The Downey Toxic Hell Hole: Injured Workers, Liability & The Business Of

[Guest guest]

The Downey Toxic Hell Hole: Injured Workers, Liability & The

Business Of Lichtner

Bay Area Indymedia - San Francisco,CA*

by Steve Zeltzer

Wednesday Sep 3rd, 2008

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/09/03/18532759.php

One of the first privatized government toxic dump site in Downey,

California has now led to the serious injuries of hundreds of movie

workers and Kaiser workers. The site developed by toxic site

developer Stuart Lichter has also sued injured workers and their

advocates to silence them going public about this highly toxic

military dump site in Southern California

The Downey Toxic Hell Hole: Injured Workers, Liability And The

Business Of Lichtner

By Steve Zeltzer

9/3/2008

Under Democratic and Republican administrations, the pressure has

been on by developers in the last thirty years to privatize Federal

toxic sites around the country. Arguing that they could be cleaned

up quicker and cheaper for development if it was done by private

investors, these developers with the support of both Democrat and

Republican Congresses have passed legislation that allowed these

transfers of highly toxic sites throughout the country.

One of these bills was the CERCLA law, which was passed in 1997 as

part of the Defense Appropriation bill. Under this federal

privatization law, NASA and Air Force toxic sites were allowed to be

Early Transfer Authority (ETA) projects that speeded up the

privatization and development on the sites. According to the

government's own publicity, it allowed the privatization of

remediation responsibilities. In other words, putting the developers

in charge of making sure that these toxic sites around the country

were properly cleaned up before the developer invited industry to

come in.

They have also deregulated the oversight of these sites and left it

more and more up to state agencies to make sure that they were

properly cleaned up. A law was also passed in 2002 that identified

these sites as brownfield sites and provided Federal money also to

help clean up the sites.

Downey: The " Test " Site

One of the first these highly toxic sites to be privatized was the

Downey site in the Los Angeles area, which was privatized by former

Federal GSA employee Stuart Lichter.

http://www.irgco.com/pr_nasa_120403.htm

Through a company he collaborates with the International Risk Group

IRG, politically connected Lichter promised to indemnify NASA, the

United States General Service Administration (GSA), the City of

Downey, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, Downey Landing, LLC. Stuart

Lichter does not formally own International Risk Group but this

company functions as a critical vehicle for Lichter's privatization

operation.

The International Risk Group is an offshoot of Cherokee

Environmental Risk Management. The IRAD, which oversees the Downey

property, is a subdivision of International Risk Group -

International Risk Assumption of Downey. Although it is registered

in California as an insurance broker, it is not registered as an

insurance company in either California or Colorado where it has

offices.

http://www.irgco.com/pr_nasa_120403.htm

http://www.irgco.com/management.htm

Injured workers have reported this information to the California

Fraud Assessment Commission but the insurance controlled commission

has a record of refused to investigate insurance company fraud. This

agreement which was the first of it's kind by NASA has also led

Lichter on a national path of similar privatizations and billions of

dollars in privatization schemes. Through his company Industrial

Reality Group Lichter bought government toxic sites throughout the

country.

http://www.industrialrealtygroup.com/

At the same time, even a liability-laundering plan was patented on

how to make money off these toxic sites.

http://www.irgco.com/liability.htm

The Downey site has been a toxic and radioactive dump for more than

70 years. Nuclear weapons products including neutron bombs were

manufactured there as late as 1997 as a US Air Force site and Boeing

as well as NASA have dumped large amounts of dangerous toxic

chemicals, asbestos and pollutants into the soil for decades.

As part of the Downey privatization scheme, responsibility for the

oversight and protection of the workers and communities was turned

over to California state and local agencies such as California

Department of Toxic Substances and California EPA Department. These

state agencies could more easily be manipulated and controlled by

local and state politicians and developers who were profiting off of

the rapid development of the sites. The US Agency For Toxic

Substance and Disease Registry also began to get grants for health

studies investigations at these sites. This was precisely the case

in fact at the Downey site. Documents now show that the EPA allowed

for the development of these sights without making sure that the

developer had properly cleaned it up.

Making A Killing In The Movie Industry

Stuart Lichter also realized that cheap property in the Los Angeles

area could be used in the movie industry for sets that could make a

financial killing for him. He built the Downey Studios and leased

out the facilities to other movie production companies such as

Dreamworks and Paramount Pictures. Unfortunately for the movie

industry, workers and the community, the site in fact had not been

properly cleaned up and the workers began getting rashes, headaches

and had severe health reactions. Studio workers also began to

discover extensive mold and fungus as they crawled in the dirt at

the massive hangar to put up giant sets in major studio films

like " The Island " " GI Joe " , " Transformer " and " Santa Claus 1, 2 &

3. "

These toxic reactions in fact got so bad that initially one of the

unions IATSE Local 44 even put out a letter to their members that if

they experienced health problems at the site including headaches and

rashes, they should not go to the site. IATSE Local 44 business

agent Ronnie Cunningham was one official according to the injured

movie industry workers who supported warning them about the

conditions at the site. Also the Dreamworks studio put out a notice

about health problems at the site. This obviously had a severe

affect on the Lichter business and any further development of the

site. Lichter in retaliation sued IATSE Local 44 for causing

financial harm to his business and in a suspicious and possible

secret illegal agreement, the union local paid $775,000 to Lichter

and agreed not to put out any further information to the members of

any health and safety problems.

One of the IATSE Local 44 executive board members Leonard

began to challenge these deals that protected employers and worked

to get the union to stand up and fight for workers who had been

treated unfairly. When he learned of the agreement he also told his

fellow members that this was improper. He and other injured workers

are now suing Stuart Lichter for his injuries on the site. The

secret agreement sought to shield Lichter and his companies from any

further exposure by the union and put workers on notice that their

union would no longer defend them if they got in a battle over their

healthcare with this employer.

http://downey.kaiserpapers.info/injured/downeyvslocal44.html

Approving the settlement in all likelihood was Tom Short, the past

president of this powerful international union. Short had a well-

deserved reputation of being friends with the industry. Suddenly

resigning this year, Short is known as a company man offering the

bosses that his workers will be willing to cross other union picket

lines and also he is a friend of the industry.

Not surprisingly, despite the agreement, IATSE workers, LIUNA

laborers and other movie workers continued to get sick and they and

their families began to become terrified when they could not find

out what they had. Workers were getting serious ailments and no

proper healthcare to discover what was really wrong with them.

Workers also noticed some very strange things at the site. Some

workers noticed glowing green soil on the site and others noticed

that plastic tarps were being put over the toxic material were

actually melting the tarps due to the highly dangerous material that

management were seeking to cover-up.

At the same time, IATSE nurses who were also supposed to check on

the health of the set building and other IATSE workers were

themselves getting sick from these sites. Workers began to have

severe headaches, nose bleeds, outbreaks of temper, and shedding of

skin on their hands on a regular basis. Steve Basile, a master movie

set worker called it snake shedding as his skin began to peel off on

a regular basis after working in the mold and toxic material in the

giant hanger studio buildings.

http://www.workersmemorialday.org/documents/SteveBasileStory.htm

Movie workers also ended up bringing the mold and toxins back to

their families. Their families began to get symptoms as well from

the site.

No Protection From Ca-OSHA

Workers also filed Ca-OSHA complaints during the Lemony Snickets

Paramount production that workers were getting sick from

contaminants on the site. Ca-OSHA made an inspection but no serious

clean-up or stop work orders were ever issued. Instead, Lichter

received a slap on the hand.

http://downey.kaiserpapers.info/injured/osha.html

At the same time, under privatization of the sites, Federal OSHA has

turned over responsibility for safety at the sites to state agencies

like Ca-OSHA. Under both Democratic and Republican California

governors, Ca-OSHA has eliminated doctors on the staff and today

there is not one doctor working for the agency which is responsible

for the health and safety of 17 million workers in California. In

cases like sickness from mold and fungus, industrial hygienists are

not qualified to make a serious epistemological investigation as to

the causes of workers illnesses at these sites. The last doctor at

Ca-OSHA Dr. Larry Rose has written about the destruction of this

agency and the complete failure of the agency and it's leadership to

take responsibility for these problems.

http://www.workersmemorialday.org/documents/Rose.htm

The net result is that workers are left on their own to fend the

best way they can without real health and safety protection on the

job and are forced to continue to work in unsafe environments in

order to keep their jobs.

The Kaiser Connection

Vicki was a family member whose father was killed by the

malpractice of Kaiser Permanente Hospital doctors. This is the

largest HMO in the country with over 7 million members. In an effort

to inform others about the Kaiser operation, she began a web site to

expose the role of the largest non-profit HMO in the country.

It is called http://www.kaiserpapers.org and Vicki through her web

portal was able to come into contact with injured Kaiser senior

orthopedic technician Gail Shephard. Shephard, a Kaiser SEIU UHW

member who put casts on patients had begun to get serious infections

at the Bell Flower hospital site which contained fungus in her

workspace and a toilet that was constantly overflowing and was later

closed off. When Gail was transferred to the Downey Hospital

complex, the toxins materials including chromium, arsenic, asbestos,

thallium, mercury, radioactive TCP and dioxin at the new site

created even greater health and safety problems for her as a result

of decreased immune resistance.

Kasier Builds Large Hospital Complex On Toxic Dump In Downey

Kaiser management although aware that the site was seriously

contaminated had decided to disregard this information and invest

over $700 million to build one of the largest hospital complexes in

Southern California on this toxic dump. Gail Shephard was one of the

first victims that went public about the illnesses she was getting

at this site. Searching for an attorney, Gail found the

Kaiserpapers.org and the connection to other Kaiser workers and

patients.

Gail also tried to contact SEIU UHW stewards and even the president

of the local Sal Rosselli to address her health and safety concerns,

which were not only affecting her but other fellow workers. His

secretary told Gail they were not interested in hearing from her.

She had also fallen three times due to her illnesses. One of the

reasons for his reticence might have been the long-standing labor-

management partnership at Kaiser. This agreement with Kaiser bosses

and the union was aimed at creating a collaborative relationship

between the workers and managers. In return for agreeing to this,

the union won the right to organize without opposition many other

classifications at Kaiser including social workers and other skilled

workers. Another crucial element in understanding the conditions of

Kaiser workers is that Kaiser is a self-insured employer, which

means that Gail like other injured Kaiser workers needed to go to a

Kaiser doctor for their healthcare.

Gail also called Ca-OSHA in June 2007 when she had moved to the

Downey site because she and other workers were getting dizzy spells,

migraines, kidney pains, stiff necks, breathing problems. Many of

these same health problems were similar to those being faced by

workers at the Downey and Dreamworks site. Ca-OSHA violating their

own rules did not make an investigation and instead notified Kaiser

according to Shephard to look at the problem. Kaiser then did their

own " air study " and they determined that the air study came out ok

but refused to provide a copy of the study to Gail.

In September 2007, after visiting Dr. Leonard Patrice, chair of the

Hematology Department, she was told that she had fibromyalgia. In

her case, the Kaiser doctor Dr. Alberto , an epidemiology and

infectious diseases specialist after looking at Gail's swollen

infected leg on February 2, 2008 told her nothing was wrong with

her. said that her feet looked normal despite massive

swelling. Another Kaiser doctor who Gail saw was Dr. Sangarapilla

Manoharan who is an Occupational Medicine Specialist. He said he

would have to look into it and later she received a letter saying

that she was required to go back to work with no restrictions. Gail

who at this point was walking with a cane and had a severe nerve

disease in her elbows was in no shape to go back to work with no

restrictions. She now has also developed head and shoulder syndrome

and necrotic tissue. On August 20, 2008, Gail received a letter from

Kaiser that she could not be provided a job and was being turned

over to the worker's comp system on total disability with a payment

of $264.50 a week. This after Kaiser doctors had told her that she

had no health problems and should go back to work without

restrictions.

Schwarzenegger's Workers Compensation Fiasco

Kaiser, which is a self-insured employer, is a beneficiary of the

deregulation of workers compensation. California Senate Bill 899

introduced by Schwarzenegger and passed by the California Democratic

legislature almost unanimously allowed insurance companies to cut

permanent disability 50% and to set up Medical Review Boards that

put more roadblocks for workers seeking to get medical care for

their injuries. The bill forced workers to go to company doctors for

reviews of their heath injuries and even allowed Doctors unlicensed

in California to make medical decisions about their injuries and

treatment.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?

f=/c/a/2008/08/28/EDMD12I96G.DTL

The deregulation of workers compensation has also included self-

insured employers like Kaiser. These self-insured employers are

supposed to be regulated by the Department of Industrial Relations

C. Duncan and the director of California's Managed-Care

Department but for all intents and purposes there is no real

regulation. The DIR and Duncan are also presently being sued by

injured 7th Day Adventist Nurse Barbara for failure to

regulate these HMO and self-insured

companies.http://www.barbclark.org

This was precisely the case in Gail's treatment at Kaiser. The

doctors were apparently more interested in protecting the financial

liability of Kaiser than protecting workers who faced serious and

deadly contamination at the toxic site. The likelihood is that not

only will they be legally responsible for these many injured workers

but the entire Downey Kaiser hospital site will be shutdown due to

the deadly toxic contaminants at the site as the site loses it's

license to do business.

In fact, one of the likely reasons of inaction by the Los Angeles

Health Department on this toxic site is that a Kaiser doctor Cyrus

Rangan M.D. is in fact Director of Toxic Epidemiology Program of the

Department of Health Services of LA County. His specialty is

debunking " Mold Myths and Fungal Fallacies so he obviously would

have little interest in exposing such mold and fungal problems at

the Kaiser site in Downey.

http://www.kplearning.com/10_national_site/symp_courses.php

At the same time the issue of liability is one of the factors that

has helped expose this whole corrupt operation. Injured workers at

the site in fact begged the good doctor in charge of LA Health

services to look at their growing health care problems but were

turned away.

Role of California AFL-CIO and State SEIU Legislative Director

Unfortunately, the California AFL-CIO's Art Pulaski and Angie Wei,

the CA AFL-CIO's Legislative Director along with the SEIU's

California Legislative Director Davenport are pushing for

injured workers to be pushed into HMO's rather than be able to go to

the doctor of their choice. They argue that this would this

scheme " offers employers the potential for substantial savings "

according to flyer advertising a September 9th, 2008 meeting to push

these schemes. These unions and officials have also refused to fight

and publicize the elimination of all medical doctors at Ca-OSHA.

Both Wei and Davenport are on the board of the California Commission

On Health And Safety and Workers Compensation.

Art Pulaski and the State AFL-CIO also took a neutral position on

the deregulation of Governor Schwartzenegger's SB899 which

deregulated workers compensation and cut permanent disability

payments by more than 50%. It also set up an obstacle course

of " medical review boards " and company doctors to prevent seriously

injured workers from getting treatment. At the same time, the

California AFL-CIO and the State SEIU have also refused to support

any campaign for single payer that would eliminate the insurance

industry from control of healthcare despite the actions of many of

their locals and councils in the state. Their main political effort

has been to make it more profitable to allow unions

by " constraining " healthcare costs. Wei in the past has also

attacked workers compensation doctors for creating the crisis in

workers compensation.

Busting Lichter, Who's Liable For The Damages?

The issue of financial liability for workers who have been injured

on the site is probably one of the straws that broke the camel's

back. On Tuesday June 24, 2008 Stuart Lichter and his company

Industrial Reality Group IRG sued Dreamworks and International Risk

Group for refusing to cover $300,000 in legal expenses arising for

lawsuits by injured workers at the Downey site. For a property that

was supposed to have been properly being cleaned up before being

developed, it was now clear that something was seriously wrong and

someone had to pay for it. " Downey Studios executives previously

have dismissed the workers' complaints as spurious, citing extensive

environmental testing that concluded that the former aerospace

manufacturing facility was a " healthy and safe environment. "

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/business/la-fi-

downey262008jun26,0,2356057.story

The growing battle over who would pay for the liabilities of

fighting the cases of injured workers claims was now in the news and

raising public questions about what was really going on at this

toxic site.

Local, State and Federal Politicians Refuse To Investigate Lichter

Injured workers at the Downey site also sought to inform not only

local, state and federal agencies including the EPA, but also

powerful Congressional representatives in Southern California and

other politicians. Governor Schwarzenegger, himself a former movie

industry worker was notified but never responded. Lucille Roybal-

Allard, a Congresswoman from representing the district where the

Downey site was located also never responded. In fact, she like many

other Congress people had received political contributions from

Lichter and his companies. Her husband previously had been employed

by the GSA. Also contacted were US Senators Feinstein and Senator

Boxer.

After hearing of the US Congressional hearings on steroids by US

Congressman Henry Waxman, the IATSE members contacted the

Congressman and asked for him to have a meeting with him and have

Congressional governmental oversight hearings in Southern

California, yet he has still not set up a meeting with the workers.

Also the California Coalition For Workers Memorial met with Lynn

Downey, the subcommittee chair on the workplace under Congressman

chair of this key Congressional committee.

http://www.workersmemorialday.org

Even Presidential candidates McCain and Obama were contacted but no

responses have been heard from yet. Only Ralph Nader and Matt

have invited the Downey injured workers to their recent

Santa press conference where the workers were able to speak

about their struggle.

Shutting It Down: Desperate Tactics By Developer Lichter

The great fear of Lichter was that the exposure of one of his

development sites would lead to the collapse of his toxic site

industry. Some of his other sites includes McClellan Air Force Base

(McClellan Park), Alameda Naval Air Station (Alameda Point) and the

Letterkenny Army Depot (Letterkenny Business Park) and in Uniontown,

Ohio. He is traveling constantly as he manages dozens of these toxic

sites around the country so a chink in the armor of his operation

could bring down the entire empire.

In an effort, in part, to stop the growing campaign of the Downey

injured workers and supporters Vicki and Dina Padilla,

Lichter on August 5, 2008 sued injured workers Leonard , Bruce

Norrbom, Dina Padilla and Vicky charging that they had

defamed him and harmed him financially. At the same time in an

inexplicable move, Lichter and his lawyers had actually included the

documents he wanted to keep secret. They included the secret

agreement between himself and IATSE Local 44 and even a deposition

of the injured workers testifying that they indeed were getting sick

as a result of working on the site. This lawsuit now is itself part

of the same record they want to keep from the public.

http://dinapadillaforcongress.com/pdfs/DINA%20A%20VICKE%20page%

202.pdf

Despite the efforts to shutdown the Kaiser papers website and

silence the injured workers and their supporters, this Slapp type

action will not stop them from speaking out. They have already

linked up with workers and community activists from throughout the

US who themselves are facing the same battles.

This case is just the tip of an iceberg as the deregulation and

privatization of these toxic sites brings a bitter backlash of those

who are paying the costs of this fiasco and the massive financial

scam.

http://www.workersmemorialday.org/document...