whose health was affected by exposure to PFAS from the use of AFFF, call us today to learn how we can help you. We have the resources and expertise to assist you in recovering the compensation you are owed from the responsible businesses. Surviving family members may be entitled to compensation for past and future losses, which may include all medical expenses that the deceased person incurred as a result of the cancer treatment; lost earnings and other job-related benefits if the victim had survived; funeral-related costs; loss of companionship; and pain of grief and of the bereavement that follows the death of someone close.