PFAS – Monterey Bay Matters

– Leukemia case reported at California State University, Monterey Bay; student lived in former Fort Ord barracks

From Military Poisons

By Pat Elder

Student residences at CSUMB are situated above portions of the former Fort Ord, where chlorinated solvent plumes remain in the subsurface and questions have been raised about potential vapor intrusion into occupied buildings.

This report examines the environmental conditions surrounding one former California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB) student, who was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia after attending the university.

‍To protect the privacy of the student and his family, we use the pseudonym “Caleb” throughout this report.

‍Caleb has been battling T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia. During his first year at California State University, Monterey Bay, he lived in one of the former Fort Ord brick barracks near the Student Union. As a transfer student, he attended CSUMB for two years. During his second year, he moved into Promontory Housing on 8th Street near Imjin Parkway.

Caleb was physically active and played intramural sports on the recreation sports field behind the promontory building, north of North Quad past 5th Ave. Because he both lived and recreated in these locations, understanding the environmental conditions in these areas is essential to evaluating the range of potential chemical exposures he may have experienced.

We know that Trichloroethylene, (TCE), Tetrachloroethylene, (PCE), and Vinyl Chloride (VC) levels in groundwater A-aquifer and Upper 180-foot were above criteria in 2014 and remain prevalent in 4th quarter 2025 in the area that includes the Promontory Housing where Caleb lived for 2 years. Tables 1A and 1B from document OU2-752 Fourth Quarter 2025 Groundwater Monitoring and Treatment System Report summarizes the current levels of PCE, TCE and VC in the two groundwater aquifers underlying Promontory Housing.

We know that these contaminants are likely impacting indoor air in buildings that are above the two underlying aquifers (A-Aquifer and the Upper 180-Foot Aquifer) and particularly from A-Aquifer.

The diagram shown here is from EPA’s Migration of Soil Vapors to Indoor Air.‍‍

In their July 9, 2026 Health Evaluation of drinking water Former Fort Ord Army Base From 1985 to 1994 Report, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) stated that air sampling data from within and directly beneath buildings is needed to determine if vapor intrusion (VI) is occurring and to what extent.

Vapor Intrusion is the process by which chemicals from contaminated soil or groundwater enter the indoor air of a building.

Figure 1 below is from the 2025 groundwater report and shows the general outline of the OU2 TCE and other contaminants of concern plume adjacent to and underlying Promontory Housing.

Figure 1. OU2 TCE Groundwater Plume in Proximity to Promontory Housing

‍We know that there are significant levels of PFAS in the Upper 180-foot aquifer in the Promontory Housing area (black oval).

See Figure 2 from the February 2020 OU2-722A Technical Summary Report — PFAS Basewide Review of Historical Activities and Groundwater Monitoring at Operable Unit 2 report with data from MW-OU2-23-180 highlighted below.

‍Figure 2. Promontory Housing and PFAS Levels in the Upper 180-foot Aquifer‍ ‍

Table 2 below lists worst case PFAS results from the July 2023 BW-2942 Site Inspection Narrative Report PFAS detected in monitoring well MW-OU2-50-180, which is located in the Upper 180-Foot Aquifer and in close proximity to Promontory Housing as shown in Figure 3. These levels of PFAS are significant in groundwater after so many years.

Figure 3. July 2023 PFAS Results in MW-OU2-50-180, Listed in ug/L (ppb)

We don’t have sufficient information about potential underlying chemical contamination at the dorms where Caleb stayed his 1st year. The former Fort Ord Soil Testing Area (FOSTA) is the closest area of concern upstream of the dorms but was reportedly cleaned up years ago. No plumes are shown on any available maps that would indicate contaminated groundwater. The Fort Ord Team did collect a sample for volatile organic compounds (VOC) inside dorm bldg. 205 in 2025 and those results are shown in Table 3 below. A screenshot from a campus map is shown in Figure 4 and the approximate dorm location is circled.

None of these solvents are likely to have contributed to Caleb’s’s illness but any chemical exposures can assist in weakening a person’s defense mechanisms thereby allowing more chronic hazardous chemicals to cause long term damage. ‍ ‍

Figure 4. CSUMB Main Quad Dorms, Dorm 205 Where Caleb Stayed His 1st Year

Surface soils on the Student Recreation Field shown in Figure 5 where Caleb played sports, is suspected of being PFAS contaminated because of the CSUMB practice of using recycled water for irrigation. Airborne soil/particulates from upwind contaminated areas like the Fort Ord Soil Treatment Area, (FOSTA), is also suspected. We don’t know for certain if this Field has been irrigated with recycled water but even the Marina City Water has historically been impacted with PFAS and they are “forever” so it is likely that the surface soils at this Field contains PFAS. Samples should be collected in September 2026.

Figure 5. CSUMB Promontory Housing and Student Recreation Field

The Connection of Known Contaminants and Caleb’s Illness

‍While there is limited research directly linking Trichloroethylene (TCE) to T Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (T-ALL), the U.S. EPA and IARC classify TCE as a known human carcinogen. Scientific evidence associates TCE with blood-related cancers such as Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL)[1] and various forms of leukemia[2].

‍There is an association between PFAS exposure and Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). There is a particular association between exposure to PFAS and lymphoblastic leukemia from prenatal and childhood exposures[3]. Consideration to exposures to PFAS though age 18 were considered in this study. So much remains unknown about PFAS and numerous illnesses and cancers that science is still catching up with the actual mechanism of exposure as it relates to illness. The cited study and others like it show a strong association between PFAS exposure and ALL.

There is an established but general relationship between vinyl chloride exposure and certain blood-related cancers, though the scientific literature does not strongly single out T Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia specifically. Vinyl chloride is classified as a Group 1 human carcinogen. While its primary, most well-known link is to hepatic angiosarcoma (a rare liver cancer), it is also broadly associated with cancers of the lymphohematopoietic system, including leukemia and lymphoma[4].

Qualifications

My name is Denise Trabbic-Pointer. I am a Chemical Engineer with a BS and MS in Hazardous Materials Management, a career EHS professional and a Certified Hazardous Material Manager Emeritus. I retired in January 2019 after 42 years with DuPont. The last 7 years of my career were with a spin-off company, Axalta Coating Systems, as their Global Environmental Competency Leader. As it specifically relates to the topic of existing hazards to the residents in and near the former Fort Ord site and their related health risks, I was an acting occupational health manager for more than 30 years. In that role, I trained employees and facility first responders on the hazards of the chemicals that they worked with and encountered and how to properly protect themselves. For the same time period, and as part of my role as an environmental manager, I managed a number of site clean-up and remediation projects. As a global environmental manager, I reviewed numerous remediation projects, including review of proposed remedial methods as well as Phase I and II environmental impact statements (EIS) for possible acquisition. Since May 2019, I have been the Sierra Club – Michigan Chapter, Toxics & Remediation Specialist, and volunteer nationally as a technical resource for communities impacted by releases of toxics to air, water and/or soil.

[1] NIH. Sara Karami et al…, Occupational trichloroethylene exposure and risk of lymphatic and haematopoietic cancers: a meta-analysis. May 2013.

[2] ATSDR. Health effects linked with trichloroethylene (TCE), tetrachloroethylene (PCE), benzene, and vinyl chloride exposure, Camp Lejeune, NC. November 2024

[3] University of California, Irvine. Targeted and non-targeted analyses of PFAS in newborn dried blood spots and risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. April 2026

[4] National Cancer Institute. Vinyl Chloride. June 2024.‍ ‍

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Independent environmental investigations are expensive. Laboratory analysis, sampling equipment, and travel costs quickly add up. If you believe this work should continue—and that communities deserve independent scientific scrutiny when official investigations leave important questions unanswered—we invite you to support our work. Your contribution will help fund field sampling, laboratory analysis, and the public release of our findings.

Go here, to the bottom of the page, to contribute. https://www.fortordcontamination.org/‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍

See our database of nearly 2,000 former Fort Ord residents and their accompanying cancers and diseases, including 120 with various types of Leukemia. Caleb recently had his 90-day post-transplant appointment and we’re cautiously optimistic as he undergoes another bone marrow biopsy.

https://www.militarypoisons.org/latest-news/leukemia-case-reported-at-california-state-university-monterey-bay

– Declining enrollment, surplus schools: MPUSD Del Rey Woods and Marshall Elementary Schools as a case study

By Nina Beety

Revised 8-10-26
Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, along with many school districts faced with shrinking enrollment and decreased revenues, is considering permanently closing schools and selling the properties. Currently, MPUSD’s 7-11 Committee is discussing the possibilities.

The most important part of MPUSD’s evaluations must be which school properties are safest and which are adjacent to hazards as a criteria for retention. It is not clear that safety is part of their considerations past or present. Schools with known or newly discovered toxins or hazards must be the first ones to be closed, and children moved to safer schools, even if they must be transported by school bus every day. Hazards can include toxics contamination, noise, air pollution, microwave antennas and cell towers, electrical substations, and high voltage lines.

Del Rey Woods Elementary School, at Plumas Avenue in Seaside, is one such hazardous location. It is located in PG&E’s high-voltage transmission line corridor and with cellular antennas mounted on the transmission towers across the street. Children attend classes and play in the playground in those elevated EMF and high microwave fields. The school must be closed.

Research has shown that children exposed to powerline frequencies are at risk of serious life-threatening illnesses especially leukemia. Cancer clusters occur within 1/3 mile of cell towers. Microwave radiation causes DNA damage, heart problems and many immediate and long-term health damaging effects. The students’ exposure is compounded by the Wi-Fi in the school. This is a dangerous environment for children and school staff, including staff members who are pregnant, but the school district has ignored this situation for years, with the current superintendent even sending his children to the school.

Marshall Elementary School on Normandy Road is another hazardous site. It is located on the Fort Ord National Priorities List Superfund site now part of Seaside, and sits below the large PFAS dump on Numa Watson Road which the Army only acknowledged in 2022. For at least 10 years until the 1990s, fire crews would purge their trucks of fire-fighting foam once a month as well as practice spraying foam at that location. It would go into the storm drains and into the Monterey Bay, as well as drain downhill, drying out and becoming dust to be carried by the wind to nearby homes and Marshall. Chartwell School, a private school, was built in 2006 immediately adjacent to the dump. When Chartwell School applied to expand the school last year, Seaside and Chartwell learned about the PFAS contamination for the first time. So did MPUSD’s superintendent PK Diffenbaugh who attended the planning commission hearing to support Chartwell’s expansion. He has taken no public action in the year since, despite that this dangerous contamination also affects Marshall Elementary.

Marshall should be shut down pending a full investigation of PFAS and other contaminants in and around the area in view of the risk to students and staff. The school district must also close Del Rey Woods School. They must move all these students to the former Monte Vista Elementary School on Soledad Drive in Monterey, which they have shut down, and to other safer campuses. The former Monte Vista is a much safer environment for children and school staff than many other locations. It is not near any cell towers or high voltage lines.

When the district made their decision to close Monte Vista, Foothill, and other schools in 2021, it was without proper consideration of the most important factors. The board and staff continue to ignore them and that their responsibility is to student and staff safety first. The school district needs to go back to the drawing board. In addition, the district must wire all internet connections and eliminate wireless internet in all its schools.

Sources:

https://mdsafetech.org/cell-tower-health-effects/
Cell Tower Radiation Health Effects

https://ehsciences.org/powerlines-emf-elf-magnetic-fields-health/
The Health Effects of EMF, ELF and Magnetic Fields from Power Lines and Electricity

https://ehsciences.org/major-wins-for-childrens-health-u-s-school-districts-are-opposing-high-voltage-power-lines-the-49ers-may-relocate-away-from-the-substation/
Nationwide Moves To Protect Children’s Health: U.S. School Districts Are Opposing High Voltage Power Lines + the 49ers May Relocate Away From the Substation!

https://peteranthonycowan.substack.com/t/49ers-emf-injury-series
Peter Cowan “49er EMF Injury Series”

https://peteranthonycowan.substack.com/p/reading-the-leaves-the-trees-near
Reading the Leaves: The Trees Near the 49ers’ Substation Knew First

Also, on Temecula Valley Unified School District:
https://ehsciences.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Temecula-Valley-Unified-School-District-Resolution-Opposing-the-SDGE-Golden-Pacific-Powerline-Project-Near-School-Facilities.pdf

PFAS contamination near Marshall Elementary School:
https://aec.army.mil/Portals/115/PFAS/POM_PASI.pdf?ver=50d44b8fvCrh6O006dqqPQ%3D%3D
Final Preliminary Assessment of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances V2, February 2022
4.3 Readily Identifiable Off-Post PFAS Sources, p. 11

https://www.militarypoisons.org/latest-news/pfas-at-the-former-fort-ord
Excerpt: Former nozzle testing area near the Chartwell School

Historic amounts of carcinogen PFAS foams were sprayed here.

Fire department personnel conducted training, fire hose and tank flushing, and nozzle testing in a paved area near the Chartwell School on Numa Watson Road until the 1990s, before the property was transferred to the City of Seaside.

Fire department personnel were trained to perform nozzle testing with AFFF to ensure optimal flow and release of the AFFF mixture. Nozzle testing involved spraying AFFF through fire equipment. Fire equipment training also included arc training to maximize the arc, reach, and distance covered by AFFF in an emergency response.

Training took place about once a month for at least 10 years, releasing approximately 30 gallons of AFFF concentrate during each event. The nozzle testing area was a large asphalt parking area with storm drains that lead to channels that discharge into Monterey Bay.

Approximately 3,600 gallons of AFFF concentrate was used here. Usually, firefighters mixed 3% concentrate with 97% water. A single event using 30 gallons would be mixed with 970 gallons of water to produce 1,000 gallons of foam.

On August 19, 2024, in one of the greatest PFAS accidents in the nation’s history, 1,450 gallons of PFAS-AFFF concentrate spilled from Hangar 4 at the former Brunswick, Maine Naval Air Station. In November 2022, there was another historic release of approximately 1,300 gallons of AFFF concentrate at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

These historic releases don’t match the cumulative tragedy on Numa Watson Road.

Physicians for Safe Technology
https://mdsafetech.org/wi-fi-in-schools-2/
– Wi-Fi in Schools

Military Poisons
www.militarypoisons.org
– search “Fort Ord” for articles on base contamination

– Response to ATSDR water report: Fort Ord health questions not answered by limited report

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) report https://montereybaymatters.org/2026/07/09/new-federal-report-on-1985-1994-fort-ord-drinking-water/

It evaluates only nine chemicals identified in available drinking-water records…It does not assess pre-1985 drinking-water exposures, post-1994 redevelopment, vapor intrusion into occupied buildings, PFAS contamination, contaminated soils, or other potential routes of exposure.

ATSDR will be present at the July 25 Fort Ord Workshop and Open House to provide an update on their report — see related post and calendar.

By Julie Akey
Published by the Monterey Herald
July 13, 2026

Sean Tubo’s July 10 Monterey Herald article, “New study says Fort Ord water posed no public health hazard,” accurately reports the conclusions of ATSDR’s updated Health Consultation. However, the ATSDR answers only a narrow question: whether a limited number of contaminants found in drinking water between 1985 and 1994 were likely to pose unacceptable health risks. The ATSDR report does not answer the broader question that thousands of former soldiers, military families, civilian employees, and Monterey County residents have been asking for decades: Did contamination at Fort Ord sicken and kill many?

The agency limited its evaluation to 1985 through 1994 largely to remain consistent with an assessment it conducted in 1996. That may satisfy an administrative objective, but it is not a scientific one. Fort Ord remained occupied after 1994, and thousands of people continued to live, work, attend school and recreate there for years after the Army closed the base.

I know because I was one of them.

I lived at Fort Ord in 1996 and 1997. Twenty years later, I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. Since then, I have identified 138 people who lived or served at Fort Ord and later developed the same blood cancer. Altogether, I have compiled a database of nearly 2,000 former residents and military personnel suffering from cancers and other serious illnesses associated with chemicals known to have contaminated the installation. Most of these diseases are associated with military activities.

The report also acknowledges another major limitation: there are virtually no drinking-water records before 1985. Without those records, ATSDR cannot evaluate exposures during much of Fort Ord’s operational history. That absence of data should never be interpreted as evidence that harmful exposures did not occur. It simply means we do not know.

Nor does the report examine every contaminant that may have been present. It evaluates only nine chemicals identified in available drinking-water records. As a result, its conclusions apply only to those contaminants, during that limited period, under the specific exposure assumptions used by the agency.

Perhaps the most significant unanswered question involves vapor intrusion.

ATSDR openly acknowledges that indoor-air and sub-slab sampling are needed to determine whether toxic vapors migrated from contaminated groundwater and soil gas into occupied buildings. Because those data do not exist for the period studied, the agency states it cannot determine whether people were exposed through this pathway.

This is an extraordinary admission.

Today, large portions of the former Fort Ord have been redeveloped into neighborhoods, apartment complexes, schools, university facilities, athletic fields, offices and retail centers. Many sit above documented groundwater plumes containing trichloroethylene (TCE), tetrachloroethylene (PCE), carbon tetrachloride, and other volatile chemicals.

At The Dunes on Monterey Bay, soil-gas investigations continue to detect elevated concentrations of TCE and PCE beneath a busy commercial development. Yet comparable investigations have not been conducted beneath many residential neighborhoods or student housing at Cal State Monterey Bay, located above documented groundwater contamination.

The reported outdoor concentrations of PCE (tetrachloroethylene) and TCE (trichloroethylene) are exceptionally severe for an open-air pedestrian environment. Employees and regular shoppers may be at risk.

Vapor intrusion is not simply a historical concern. It represents a current exposure pathway affecting people who live, work, shop, and study on the former base today.

PFAS contamination presents another major gap. Because these “forever chemicals” were not monitored in drinking water during the 1985-1994 period, ATSDR correctly concludes that it cannot evaluate potential health risks from PFAS exposure. But that should not be misunderstood as evidence that PFAS were absent.

The report does not evaluate every contaminant, every exposure pathway, or every period of Fort Ord’s history. It does not assess pre-1985 drinking-water exposures, post-1994 redevelopment, vapor intrusion into occupied buildings, PFAS contamination, contaminated soils, or other potential routes of exposure.

ATSDR should evaluate post-1994 exposure scenarios, including neighborhoods, schools, university facilities, athletic complexes and commercial developments built on the former installation. It should recommend comprehensive indoor-air testing where groundwater plumes remain beneath occupied buildings. It should continue searching for pre-1985 environmental records and support investigations into PFAS and other contaminants that could not be evaluated because historical monitoring data are missing.

For thousands of former Fort Ord residents and veterans, this report is not the end of the story. It is a reminder of how much we still do not know—and why the investigation must continue.

Julie Akey is a U.S. Army veteran who served at Fort Ord. Akey, who now lives in Ohio, has cancer. She was featured in an Associated Press story investigating pollution at Fort Ord.

https://www.montereyherald.com/2026/07/13/guest-commentary-fort-ords-unanswered-health-questions/

For lists of contaminants known or likely to be used at Fort Ord and other investigations, including FOCAG documents: https://montereybaymatters.org/fort-ord/