(UPDATE: Though we've not yet had a chance to review it, here is a PDF copy of the official complaint - not yet including exhibits.)

(UPDATE II: Complaint now also available for download with exhibits)

While we're working to obtain a copy of the official complaint, here's what we know so far:

• On July 4, 2009, Laura J. Jones, through her attorneys, filed a lawsuit against the the federal government claiming that her health problems, including non-hodgkins lymphoma, resulted from toxic water at Camp Lejeune. A nice touch, we think, filing suit against the government on Independence Day.

• The suit was filed under authority of the Federal Tort Claims Act. The act allows citizens to sue the federal government in court for money based on "personal injury or death caused by caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any employee of the Government." (28 U.S.C.A. § 1346(b))

• The official title of the case is Laura J. Jones v. United States of America, case number 7:2009cv00106 7:09-cv-00106-BO.

• The case was filed in the Eastern District Court of North Carolina and was assigned to Judge Terrence W. Boyle.

• The case is filed on behalf of Jones as a single plaintiff with additional cases expected to be filed in the future. No news on whether a class action filing is expected.

• According to a news report from NBC17 in North Carolina:

  The suit says the government knew for at least five years that chemicals such as tetrachloroethylene, trichloroethylene, dicloroethylene, vinyl chloride and benzene contaminated the water supply in high doses, but let the wells stay open.

  Lawyers say the toxic water led to cancer and other health problems.

  [...]

  The suit contends that if the military had followed its own regulations that had been in place since the 1950s, the contamination would not have happened.

• According to a CBS News 9 report, Jones lived on the base from 1980 to 1983 and was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma 20 years later.

• Jones's case will rely, in part, on military documents that outline the military's policy for maintaining a safe water supply.

• Jones currently lives in Iowa and suffers from fibromyalgia and immune disorders. She was not well enough to attend the Monday's press conference announcing the lawsuit.

Below is a video containing excerpts from the press conference, provided courtesy of NBC17:

And that number appears to be climbing. From today's St. Petersburg Times:

Scientists studying drinking water contamination at Camp Lejeune were startled when 11 men with breast cancer and ties to the North Carolina base were identified over the last two years.

Six more have been found in one week.

Five additional men with breast cancer and a sixth who had a double mastectomy after doctors found precancerous tumors contacted the St. Petersburg Times last week after reading a story about the 11 men with the rare disease.

"This male breast cancer cluster is a smoking gun," breast cancer survivor Mike Partain said on Friday. "You just can't ignore it. You don't need science to tell you something is wrong. It's common sense. It begs to be studied."

[...]

Male breast cancer is exceedingly rare. Just 1,900 men are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer this year compared with nearly 200,000 women, the American Cancer Society says.

A man has a 1-in-1,000 lifetime chance of getting the disease.

Men who get it are often over 70, though it is rare even in older males. Of the 17 men identified by Partain and the Times, just three are over 70 — the youngest was Partain at 39 — and many have no family history of breast cancer, male or female, according to interviews.

[...]

If you or a family member lived at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and have been diagnosed with male breast cancer, the St. Petersburg Times is interested in talking to you. Please call reporter William R. Levesque at (813) 269-5306 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 5306.

Anyone who lived or worked at Camp Lejeune in 1987 or before can register with the Marine Corps for a health survey. To register or to get more information, visit https://clnr.hqi.usmc.mil/clwater/ or call (877) 261-9782.

Partain's comment refers to a highly-questionable report proffered recently by the National Academy of Sciences which ignored significant available evidence and reached suspiciously preposterous conclusions including, amongst others, that further study of the poisoned population at Camp Lejeune should be both limited and discounted.

Read the full story here.

From The McDowell News (NC) approximately one month ago:

For over a year now, McDowell County's Omar McCourry has been digging into the history of Old Fort industry and of environmental protection in the community.

Spurred by the tragic death of his brother, Curtis, to brain cancer in 2004, he learned that his brother's illness was not unique in Old Fort, despite the condition's relative rarity among the greater population.

Word of mouth led him to suspect that an alarming number of folks in Old Fort had succumbed to the same illness. He has been lobbying public health officials to investigate ever since.

[...]

In 1989, more than 100 barrels of industrial waste were located buried on the site of the former Old Fort Finishing. These were excavated and found to contain dozens of chemicals as well as metals including lead, mercury, arsenic. EPA documents McCourry obtained said that 70 of the barrels had been crushed or decayed when they were unearthed.

The article notes that residential well water samples have detected TCE and PCE at levels exceeding federal safety thresholds for at least 20 years. The article fails to mention that scientists and health agencies worldwide have long-since established that TCE and PCE are neurotoxic and cause cancer.

Not only do local health officials appear typically disinterested, but a local Senator has decided to participate in what feels like an ongoing, nationwide charade:

As McCourry had been told when he brought his findings to the attention of state authorities, in any given population group, if they live long enough, a great number of them would be diagnosed with cancer. It is very difficult, they said, to identify a "cluster" of cancer cases that might indicate a pattern, or implicate an environmental toxin.

Senator Joe Sam Queen echoed that theme in his comments to The McDowell News.

"Cancer is a condition that touches every family eventually," he said. "We are all interested in a situation that may involve or jeopardize the health of children.

Translation: People die, suck it up.

The Senator's comment is one that we hear frequently, and it remains a transparent excuse for inaction. The Senator and local/state health officials should give this matter the attention it deserves rather than idly hiding behind their stuff happens party line.

Edit: Thanks to Jill for the tip.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- LAWSUIT TO BE FILED REGARDING CAMP LEJEUNE WATER CONTAMINATION

The law offices of Anderson Pangia & Associates, PLLC (offices in Washington, D.C. and Winston Salem, North Carolina) and Smorto, Persio, Webb & McGill (of Ebensburg, Pennsylvania), will file on Monday July 6 a lawsuit arising from the toxic drinking water contamination at Camp Lejeune. The lawsuit alleges that the United States Government, through agents within the Department of Defense, knowingly exposed hundreds of thousands of Marines, sailors, their family members, and civilian employees to highly contaminated drinking water on the base at Camp Lejeune, while at the same time actively disseminating disinformation to those exposed in an effort to minimize the significance of the exposure.

The complaint, to be filed in federal court in the Eastern District of North Carolina, attaches numerous documentary exhibits in support of its allegations that the government knowingly, recklessly and/or negligently violated its own standards, rules and regulations by permitting the exposure to continue after the government was specifically warned the drinking water was "highly contaminated with . . . solvents!" and advised that "these appear[] to be at high levels and hence more important from a health standpoint. . . " The lawsuit will allege that the Department of the Navy had regulations in place as early as 1963 which prohibited the contamination and which would have averted it had those regulations been obeyed; subsequently in 1974 the Commanding General of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina put in place additional regulations governing the proper disposal of the very same chemicals which were discovered later to be contaminating the drinking water; had these regulations been obeyed, the contamination likewise would have been prevented. This same 1974 base order declared these "organic solvents" to be hazardous, the lawsuit states.

Many scientists have called the drinking water contamination at Camp Lejeune the worst in the nation's history. The contaminated drinking water was consumed by an estimated one million people.

The lawsuit will allege that exposure to the toxins caused numerous health problems including cancers, reproductive disorders and birth defects, among other maladies.

Joseph Anderson, Michael Pangia and Kevin Persio, the lawyers responsible for filing the suit, will answer questions of the media at a press conference to be held in front of the North Carolina State Capitol building, 1 East Edenton St. Raleigh, NC 27601 at 1:30 p.m. on Monday July 6, 2009. Call (336) 414-7958 for more information.

Statement in response to National Research Council report on Camp Lejeune:

We are disappointed and dismayed at the report titled, “Contaminated Water Supplies at Camp Lejeune – Assessing Potential Health Effects,” released by the National Research Council (NRC) on Saturday, June 13, 2009. This report was two years in preparation by scientists, many of whom we know and respect, that reached puzzling and in some cases erroneous conclusions. We are aware of the complex situation regarding availability and access to data, and each of us has participated in committees advising the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) about how to move forward with health studies. It is our view that the Marines and their families who were exposed to dangerous chemicals in the Camp Lejeune drinking water over several decades deserve to know if this exposure has had an effect on their health. The most direct way to assess this is to conduct valid epidemiologic studies of those who lived or worked there, and we urge ATSDR to continue their efforts to carry these to conclusion. The overall judgment about the impact of the chemicals on health can then be informed both by the general scientific literature the NRC reviewed, plus findings from directly relevant studies of the exposed population.

Specific areas where we disagree with the NRC report include their assessment of the water distribution modeling, their assessment of the risk caused by exposure to two of the principal contaminants (TCE and PCE), and the likelihood of conducting meaningful epidemiologic studies in this setting. We view the water modeling undertaken by ATSDR and its consultants as “state-of-the-art” and worth carrying through to completion so that it can be used in the on-going and proposed health studies. There may be uncertainties about specific levels of exposure for individual households or people, but these can be described in the study results. We also agree with the National Toxicology Program that TCE and PCE are “reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens” and reject the characterization of the evidence as “limited/suggestive” as presented in the NRC report. We note that this characterization of solvent mixtures actually steps back from previous work done by the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine in 2003. Finally, we disagree with the thrust of the NRC report that it is unlikely that scientifically informative epidemiologic studies of the Camp Lejeune population can be done. The NRC doubts that “definitive” answers can come from any study, but this sets the bar too high – no one study can provide definitive answers, and all studies must be considered in the light of other scientific evidence. From our experience in other settings, we believe that useful studies of the Camp Lejeune population are possible and furthermore that the Marines and their families deserve our government’s best efforts to carry them out.

For these reasons, we urge the ATSDR to consider this particular NRC report in the context of other expert advice they have received during the past decade and the competent work already done by agency staff. Since the NRC report is at such variance with the recommendations of other water modeling and epidemiologic experts, we believe it should not stand as the final word.

Sincerely,

Ann Aschengrau, Sc.D., Professor, Associate Chair of the Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health

Richard Clapp, D.Sc., MPH, Professor, Boston University School of Public Health

David Ozonoff, MD, MPH, Professor and Chair Emeritus of the Department of Environmental Health, Boston University School of Public Health

Daniel Wartenberg, Ph.D., Professor, Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D., Scholar in Residence, Ithaca College

From: Smith, Samantha (Burr)
Sent: Wed Jun 17 17:49:09 2009
Subject: Senator Burr Presses on Camp Lejeune Water Contamination at Hearing

Burr Presses on Camp Lejeune Water Contamination at Hearing
Burr questions Navy on NAS report

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 17, 2009

CONTACT:
David Ward
Samantha Smith

Phone:(202) 228-1616

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support held a hearing on military construction and environmental initiatives. U.S. Senator Richard Burr (R-North Carolina), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee, raised concerns about the recent National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report on water contamination at Camp Lejeune and pressed the Navy for answers.

“It’s clear that the water at Camp Lejeune was contaminated by a number of hazardous chemicals at unsafe levels,” Senator Burr said. “I am deeply concerned about the conclusions in the report from the National Academy of Sciences. This latest report still raises more questions than it answers.”

The NAS panel report, released on Saturday, concludes the water systems at Camp Lejeune were in some cases highly contaminated by two hazardous chemicals, although the NAS also stated that it could not say for sure whether the people exposed to these chemicals may have suffered adverse health outcomes as a result. The report lists fourteen diseases and health conditions that may have a link with human exposure to the chemicals indentified in the Camp Lejeune water system.

In addition to questions at today’s hearing, Senator Burr has written a letter to the Secretary of the Navy seeking answers to additional, detailed questions.

“I will continue to seek additional answers from the Department of the Navy, and I also intend to seek further input from the scientific community,” Burr said. “Former Marines, their families, and former employees at Camp Lejeune have waited far too long for answers, and we need to start working toward a resolution.

# # #

HAGAN WANTS A CONCLUSION TO THE ONGOING CAMP LEJEUNE WATER CONTAMINATION ISSUE

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. - US Senator Kay R. Hagan (D-NC) issued the following statement reacting to a new National Academy of Sciences (NAS) study on water contamination at Camp Lejeune. The study, released Saturday, concludes that while there was water contamination at the Jacksonville Marine base, additional research is "unlikely to determine conclusively whether Camp Lejeune residents were adversely affected by exposure to water contaminants." Hagan, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has been very active in working to determine whether the Navy and Marine Corps should have handled water contamination at Camp Lejeune differently.

"The NAS study released Saturday is simply a review of previous scientific literature on hydrocarbon solvents, reports on Camp Lejeune water contamination, and published epidemiologic and toxicological studies," said Hagan. "However, it failed to take into account the conclusions of previous epidemiological studies that found an association between volatile organic compounds (VOCs) exposures and childhood leukemia, and presents some direct contradictions to the EPA's maximum containment levels of VOCs in drinking water. Moreover, the NAS study barely mentioned benzene and vinyl chloride and severely downplays the established links between adverse health effects and exposure to VOCs that were present in the water at Camp Lejeune. For these reasons, I cannot stand behind the validity of the NAS study.
The NAS study neglected to address key historical documents, also omitted in previous studies, regarding verified high levels of benzene found in an operating well on July 6, 1984 in the Hadnot Point water system and the 1979 leak of 20,000-30,000 of fuel at the near-by Hadnot Point fuel farm.

"The resolution of this issue cannot be held hostage to additional scientific studies that may not tell us anything more than we already know. The time has come for Congress, the Department of the Navy, and the Marine Corps to work together to develop a plan to resolve the longstanding issue of water contamination at Camp Lejeune. We already know that exposure to VOCs in drinking water is linked to adverse health effects," Hagan continued. "While it is important that we allow the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to complete its water modeling simulation and pending epidemiological studies for personnel and residents affected at Camp Lejeune, ongoing work on these simulations and studies need not foreclose action by Congress and the administration to reach an appropriate resolution."

Last week, Hagan sent a letter to the Navy along with Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) asking 14 detailed questions to determine if there was prior knowledge of TCE (trichloroethylene), PCE (perchloroethylene), benzene, and vinyl chloride in the water supply before the wells were shut down. The Navy and Marines Corps have until June 25th to respond. Hagan and Burr plan to meet with the Navy Secretary Ray Mabus to address these questions and the conclusions of the NAS study before August.

The available scientific information does not provide a sufficient basis for determining whether the population at Camp Lejeune has, in fact, suffered adverse health effects as a result of exposure to contaminants in the water supplies.

[...]

[T]hese limitations cannot be overcome with additional study. Thus, the committee concludes that there is no scientific justification for the Navy and Marine Corps to wait for the results of additional health studies before making decisions about how to follow up on the evident solvent exposures on the base and their possible health consequences.

After graduating from Florida State University with a journalism degree, William J. P. Smith, Jr. served in the USMC from 1956 until 1959, stationed at Camp Lejeune, NC, the majority of the time with the Globe as sports editor and acting editor of the largest Corps newspaper at the time. While there, he married, residing at the trailer park on the base and later in Midway Park, while fathering two girls.

In 1994, Bill was diagnosed with breast cancer, and had a radical modified mastectomy with 30 lymph nodes removed from his left side. He was treated with Tamoxifin for five years, and has had no reoccurance. It should be noted that there was no history of any kind of cancer in the Smith family. His former wife and two girls have had no symptoms of the disease.

On behalf of women, Bill has been a fund raiser and is the subject of two books, Living with Breast Cancer, the Story of 39 Women and One Man by Perry Colemore and Lisa Adelsberger, and Messages from Somewhere, Inspiring Stories of Life After 60 by Harriet May Savitz. He has also written an autobiographical screenplay on his experience. The irony of all of this is that Bill was part of the team at Xerox Corporation that introduced xeroradiography for the early detection of breast cancer in 1969 at Hutzel Hospital in Detroit. Every once in a while, he takes the press kit from his library shelf and shares it with his students, who find it hard to believe that men can contract the horrific disease.

Today, Bill resides in Tallahassee, FL with his wife Kathy, teaches at FSU and runs an integrated marketing communications consultancy, Huckleberry Finn Tomorrow.

• What are the odds of finding 4 cases of male breast cancer from the same contaminated military base?
• How many other military men have developed breast cancer?

Poisoned at Camp LeJeune, snookered by Uncle Sam

Bill Berlow
Associate Editor

Mike Partain, son and grandson of Marine Corps veterans, grew up steeped in traditional American values — a rock-solid Reagan Republican whose life, even before birth, began among the few, the proud, at Camp LeJeune, N.C.

But for the past year, the 40-year-old Tallahassee insurance claims adjuster's faith in his government has been shaken to its core.

He'd always assumed that Uncle Sam, first and foremost, had the health and welfare of U.S. citizens at the top of his priority list — especially if they'd worn the uniform.

Now he's much less sure.

Partain's crisis of doubt began a year ago, when his wife gave him "a hug that changed my life." She found a lump, which turned out to be a cancerous tumor. A 14-inch surgical scar where Partain's right breast used to be is the physical evidence of his breast cancer.

Less obvious is the psychological scar — both as a cancer survivor still undergoing treatment and as one who feels his government betrayed a trust.

(more)

Not long after he learned he had cancer, Partain found out that his recurring rash since birth and his breast cancer — rare among men, particularly those with no family history of the illness — probably stemmed from his exposure during fetal development and the first year of his life to water contaminated with tetrachloroethylene, a solvent used in dry cleaning.

Just two months after Partain's wife felt the lump, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry acknowledged that Marines and their families who between 1957 and 1987 lived in the LeJeune neighborhood where his family lived, drank water contaminated with extremely high levels of the carcinogenic chemical.

Partain and a network of former LeJeune residents who believe their serious health problems are due to the poisoning point out, however, that the government first knew of the contamination in the early 1980s — but did little or nothing to let the former Marines and their families know they were at risk.

"At this time last year, I was dying and I didn't know," Partain said. "The government knew I was dying and didn't tell me. That burns me up."

The LeJeune families can't sue the feds, since the government hasn't waived its sovereign-immunity protection. The military, meanwhile, is protected by the Ferris Doctrine, a 1950s-era ruling that protects the armed services from legal action by the men and women who serve — the idea being that if a soldier was wounded in battle because of a commanding officer's dumb decision, the country would be worse off if the government had to battle personal-injury lawyers as well as foreign enemies.

I first met Partain in the fall of 2006, several months before his diagnosis. He was the adjuster for an insurance claim we filed. A former teacher from Winter Haven, where he grew up, he and I talked of his deep regret about having to give up teaching to support his wife and four children. That conversation even helped inspire a column about ex-teachers in November of that year.

Last year, after he told me his illness motivated his involvement in a crusade to reveal the truth behind the LeJeune environmental debacle, the Tallahassee Democrat reported his story on July 9, a few weeks after a congressional hearing on the LeJeune families.

A congressional investigation is still under way, and Partain has gotten help from U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd, D-Monticello, who called Partain's story and that of other LeJeune families "deeply troubling, to say the least."

Boyd's office, which has tried to navigate the federal and military bureaucracies for Partain, said he is one of seven constituents in the congressman's North Florida district who are seeking more information related to the LeJeune contamination.

Now Partain reluctantly acknowledges that he's an activist, a word he's still not comfortable with because of his conservative upbringing and beliefs.

When I likened the experience of the LeJeune Marine families to military victims of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, Partain agreed.

"Defend, deny and delay," he said, describing the government's strategy in the face of claims that Agent Orange was responsible for a slew of veterans' illnesses. "And that's what they're doing to us."

Partain (strashni@comcast.net) was to share his story last night with vets at the American Legion post on Lake Ella. Even though he doesn't realistically expect compensation from the government, it's part of his personal commitment to spread the word about those exposed to the poison, estimated to number upwards of a million Americans.

It's one more example of a government's betrayal — always shocking, but, sadly, no longer surprising and, as Partain says, quickly forgotten.

(less)

The Aberdeen Contaminated Ground Water site in Aberdeen, North Carolina has been proposed for addition to EPA’s National Priorities List (NPL) of hazardous waste sites. It is one of six hazardous waste sites to be proposed for addition to the NPL, while twelve sites nationally are being added to the list.

The Aberdeen Contaminated Ground Water site is about 1 acre in size and located on highway Route 211 in Aberdeen, Moore County, N.C. Powdered Metal Products (PMP) manufactured precision machine parts at the facility from 1980 until 1995. The operation utilized a trichloroethene (TCE) dip-vat as part of the manufacturing process. During the investigation of ground water contamination at the Geigy Chemical Corporation NPL site in 1990, which is located just on the other side of State Route 211, TCE, lead and pesticide contamination was detected in numerous private wells along Crestline Lane and Route 211. Investigations have identified contaminated soils in the vicinity of the former TCE dip-vat utilized by PMP as the source of TCE contamination in the ground water.

Trichloroethene also was detected in the town’s municipal water supply wells No. 5 and No. 9, according to an EPA report [PDF]. The level of the chemical exceeded the federal Safe Drinking Water Act maximum contaminant level.

The report said the town took the wells offline for some time and is now blending water from those wells with water from other municipal wells to reduce the trichloroethene levels.

The EPA provided municipal water supplies to 56 residences and businesses in the area, according to the agency.

Anderson Pangia & Associates, together with liason counsel Kevin Persio, continues to aggressively prosecute cases on behalf of those injured as a result of the water contamination at Camp Lejeune. However, due to limited resources and the need to focus on cases best positioned to test the legal and scientific issues in the litigation, please note that NEITHER ANDERSON, PANGIA NOR MR. PERSIO ARE ACCEPTING NEW CAMP LEJEUNE CASES AT THIS TIME. Please check this website periodically as this status may change. Thank you for your patience.

SEC. 315. NOTIFICATION OF CERTAIN RESIDENTS AND CIVILIAN EMPLOYEES AT CAMP LEJEUNE, NORTH CAROLINA, OF EXPOSURE TO DRINKING WATER CONTAMINATION.

(a) Notification of Individuals Served by Tarawa Terrace Water Distribution System, Including Knox Trailer Park- Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Navy shall make reasonable efforts to identify and notify directly individuals who were served by the Tarawa Terrace Water Distribution System, including Knox Trailer Park, at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, during the years 1958 through 1987 that they may have been exposed to drinking water contaminated with tetrachloroethylene (PCE).

(b) Notification of Individuals Served by Hadnot Point Water Distribution System- Not later than 1 year after the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) completes its water modeling study of the Hadnot Point water distribution system, the Secretary of the Navy shall make reasonable efforts to identify and notify directly individuals who were served by the system during the period identified in the study of the drinking water contamination to which they may have been exposed.

(c) Notification of Former Civilian Employees at Camp Lejeune- Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Navy shall make reasonable efforts to identify and notify directly civilian employees who worked at Camp Lejeune during the period identified in the ATSDR drinking water study of the drinking water contamination to which they may have been exposed.

(d) Circulation of Health Survey-

(1) FINDINGS- Congress makes the following findings:

(A) Notification and survey efforts related to the drinking water contamination described in this section are necessary due to the potential negative health impacts of these contaminants.

(B) The Secretary of the Navy will not be able to identify or contact all former residents and former employees due to the condition, non-existence, or accessibility of records.

(C) It is the intent of Congress that the Secretary of the Navy contact as many former residents and former employees as quickly as possible.

(2) ATSDR HEALTH SURVEY-

(A) DEVELOPMENT-

(i) IN GENERAL- Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the ATSDR, in consultation with a well-qualified contractor selected by the ATSDR, shall develop a health survey that would voluntarily request of individuals described in subsections (a), (b), and (c) personal health information that may lead to scientifically useful health information associated with exposure to trichloroethylene (TCE), PCE, vinyl chloride, and the other contaminants identified in the ATSDR studies that may provide a basis for further reliable scientific studies of potentially adverse health impacts of exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.

(ii) FUNDING- The Secretary of the Navy is authorized to provide from available funds the necessary funding for the ATSDR to develop the health survey.

(B) INCLUSION WITH NOTIFICATION- The survey developed under subparagraph (A) shall be distributed by the Secretary of the Navy concurrently with the direct notification required under subsections (a), (b), and (c).

(e) Use of Media To Supplement Notification- The Secretary of the Navy may use media notification as a supplement to direct notification of individuals described under subsections (a), (b), and (c). Media notification may reach those individuals not identifiable via remaining records. Once individuals respond to media notifications, the Secretary will add them to the contact list to be included in future information updates.

 

The topography and geology of the area where the contaminated wells were found suggest that the contamination may not be related to the CTS site, said David Dorian, on-scene coordinator for the Environmental Protection Agency.

“I don’t think that at this point in time there is adequate data to say anything definite about the source,” Dorian said. “We shouldn’t immediately jump to the conclusion that this is linked to CTS. Further investigation is warranted.”

The N.C. Division of Environment and Natural Resources plans to conduct more soil sampling near the contaminated wells to determine the contamination source, said Harry Zinn, an environmental engineer with the state’s superfund division.

“It’s not totally outside the realm of possibility that there is another source in the vicinity,” he said.

Of the 66 wells sampled, one active well showed the presence of Trichloroethylene (TCE) in excess of EPA's Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL), the level established to be protective of human health. The well is located approximately three-fourths of a mile northeast of the site. The sampling also detected trace quantities of cis-1,2-Dichlorethylene, a breakdown product of TCE, below the MCL. EPA provided bottled water to the affected residence and re-tested the well in question. The second set of sampling confirmed the presence of TCE at the level indicated by the original testing.

NCDENR also identified all active residential wells in the immediate area of the contaminated well. On January 8, 2008, NCDENR tested eight wells not previously tested during the November and December sampling events. Of the eight wells, one well, located immediately east of the contaminated well, contained TCE below the MCL. No contaminants were detected in the other five wells.

The latest round of testing came in response to state testing in August that found levels of the industrial solvent trichloroethylene, or TCE, in areas around the former plant had not significantly decreased as a result of cleanup efforts at the site, which removed more than 1,600 pounds of the solvent from soil underneath the building in a little over a year of operation.

The University first committed to cleaning the area in 2003, when it signed a voluntary agreement with the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The cleanup is expected to cost about $4.5 million and should be finished by the end of the summer. It will not affect the airport's operation, said Larry Daw, an environmental specialist for UNC's Department of Environment, Health and Safety.

[...]

UNC used the site from 1973 to 1979 to dispose of lab chemical waste generated by the campus and what was then N.C. Memorial Hospital. Although it has since been outlawed, burying waste was permissible under state laws at the time.

"It was a common practice in those days to dispose of waste in that manner," Daw said. "After that time period, there were some new laws coming into effect."

EPA to Hold Public Meeting for Mill’s Gap Groundwater Contamination Site in Skyland, N.C.

Release date: 01/14/2008

Contact Information: Dawn Harris-Young, (404) 562-8421, harris-young.dawn@epa.gov

(Atlanta, Ga. – Jan. 14, 2008) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold a public meeting on Thursday, January 31, 2008 regarding current activities at the Mill’s Gap Groundwater Contamination site in Skyland, N.C. EPA, North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NCDENR), Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and Buncombe County Health Center officials will provide information and answer questions about recent sampling related to the site and an enforcement update.

The public meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Skyland Fire Department, 9 Miller Road, Skyland, N.C. Community members interested in obtaining additional information are encouraged to contact Sherryl A. Carbonaro, EPA Community Involvement Coordinator, at (678) 575-7355.

The site is located off Mills Gap Road, approximately one mile east of Skyland, in Buncombe County, N.C. and consists of approximately nine acres of maintained grounds containing a large, single-story building. In 1952, IRC, Inc. (IRC) bought the land and constructed the building which was used for its electroplating operations. In 1959, IRC sold the property to CTS, Inc (CTS). From 1959 to 1986, CTS operated an electroplating facility at the site. In 1987, Mills Gap Road Associates (MGRA) purchased the site and is the current owner. Environmental sampling has indicated the subsurface beneath the former plant is contaminated with the chemical compound trichloroethylene (a.k.a. trichloroethene or TCE) as well as petroleum products. In 1999 TCE was discovered in nearby springs and one residential drinking water well. This past December, EPA and DENR commenced more extensive sampling that included expanded residential well sampling and vapor intrusion sampling at homes in close proximity to the site.

ATTENTION: A media availability session will be held at the Skyland Fire Department, 9 Miller Road in Skyland, N.C. from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 31, 2008. Officials will be available to answer media questions concerning current activities underway at the site. This arrangement will allow for the public to use the entire public meeting to get information and have their questions answered.

Amend the Safe Water Drinking Act to protect the health of susceptible populations, including pregnant women, infants, and children, by requiring a health advisory, drinking water standard, and reference concentration for trichloroethylene vapor intrusion, and for other purposes.

This is travesty. People who are willing to give their lives for their country deserve better. At the very least, they should be guaranteed a certain quality of life that includes safe drinking water.

• The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten
• THE STAND

NEWS RELEASE

Committee on Energy and Commerce
Rep. John D. Dingell, Chairman

For planning purposes: June 8, 2007

Contact: Jodi Seth 202-225-5735

MEDIA ADVISORY:

Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Hearing on Contaminated Drinking Water at Camp Lejeune

The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold a hearing on Tuesday, June 12, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in room 2322 Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing is entitled Poisoned Patriots: Contaminated Drinking Water at Camp Lejeune.

The purpose of this hearing is to examine issues arising from the extensive, high-level contamination of drinking water at U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. This is the first of a series of hearings the Subcommittee plans to hold on environmental problems at Department of Defense (DOD) facilities.

The hearing will include testimony from former Marine Corps residents of Camp Lejeune who, along with their families, drank the contaminated water, cooked their food in it, and bathed in it. The Subcommittee will also receive testimony from the Government agencies involved in dealing with the contamination, assessing the adverse health effects, and investigating allegations of criminal violations of Federal law, including the Marine Corps, the Department of the Navy, ATSDR, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

WITNESS LIST

Panel I

Mr. Jerome Ensminger
North Carolina

Dr. Mike Gros
Texas

Mr. Jeff Byron
Ohio

Panel II

United States Marine Corps
Major General Robert C. Dickerson, Jr.
Commanding General
Accompanied by Ms. Kelly A. Dreyer
Environmental Restoration Program Manager
United States Navy

Ms. Pat Leonard Director
Office of The Judge Advocate General
Claims, Investigations, & Tort Litigation (Code 15)
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Department of Health and Human Services

Thomas Sinks, Ph.D.
Deputy Director
National Center for Environmental Health/ATSDR
Accompanied by Frank Bove, Sc.D.
Senior Epidimiologist
and
Morris Maslia, P.E.
Environmental Engineer

In the early 1980s, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were discovered in some of the water systems serving housing areas on Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. Exposure to certain VOCs may cause adverse health effects, including cancer. In 1999, the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) began a study to examine whether individuals who were exposed in utero to the contaminated drinking water are more likely to have developed certain childhood cancers or birth defects. ATSDR has projected a December 2007 completion date for the study. The National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2005 required GAO to report on past drinking water contamination and related health effects at Camp Lejeune. In this report GAO describes (1) efforts to identify and address the past contamination, (2) activities resulting from concerns about possible adverse health effects and government actions related to the past contamination, and (3) the design of the current ATSDR study, including the study's population, time frame, selected health effects, and the reasonableness of the projected completion date. GAO reviewed documents, interviewed officials and former residents, and contracted with the National Academy of Sciences to convene an expert panel to assess the design of the current ATSDR study.

Efforts to identify and address the past drinking water contamination at Camp Lejeune began in the 1980s, when Navy water testing at Camp Lejeune detected VOCs in some base water systems. In 1982 and 1983, continued testing identified two VOCs--trichloroethylene (TCE), a metal degreaser, and tetrachloroethylene (PCE), a dry cleaning solvent--in two water systems that served base housing areas, Hadnot Point and Tarawa Terrace. In 1984 and 1985 a Navy environmental program identified VOCs, such as TCE and PCE, in some of the individual wells serving the Hadnot Point and Tarawa Terrace water systems. Ten wells were subsequently removed from service. Department of Defense (DOD) and North Carolina officials concluded that on- and off-base sources were likely to have caused the contamination. It has not been determined when contamination at Hadnot Point began. ATSDR has estimated that well contamination at Tarawa Terrace from an off-base dry cleaner began as early as 1957. Activities related to concerns about possible adverse health effects began in 1991, when ATSDR initiated a public health assessment evaluating the possible health risks from exposure to the contaminated drinking water. The health assessment was followed by two health studies, one of which is ongoing. While ATSDR did not always receive requested funding and experienced delays in receiving information from DOD for its Camp Lejeune-related work, ATSDR officials said this has not significantly delayed their work. Former residents and employees have filed about 750 claims against the federal government. Additionally, three federal inquiries into issues related to the contamination have been conducted--one by a Marine Corps-chartered panel and two by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Members of the expert panel that the National Academy of Sciences convened generally agreed that many parameters of ATSDR's current study are appropriate, including the study population, the exposure time frame, and the selected health effects. ATSDR's study is examining whether individuals who were exposed in utero to the contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune between 1968 and 1985 were more likely to have specific birth defects or childhood cancers than those not exposed. DOD, EPA, and HHS provided technical comments on a draft of this report, which GAO incorporated where appropriate. Three members of an ATSDR community assistance panel for Camp Lejeune provided oral comments on issues such as other VOCs that have been detected at Camp Lejeune, and compensation, health benefits, and additional notification for former residents. GAO focused its review on TCE and PCE because they were identified by ATSDR as the chemicals of primary concern. GAO's report notes that other VOCs were detected. GAO incorporated the panel members' comments where appropriate, but some issues were beyond the scope of this report.

EPA Vindicated on Deadly Widespread Contaminant
Written by Mike Magner
Thursday, 27 July 2006

The National Research Council has vindicated victims of one of the Defense Department's worst environmental problems. An expert panel of NRC scientists reported that trichloroethylene, the most common water contaminant in America, is more dangerous than earlier thought.

Today's report warned that the powerful solvent is a serious public health threat that needs stronger regulation from the Environmental Protection Agency.

"We need a new drinking water standard now, with no more delays," said Jerry Ensminger, a retired Marine drill instructor whose 9-year-old daughter Janey [pictured in original article] died of leukemia in 1985 after exposure to TCE in the water at Camp Lejeune.

[...]

The question now is whether the EPA will adopt the NRC recommendations and issue a final risk assessment for TCE, the first step toward tightening the drinking water limit for the chemical.

"I am skeptical about what this administration will do with these recommendations," said retired Marine Ensminger.

He told the NRC panel last year that it made no sense that the DOD, with more than 1,400 sites tainted by TCE, was allowed by the White House to challenge EPA's risk assessment.

"Here we have the EPA that was created by the government to protect our environment and our citizens from pollution being second-guessed by the world's largest polluter, the U.S. Department of Defense!" he told the panel.

Welcome to Form95Help.com, designed to offer you information and assistance with filing a claim for injury, death or potential future illnesses that may have been caused by being exposed to the toxic water at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Anyone, whether you were in the military or not and regardless of whether you lived on the base, should file a claim to protect your interest if you were exposed to the highly toxic waters of camp Lejeune prior to 1986. You can also file a claim on behalf of a relative who died and had any illness related to the contaminated waters of Camp Lejeune.

Your claim must be filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) if you intend on seeking money damages. The first step is to complete and file a properly completed Form 95 claim. Form 95 claims are routinely denied on all sorts of technical grounds so it is extremely important that you have your claim reviewed by an attorney. This review can take place even if you have already filed a claim to see if any amendments need to be made. Failure to file a Form 95 in a timely manner will bar you from seeking damages against the United States Military.

Remember, never settle a case without having it reviewed by an experienced FTCA lawyer. There is no dollar limitation on liability under the FTCA and once you agree to settle your claim, your claim is over even if the amount you received was unfair.

Capitol Hill has become a second home to Jerry Ensminger. The retired marine drill sergeant says he's still fighting for the rights of Americans.

Ensminger: "The Marine Corps has a motto -- 'Semper Fidelis.' That's Latin for always faithful."

But Ensminger and the Marine Corps are now pitted against each other.

Ensminger: "Unfortunately, I found out not only do they not live up to their motto. They won't take care of their own unless you force them to."

The battle is over water -- water that was contaminated at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The bad wells were shut down by early 1985. The problem came from a dry cleaning chemical called tetrachloroethylene and a metal degreaser called trichloroethylene.

Simms: "We wanted to visit Camp Lejeune. Our request was denied. The Marine Corps says the contamination has been widely publicized since 1984 when it was discovered and it's an old story. But Ensminger and others couldn't disagree more."

They believe thousands of people could now be ill and Ensminger wants the Marine Corps to admit there's a link. He's trying to force the Corps to notify thousands of people who lived or worked at the base between 1968 and 1985. And he says the Department of Veterans Affairs should be providing health benefits to people like Nick Geiger of Baltimore.

Geiger: "I just feel like I'm getting kicked in the teeth by the government I served... They're waiting for us to either get fed up with it and go away or gradually die off so they don't have to pay the claims."

Ensminger: "I swore I'm not going to let these people get away with this... When you pat me in the face with a shovel and blow taps over me. I said that's when I'll stop this fight or until you do what's right."

SEC. 352. NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES STUDY ON HUMAN EXPOSURE TO CONTAMINATED DRINKING WATER AT CAMP LEJEUNE, NORTH CAROLINA.

(a) STUDY REQUIRED.

(1) IN GENERAL. Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Navy shall enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a comprehensive review and evaluation of the available scientific and medical evidence regarding associations between pre-natal, child, and adult exposure to drinking water contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE) at Camp Lejeune North Carolina, as well as other pre-natal, child, and adult exposures to levels of trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene similar to those experienced at Camp Lejeune, and birth defects or diseases and any other adverse health effects.

(2) ELEMENTS. In conducting the review and evaluation, the Academy shall review ,and summarize the scientific and medical evidence and assess the strength of that evidence in establishing a link or association between exposure to trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene and each birth defect or disease suspected to be associated with such exposure. For each birth defect or disease reviewed, the Academy shall determine, to the extent practicable with available scientific and medical data, whether---

(A) a statistical association with such contaminant exposures exists; and

(B) there exist plausible biological mechanisms or other evidence of a causal relationship between contaminant exposures and the defect or disease.

(3) SCOPE OF REVIEW. In conducting the review and evaluation, the Academy shall include a review and evaluation of--

(A) the toxicologic and epidemiologic literature on adverse health effects of trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene, including epidemiologic and risk assessment reports government agencies;

(B) recent literature reviews by the National Research Council, Institute of Medicine, and other groups;

(C) the completed and on-going Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry (ATSDR) studies on potential trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene exposure at Camp Lejeune; and

(D) published meta-analyses,

(4) PEER REVIEW. The Academy shall obtain the peer review of the report prepared as a result of the review and evaluation under applicable Academy procedures.

(5) SUBMITTAL The Academy shall submit the report prepared as a result of the review and evaluation to the Secretary and Congress not later than 18 months after entering into the agreement for the review and evaluation under paragraph (1).

(b) NOTICE ON EXPOSURE

(1) NOTICE REQUIRED. Upon completion of the current epidemiological study by the Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry, known as the Exposure to Volatile Organic Compounds in Drinking Water and Specific Birth Defects and Childhood Cancers, United States Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune North Carolina, the Commandant of the Marine Corps shall take appropriate actions, including the use of national media such as newspapers, television, and the Internet, to notify former Camp Lejeune residents and employees who may have been exposed to drinking water impacted by trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene of the results of the study.

(2) ELEMENTS. The information provided by the Commandant of the Marine Corps under paragraph (1) shall be prepared in conjunction with the Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry and shall include a description of sources of additional information relating to such exposure, including, but not be limited to, the following:

(A) A description of the events resulting in exposure to contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejuene.

(B) A description of the duration and extent of the contamination of drinking water at Camp Lejeune.

(C) The known and suspected health effects of exposure to the drinking water impacted by trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene at Camp Lejeune.

The amendment still must survive a conference negotiation between Senate and House members and then must be signed into law by President Bush.

Several folks have asked me about next steps. A thank-you note to Greg Riels of Dole's staff might be a good idea. Without Dole's support, the provision would not have been enacted by the Senate. Equally important, Dole will need to strongly support the provision to prevent it from being removed in conference with the House. You might also consider contacting the "conferees" from the Senate and House that will meet to reconcile the competing versions of the bill. They have not yet been named, so keep searching in Google News so you don't miss it.

Dole, Jeffords' Camp Lejeune Amendment Passes Senate in DOD Bill

WASHINGTON, DC — An amendment to support military families who were potentially exposed to highly contaminated water at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina was approved today as part of the 2007 Defense Authorization Act, which passed the Senate 96-0. The amendment was authored by Senators Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., and Jim Jeffords, I-Vt.

The amendment will help those exposed to contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune Marine base, which closed the contaminated wells in 1985. The U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has found that at least 100 babies exposed in utero to the contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune suffered birth defects and cancers, including spina bifida, leukemia and cleft palates.

The Dole-Jeffords amendment requires a comprehensive National Academy of Sciences study to be completed within 18 months to evaluate the strength of the link between TCE and PCE exposure and adverse health impacts for pre-natal, childhood and adult exposures at Camp Lejeune. In 2004, Jeffords called for an investigation of the contamination, and for full notification of those affected.

The amendment also requires the Marine Corps to notify those potentially affected by the contamination so they can learn what happened, how it may have affected them, and what steps they may consider taking now to minimize the potential health impacts.

"I am hopeful that this study will provide the information these families need to answer questions that have lingered for far too long," said Jeffords, the ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. "This is the minimum that our government should be doing to address the grievous failure on the part of the Marine Corps to adequately protect its service members and their families."

SKYLAND — Work is slated to begin next week cleaning up contamination on the former CTS plant site in south Buncombe County.

The work comes almost seven years after neighbors first discovered an oily liquid contaminating a spring near the plant.

“All we want to do is try to put this behind us,” said Dot Rice, who lives near the property.

Work to clean up the site is scheduled to begin Tuesday, said David Andrews, on-scene coordinator and chemist for the Environmental Protection Agency.

Neighbors of the former industrial switches manufacturing plant on Mills Gap Road discovered the oily liquid in the summer of 1999. State environmental officials did tests and found one well and two springs on neighboring properties were contaminated with trichloroethylene, a chlorinated solvent used to clean metal.

• The results were initially provided by ATSDR as part of the recent Community Assistance Panel (CAP) meeting in Atlanta on April 20th.


• There is no known current contamination problem.


• Between 1968 and 1985, levels of PCE (tetrachloroethylene) in one part of the water system reached an average of 66 ppb and a maximum of 177 ppb. [note: current EPA safety limit/action level for PCE in drinking water is 5ppb. Though the 5ppb standard was not in place during 1968-1985, it is worth noting that the levels reported here are 13-35 times the EPA's safty limit for this known carcinogen.


• ATSDR and the CAP are both hoping to create an Internet tool that will allow someone to put in their address aboard the base at a certain time and learn what level of contaminants they may have been exposed to. This is likely another year or two away, at least.


• The CAP will hold a teleconference in July and another meeting in September. Both will be observable by the public.