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Satellite Beach & South Patrick Shores Environmental Health Investigation

July 20, 2020 , , , , , , , , , , ,


Fight For Zero's 32937 Environmental Health Investigation:

Fight For Zero's executive director, Stel Bailey, became committed to environmental health issues after her family faced one cancer diagnosis after another in 2013. This experience gave her a passionate voice in ensuring families know about the environmental risks they have faced for decades. She began crowdsourcing cancer and autoimmune data in 2014, which led to a collaboration with an oncologist. She got the Brevard Cancer Assessment in 2019, which showed elevated cancer rates in two zip codes. 

 Since the Department of Defense drinking water report came out in 2018, our grassroots organization, Fight For Zero, has spent a substantial amount of time working on community outreach, increased awareness, mapping diseases, independent testing, collaborating with universities and experts, attending workshops, creating resources and educating state leaders on the dangers of PFAS chemicals. 

 Through our research, we found that pollution not only happened at and around Patrick Air Force Base but also at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and the Kennedy Space Center. Some activities dating back to the '60s could have led to groundwater, soil, air, and drinking water contamination. There are concerns that these actions led to cancer cases and other health issues such as ALS and autoimmune diseases near these areas. 

 Without extensive testing, collaboration with city leaders, or the help of experts, these concerns can never be fully addressed. Fight For Zero is committed to evaluating these issues using science, collaborating with leaders and experts, educating the communities affected, and presenting reasonable solutions. This involves working with other groups, state elected officials, the EPA, FDEP, the Department of Health, and many others. 

It will be posted on this blog as we gather historical and current relevant information. 

In the 1990s, there were 40 cases of Hodgkin’s lymphoma and other rare cancers among Satellite High School graduates. 


Archived Newspaper

The health department determined a “virus caused the cancers.”


Archived Newspaper

Through independent crowdsourcing efforts, we were able to collect nearly 800 cancer cases between South Patrick Shores and Satellite Beach, spanning three decades.
Cancer Cluster mapping for Fight For Zero, Inc prepared by DP GeoTech


Our grassroots organization, Fight For Zero, found a DoD report in 2018 that showed 4.3 million parts per trillion of PFAS chemicals in the on-base wells. The EPA safety limit is 70 ppt. These chemicals are in firefighting foam.
2018 DoD Report

Fight For Zero pressured elected officials to do comprehensive testing for PFAS at the beginning of 2018. Through county and local city testing, they discovered that these PFAS (forever) chemicals were in shallow well water along with elevated levels of strontium in Satellite Beach. PFOA and PFOS chemicals were found throughout Brevard County.


Thankfully, we do not drink well water now, but we have significant infrastructure issues, and every time there is a main break, those forever chemicals can get into your drinking water. Environmentally caused cancers can take 15-20 years to show up which makes finding a cause difficult.
There is a proposal for federal funding to provide every home in Satellite Beach and Cocoa Beach with water filters

Other tests done at 13 beachside schools showed PFBA in schools drinking water, a chemical in the PFAS family.


Test Results

South Patrick Shores was built on top of a military dump, and we successfully got a FUDS preliminary assessment which can be found here: https://www.saj.usace.army.mil/BananaRiver/


Photo by Fight For Zero, Inc

We also know there were five unlined landfills on the base at one time, and a trench that went from a landfill on base and ended at the high school.

Most of the pollution seems to come from the 70-90’s era where other chemicals such as pesticides were heavily used in the area, and other toxins were dumped into the waterways. 
Archived Newspaper

There is a Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) that meets every three months and goes over the remediation happening at PAFB, CCAFS, and NASA. 
Click Here to view RAB Minutes

If you are military, we suggest investing in a water filter system that you can move with you because many bases have contamination issues.

The ingestion of harmful chemicals builds up in the body over time, causing health effects. Children are especially at risk of a range of diseases because they are likely to have higher exposure to drinking water contaminants.

 Fight For Zero Posts:
 Health Concerns in Brevard County: 
Drinking-Water:
Brevard County Groundwater Testing
City of Satellite Beach Groundwater Testing
City of Cocoa Beach Groundwater Testing
South Patrick Shores Groundwater Testing


South Patrick Shores Historical Documents: 
 South Patrick Shores Historical Archived Newspapers: 
South Patrick Shores FUDS Off Base Disposal Area: 
Emails with Patrick Air Force Base:
 Air Force Base Documents:
 PFOA/PFOS Information: 
PFAS Bills in Florida:

 HB 1427 / SB 1720: Requires the state to develop Maximum Contaminant Levels for PFAS and other chemicals in drinking water.

 HB 5001: Appropriates $1 million to assist homeowners with private well water contaminated with PFOA and/or PFOA.

 Other Documents:

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