They help preserve America’s dominance in the Pacific. They’re paying a painful price. Part 2
The Pacific isle of Ebeye and its 10,000 people support a nearby U.S. military base that serves as a bulwark against a Chinese or Russian missile attack. But conditions are harsh: Diabetes is rampant, fish in the surrounding waters are contaminated, and lifespans are short. The island’s neglect may provide an opening for Beijing.
By Pete McKenzie and Hollie Adams
September 24, 20251:00 AM CDTUpdated 5 hours ago
PART TWO
'YOU PICK YOUR POISON'
As a child, Calvin Juda’s favorite days were when his grandfather came home from working on Kwajalein and ushered him into his small boat to go fishing. Out on the water, his grandfather would tell him stories of watching Japanese troops as a scout for the Americans during the Second World War.
After a stint in the U.S., where he fell into drug dealing, then became a born-again Christian, Juda, 56, returned to Ebeye, where he works as the environmental health officer at the island’s hospital. He fishes to supplement the frozen chicken and rice that are staples for his 10-person household. On Ebeye, residents with fishing rods routinely speckle the lagoon shore.
"That is our main food ... If we ban that place or restrict that place, are there any other options?"
Calvin Juda recalled what local leaders said about putting up warning signs about fish being contaminated.
But these waters contain an invisible danger. Studies by the U.S. Army Public Health Center since 2008 have found that the fish around Kwajalein Island have been contaminated by activities on the base. The 2017 study determined that reef fish around Ebeye have also been poisoned with arsenic and toxic fluids known as PCBs, which are used in electrical equipment: the same kinds of contaminants found in fish around the base. The study, though, didn’t draw a direct link to the base as the source of the contamination.
The 2017 study found that long-term consumption of Ebeye’s fish poses “potentially unacceptable” risks of cancer and damage to the nervous and reproductive systems.
The studies identified several sources of contamination on Kwajalein base, including run-off from sandblasting of vessels, leakage of electrical fluids into the ocean and waste run-off.
Marshallese workers fished at contaminated locations at the base until the mid-2010s, when the military enforced a fishing ban. No such ban has been enforced on Ebeye.
The U.S. is cleaning up its base. According to a 2024 Army planning document, “The main onshore potential contamination sources have been identified and, in some cases, abated or eliminated.” The document added that Kwajalein’s harbor remains “contaminated” with heavy metals, pesticides and PCBs.
In a 2014 report, military scientists recommended that the Army commission a study of the impact on Ebeye’s residents of consuming fish from contaminated areas. But Moriana Phillip, the Marshall Islands’ environmental regulator, says the Army ignored that recommendation, as well as her own requests for testing to identify the cause of Ebeye’s pollution.
“This has been one of the most difficult things to get the United States to discuss openly,” said Phillip. “It’s telling us that the United States is not taking us seriously.”
In a statement, the U.S. embassy to the Marshall Islands said it had not received any recent requests for further testing about the cause of fish contamination around Ebeye, but added that, “Upon receipt of a request to conduct additional studies, the U.S. Government will respond.
Cannon, the base commander, said he hadn’t seen material documenting a connection between Kwajalein and Ebeye’s contamination. He said he was not familiar with the requests for a health impact study or further testing.
In the 2010s, the military organized information sessions on Ebeye to warn residents that fish around the U.S. base were contaminated. It also uploaded some reports, including the 2017 study showing contamination of fish around Ebeye, to a website. But that website is defunct, and there are no signs on Ebeye to warn residents about local contamination.
Marshallese officials said some pollution may come from Ebeye’s dump: an unlined trash heap that grew perilously high because the island had no incinerator.
In 2020, a report prepared for the Asian Development Bank by the Marshallese government noted that the “most efficient solution” would be to ship the waste to the incinerator at the U.S. base on Kwajalein. But, the report said, the military felt American funding to the Marshallese government “covers all their obligations, so the base is generally very reluctant to assist Ebeye.”
Cannon, the base commander, said he was unaware of such a request. The ADB has promised Ebeye funding for an incinerator.
Dixon Elleisha, who fishes from Ebeye’s wharf most nights, said he’d never heard that Ebeye’s fish might be contaminated. “I never have any worry, because the fish that are near land are safe,” he said. “I’ve been eating them since I was a young kid.”
Juda learned of the contamination risk around 2016 through his work as the island’s environmental health officer and suggested putting up warning signs. He said local leaders rejected the idea. “That is our main food,” he recalled them saying. “If we ban that place or restrict that place, are there any other options?”
Afterwards, Juda pushed out of mind concerns about the fish he feeds his three daughters and one-year-old son. If he stops fishing, he said, he will “end up eating other things like Spam.” And then he will “get sick” with diabetes.
A spokesperson for Hormel Foods, which makes Spam, said its products carried “clear nutritional information to help consumers make informed choices.”
Asked about locals’ reliance on fish that may be contaminated, David Paul, a senator for Ebeye and the Marshallese finance minister, said, “What’s the alternative? The alternative is we continue to eat processed food. Can I say: You pick your poison.”
‘HEIGHT OF ARROGANCE’
Ebeye’s infrastructure has improved since 2017, when Australia’s aid agency and the Asian Development Bank – with U.S. support – built a desalination plant so residents no longer had to travel to Kwajalein to get fresh water. They also repaired the island’s sewerage so that feces were no longer pumped directly into the lagoon.
America has funded a new school, as well as housing for some families it removed from nearby islands in the 1960s to make space for missile testing. Paul, the finance minister, said he is in the “exploratory stages” of negotiations with the ADB, World Bank and U.S. to build a new hospital.
Asked about the living conditions on Ebeye, Stone said the U.S. was providing new funds for the island. In terms of how they’re allocated, she said, that’s a decision for the Marshallese authorities, and it would be “the height of arrogance for the United States to come in and say exactly where they should be using the resources we provide.”
Harden Lelet, Ebeye’s town manager, said his island’s relationship with the U.S. was “very strong” and that “it really opens up a lot of opportunities.”
But Lanwe, the diabetes coordinator, says the island’s crises remain profound.
“Sometimes, I get angry. Sometimes I even criticize the leadership,” he said, referring to Ebeye’s politicians and Kwajalein’s commanders. He quickly added: “Just in my imagination.”
His hopes of keeping his family diabetes-free have been dashed. His aunt and two uncles now have the disease. Several years ago, his father began complaining of dizziness and hunger. When Lanwe ran tests, he discovered his father was diabetic, too.
“In that moment,” Lanwe said, “I was thinking: I’ve failed him.”
Each morning, he checks that his father has taken his medication, then goes to care for the growing list of people for whom he is responsible.
By Pete McKenzie and Hollie Adams
September 24, 20251:00 AM CDTUpdated 5 hours ago
PART TWO
'YOU PICK YOUR POISON'
As a child, Calvin Juda’s favorite days were when his grandfather came home from working on Kwajalein and ushered him into his small boat to go fishing. Out on the water, his grandfather would tell him stories of watching Japanese troops as a scout for the Americans during the Second World War.
After a stint in the U.S., where he fell into drug dealing, then became a born-again Christian, Juda, 56, returned to Ebeye, where he works as the environmental health officer at the island’s hospital. He fishes to supplement the frozen chicken and rice that are staples for his 10-person household. On Ebeye, residents with fishing rods routinely speckle the lagoon shore.
"That is our main food ... If we ban that place or restrict that place, are there any other options?"
Calvin Juda recalled what local leaders said about putting up warning signs about fish being contaminated.
But these waters contain an invisible danger. Studies by the U.S. Army Public Health Center since 2008 have found that the fish around Kwajalein Island have been contaminated by activities on the base. The 2017 study determined that reef fish around Ebeye have also been poisoned with arsenic and toxic fluids known as PCBs, which are used in electrical equipment: the same kinds of contaminants found in fish around the base. The study, though, didn’t draw a direct link to the base as the source of the contamination.
The 2017 study found that long-term consumption of Ebeye’s fish poses “potentially unacceptable” risks of cancer and damage to the nervous and reproductive systems.
The studies identified several sources of contamination on Kwajalein base, including run-off from sandblasting of vessels, leakage of electrical fluids into the ocean and waste run-off.
Marshallese workers fished at contaminated locations at the base until the mid-2010s, when the military enforced a fishing ban. No such ban has been enforced on Ebeye.
The U.S. is cleaning up its base. According to a 2024 Army planning document, “The main onshore potential contamination sources have been identified and, in some cases, abated or eliminated.” The document added that Kwajalein’s harbor remains “contaminated” with heavy metals, pesticides and PCBs.
In a 2014 report, military scientists recommended that the Army commission a study of the impact on Ebeye’s residents of consuming fish from contaminated areas. But Moriana Phillip, the Marshall Islands’ environmental regulator, says the Army ignored that recommendation, as well as her own requests for testing to identify the cause of Ebeye’s pollution.
“This has been one of the most difficult things to get the United States to discuss openly,” said Phillip. “It’s telling us that the United States is not taking us seriously.”
In a statement, the U.S. embassy to the Marshall Islands said it had not received any recent requests for further testing about the cause of fish contamination around Ebeye, but added that, “Upon receipt of a request to conduct additional studies, the U.S. Government will respond.
Cannon, the base commander, said he hadn’t seen material documenting a connection between Kwajalein and Ebeye’s contamination. He said he was not familiar with the requests for a health impact study or further testing.
In the 2010s, the military organized information sessions on Ebeye to warn residents that fish around the U.S. base were contaminated. It also uploaded some reports, including the 2017 study showing contamination of fish around Ebeye, to a website. But that website is defunct, and there are no signs on Ebeye to warn residents about local contamination.
Marshallese officials said some pollution may come from Ebeye’s dump: an unlined trash heap that grew perilously high because the island had no incinerator.
In 2020, a report prepared for the Asian Development Bank by the Marshallese government noted that the “most efficient solution” would be to ship the waste to the incinerator at the U.S. base on Kwajalein. But, the report said, the military felt American funding to the Marshallese government “covers all their obligations, so the base is generally very reluctant to assist Ebeye.”
Cannon, the base commander, said he was unaware of such a request. The ADB has promised Ebeye funding for an incinerator.
Dixon Elleisha, who fishes from Ebeye’s wharf most nights, said he’d never heard that Ebeye’s fish might be contaminated. “I never have any worry, because the fish that are near land are safe,” he said. “I’ve been eating them since I was a young kid.”
Juda learned of the contamination risk around 2016 through his work as the island’s environmental health officer and suggested putting up warning signs. He said local leaders rejected the idea. “That is our main food,” he recalled them saying. “If we ban that place or restrict that place, are there any other options?”
Afterwards, Juda pushed out of mind concerns about the fish he feeds his three daughters and one-year-old son. If he stops fishing, he said, he will “end up eating other things like Spam.” And then he will “get sick” with diabetes.
A spokesperson for Hormel Foods, which makes Spam, said its products carried “clear nutritional information to help consumers make informed choices.”
Asked about locals’ reliance on fish that may be contaminated, David Paul, a senator for Ebeye and the Marshallese finance minister, said, “What’s the alternative? The alternative is we continue to eat processed food. Can I say: You pick your poison.”
‘HEIGHT OF ARROGANCE’
Ebeye’s infrastructure has improved since 2017, when Australia’s aid agency and the Asian Development Bank – with U.S. support – built a desalination plant so residents no longer had to travel to Kwajalein to get fresh water. They also repaired the island’s sewerage so that feces were no longer pumped directly into the lagoon.
America has funded a new school, as well as housing for some families it removed from nearby islands in the 1960s to make space for missile testing. Paul, the finance minister, said he is in the “exploratory stages” of negotiations with the ADB, World Bank and U.S. to build a new hospital.
Asked about the living conditions on Ebeye, Stone said the U.S. was providing new funds for the island. In terms of how they’re allocated, she said, that’s a decision for the Marshallese authorities, and it would be “the height of arrogance for the United States to come in and say exactly where they should be using the resources we provide.”
Harden Lelet, Ebeye’s town manager, said his island’s relationship with the U.S. was “very strong” and that “it really opens up a lot of opportunities.”
But Lanwe, the diabetes coordinator, says the island’s crises remain profound.
“Sometimes, I get angry. Sometimes I even criticize the leadership,” he said, referring to Ebeye’s politicians and Kwajalein’s commanders. He quickly added: “Just in my imagination.”
His hopes of keeping his family diabetes-free have been dashed. His aunt and two uncles now have the disease. Several years ago, his father began complaining of dizziness and hunger. When Lanwe ran tests, he discovered his father was diabetic, too.
“In that moment,” Lanwe said, “I was thinking: I’ve failed him.”
Each morning, he checks that his father has taken his medication, then goes to care for the growing list of people for whom he is responsible.
