A Trust Betrayed

by Mike Magner

  In the case of Camp Lejeune, the government hasn’t just been slow to respond to the victims of pollution at the base; it has stifled and bullied and outright ignored them. Initially it was a story of negligence: the Navy violating its own standards for drinking water, ignoring evidence of toxic contamination all over the Marine base, and waiting for years before shutting down tainted wells after lab tests showed there were problems. Then the Navy and Marine Corps turned to dissembling, stonewalling, and obfuscation: failing to cooperate with ATSDR studies, refusing to notify people who had been exposed to contaminants at Lejeune, coaching its people on how to answer questions by investigators, and fighting hard against claims from victims seeking compensation.

  Many of the victims of Lejeune’s pollution have been as heroic in these instances as any warriors wounded in battle. In some cases, they have given up far more for their country than battle-scarred fighters—they have lost loved ones or seen them stricken with debilitating illnesses, or have had their own quality of life destroyed by cancer and other diseases. All they have asked in return is fair compensation for their losses or disabilities—suffering they would never have undergone had they not had the misfortune of being stationed at Lejeune when the water was contaminated. Yet they have had to fight for years to force their government to acknowledge that the military’s mismanagement sickened or killed many people, and they have waited two decades for studies to be completed that would help determine the full extent of the damages.

  In exposing the harm caused by the pollution at Camp Lejeune, the victims also helped thwart the military’s reckless effort to obtain exemptions from environmental laws. Had that scheme succeeded, there is no telling how many more in the service would have been sickened by toxic wastes. There are hundreds of sites contaminated by the US military around the nation and the world, and much more investigation and cleanup—not less—are needed to ensure that people living and working on or near those installations are safe.

  The Camp Lejeune contamination constitutes the largest and worst incidence of a poisoned water supply in history. Had a corporation been responsible, there would almost certainly have been a massive criminal complaint filed by the federal government, as the Justice Department did against Occidental Chemical Corporation after the Love Canal disaster in New York in the late 1970s, and as it did again against BP and its partners in the Gulf of Mexico after the 2010 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig caused the biggest offshore oil spill in US history. In contrast, there have been only a few inconclusive investigations of the Marine Corps’ misconduct at Camp Lejeune, and a push by Congress to require that some surviving victims of the pollution at least be provided with health insurance.

  As this book was being completed in late 2013, a report was circulating through the ranks of Lejeune victims that the Marine Corps was seeking an “endgame” for the long-running saga of the base pollution and its effects. Presumably the military was hoping for something less than the conclusions already in sight—completion of all ATSDR studies and full implementation of the 2012 law guaranteeing health care for veterans and family members with illnesses linked to the base water. But twenty years after it began its studies at Lejeune, the ATSDR still had not released three promised studies on health problems caused by the pollution, and the VA still had not issued rules for providing health coverage to all Lejeune victims. If the “endgame” to the Camp Lejeune story falls short of complete health assessments and full compensation for victims, the result may become one of the most egregious betrayals of its citizens in American history.

  NOTES

  All quoted material not cited in the endnotes is from personal interviews conducted by the author.

  1: THE MARINE CORPS FAMILY

  1. This chapter is based on author interviews with Tom Townsend, 2013, and a written statement by Anne Townsend (in author’s files).

  2: LEJEUNE

  1. Chapter 4, “Encroachment: MCB Camp Lejeune,” in Conserving Biodiversity on Military Lands: A Guide for Natural Resources Managers, Conserving Biodiversity on Military Lands website, NatureServe, funded by the US Department of Defense Legacy Resource Management Program, 2008, www.dodbiodiversity.org/index.html; “North Carolina Natural Resources Inventory,” North Carolina Heritage Program, North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, April 2013.

  2. “Post of the Corps: Camp Lejeune, N.C.,” The Leatherneck, October 1981.

  3. J. Robert Moskin, The U.S. Marine Corps Story (New York: McGraw Hill, 1977), 682.

  4. Allan R. Millett, Semper Fidelis: The History of the United States Marine Corps (New York: Macmillan, 1980), 276–285; Moskin, U.S. Marine Corps Story, 26–27.

  5. Moskin, U.S. Marine Corps Story, 36–37.

  6. Ibid., 54.

  7. Ibid., 61–67.

  8. Ibid., 89–90.

  9. Millett, Semper Fidelis, 267–272.

  10. Ibid., 271–277.

  11. Major General John A. Lejeune, The Reminiscences of a Marine (Philadelphia: Dorrance and Company, 1930), 68–80.

  12. Millett, Semper Fidelis, 322–324.

  13. Chuck Lawliss, The Marine Book: A Portrait of America’s Military Elite (New York: Thames and Hudson, 1988), 23.

  14. Lejeune, Reminiscences, 321.

  15. Moskin, U.S. Marine Corps Story, 207; Millett, Semper Fidelis, 322.

  16. Millett, Semper Fidelis, 322–324.

  17. Lawliss, Marine Book, 23; Millett, Semper Fidelis, 326–327.

  18. Millett, Semper Fidelis, 328.

  19. “Origins of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune,” Cultural Resources Management: Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Marines: The Official Website of the United States Marine Corps, www.lejeune.marines.mil/OfficesStaff/EnvironmentalMgmt/CulturalResources/HistoryLive/HistoryofCampLejeune.aspx.

  20. Millett, Semper Fidelis, 348; Moskin, U.S. Marine Corps Story, 224–225.

  21. “Origins of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune,” US Marine Corps website.

  22. “History,” Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Marines: The Official Website of the United States Marine Corps, www.lejeune.usmc.mil/visitors/history/.

  23. David G. Thompson, “Memorandum in Regard to Ground-Water Supplies in the Vicinity of Jacksonville, North Carolina,” United States Geological Survey, May 20, 1941; Harry E. LeGrand, consulting geologist, “Interim Report of Groundwater Conditions at Tarawa Terrace, Camp Lejeune, N.C.,” April 2, 1959.

  24. “Facts About Camp Lejeune,” brochure, Public Affairs Office, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, January 2000.

  25. “Report to the Department of Justice on Disposal Practices at Camp Lejeune,” Davis L. Ford and Associates, Austin, Texas, September 2009.

  26. Interview with Danny Sharpe, Camp Lejeune Environmental Fact-Finding Group, June 2, 2004. All interviews cited as “Camp Lejeune Environmental Fact-Finding Group” interviews were conducted in 2003 and 2004 by a contractor for the United States Marine Corps for the Marine Corps Fact-Finding Panel, which released a report entitled “Drinking Water Fact-Finding Panel for Camp Lejeune: Report to the Commandant, U.S.M.C.,” dated October 6, 2004.

  27. Interview with Julian Wooten, Camp Lejeune Environmental Fact-Finding Group, May 30, 2004.

  28. Sharpe interview.

  29. Wooten interview.

  3: “BABY HEAVEN”

  1. Some of the quotations from the McLaughlins and other details of their story in this chapter are from Jo-Ann Moriarty, “N.C. Base Left Deadly Legacy,” Springfield (Mass.) Republican, July 22, 2007.

  2. The Stasiaks are quoted in Jo-Ann Moriarty, “Senators Seek to Alert Marines,” Springfield (Mass.) Republican, August 12, 2007.

  3. Maggie Gagnoni, letter to President George W. Bush, June 15, 2001, obtained through Freedom of Information Act request by Tom Townsend.

  4. Quotations from Mary Freshwater in this chapter are from Cynthia McFadden, “Sick Families of N.C. Military Base Water Contamination May Finally Get Help, 30 Years Later,” ABC News Nightline, June 28,
2012, http://abcnews.go.com/US/sick-families-nc-military-base-water-contamination-finally/story?id=16670758&singlePage=true.

  5. Joan Lewis is quoted in Amanda Greene, “Family Attributed Health Problems to Bad Luck, But Now Think Lejeune’s Water the Source,” Wilmington (N.C.) Star-News, August 27, 2007, www.starnewsonline.com/article/20070827/NEWS/708270314.

  6. “Statement of Sandra Carbone,” Camp Lejeune Toxic Water: The Few, the Proud, the Forgotten, http://tftptf.com/CLW_Docs/Carbone_Story.pdf. For other statements, see www.tftptf.com/9401.html.

  7. Terry Dyer, daughter of John Fristoe, is quoted in Richard Currey, “Troubled Waters: The Toxic Legacy of Camp Lejeune’s Contaminated Water Supply,” The Veteran, August/September 2004, www.vva.org/archive/TheVeteran/2004_08/feature_TroubledWaters.htm.

  4: SOLVENTS!

  1. Letter from Donald J. Guinyard, chief of water supply branch, Environmental Protection Agency, Region IV, to Commanding General, September 8, 1980.

  2. Trihalomethane (THM) surveillance reports, William C. Neal, chief of laboratory services, Army Environmental Hygiene Lab, October 1980 to February 1981.

  3. Interview with William C. Neal, Camp Lejeune Environmental Fact-Finding Group, July 7, 2004.

  4. Results of water samples at Camp Lejeune, Jennings Laboratories, Virginia Beach, Virginia, October 31, 1980; interview with Wallace Carter, Camp Lejeune Environmental Fact-Finding Group, July 12, 2004.

  5. Interview with Steve Azar, Camp Lejeune Environmental Fact-Finding Group, July 8 and 21, 2004; Government Accountability Office (GAO), “Activities Related to Past Drinking Water Contamination at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune,” May 11, 2007, 23.

  6. Interview with Elizabeth Betz, Camp Lejeune Environmental Fact-Finding Group, June 18 and 29, 2004.

  7. Ibid.

  8. Interview with Julian Wooten, Camp Lejeune Environmental Fact-Finding Group, May 30, 2004.

  9. Interview with Danny Sharpe, Camp Lejeune Environmental Fact-Finding Group, June 2, 2004.

  10. Memorandum by J. R. Bailey, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, “Suspected Chemical Dump, Rifle Range Area,” May 8, 1981.

  11. Memorandum by Elizabeth Betz, supervisory chemist, Camp Lejeune Quality Control Lab, Environmental Section, “Suspected Chemical Dump, Rifle Range Area,” May 12, 1981.

  12. GAO, “Activities Related to Past Drinking Water Contamination,” 21.

  13. US Department of the Navy, “A Primer on the Navy Installation Restoration Program,” June 6, 1982.

  14. Memorandum for the Record by Elizabeth Betz, supervisory chemist, Camp Lejeune Quality Control Lab, Environmental Section, “Phone Conversation with Mike Hargett on 6 May 1982,” May 25, 1982, online at US Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, www.judiciary.senate.gov/judiciarydocs/CLHDW%20CDR%20Docs/Docs%20(PDFs)/2–1197/CLW/CLW%205176.pdf.

  15. Memorandum for the Record by Elizabeth Betz, supervisory chemist, Camp Lejeune Quality Control Lab, Environmental Section, “Briefing Col Millice on April’s Trihalomethane Analysis,” May 25, 1982.

  16. Bruce A. Babson, Grainger Laboratories, to “Commanding General,” Camp Lejeune, “Analyses of Samples 206 and 207 from Site Coded ‘TT’ and Samples 208 and 209 from Site Coded ‘HP’,” August 10, 1982.

  17. Interview with Bruce Babson, Camp Lejeune Environmental Fact-Finding Group, August 19, 2004.

  18. Testimony of Michael C. Hargett, Hearing Before the House Committee on Science and Technology, Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight, “Camp Lejeune: Contamination and Compensation, Looking Back, Moving Forward,” September 16, 2010, transcript at US Government Printing Office, Federal Digital System, www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-111hhrg58485/html/CHRG-111hhrg58485.htm.

  19. Memorandum from Elizabeth Betz, supervisory chemist, Camp Lejeune Quality Control Lab, Environmental Section, to Danny Sharpe, supervisory ecologist, Environmental Section, “Grainger Laboratories Letter of 10 August 1982,” August 19, 1982; Betz interview.

  20. Hearing Before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, “Poisoned Patriots: Contaminated Drinking Water at Camp Lejeune,” June 12, 2007, transcript at US Government Printing Office, Federal Digital System, www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-110hhrg37793/html/CHRG-110hhrg37793.htm.

  21. US Department of the Navy, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, BUMED Instruction 6240.3B, September 30, 1963.

  22. William R. Levesque, “No Evidence Marine Corps Conducted Critical Water Test at Camp Lejeune,” Tampa Bay Times, February 3, 2013, www.tampabay.com/news/military/no-evidence-marine-corps-conducted-critical-water-test-at-camp-lejeune/1273599.

  23. Captain Kendra N. Motz, media officer, Division of Public Affairs, US Marine Corps, “Marine Corps’ Full Response to NBC News Regarding Water Contamination at Camp Lejeune,” February 21, 2013.

  24. Memorandum for the Record by Elizabeth Betz, supervisory chemist, Camp Lejeune Quality Control Lab, Environmental Section, “Results of 18 March 1982 Sampling of Suspected Chemical Dump,” September 8, 1982.

  25. Memorandum by Bruce Babson, Grainger Laboratories, “Analysis of Samples Received 12/2/82,” December 9, 1982.

  26. SCS Engineers, Reston, Virginia, “Final Report, Oil Pollution Survey for Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune,” March 31, 1977 (only the cover sheet is available).

  27. Memorandum by J. G. Leech, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, “Recommended Corrective Actions for Remaining Known Wastewater/Oil Environmental Deficiencies,” February 8, 1979.

  28. Memorandum by J. G. Leech, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, “Monitoring of Leachate from Solid Waste and Chemical Landfills,” September 7, 1978.

  29. O’Brien and Gere, report to Naval Facilities Engineering Command, “Product Recovery System Design, Hadnot Point Fuel Farm, Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune,” October 1989.

  30. Report by Cal Ingram, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, “Condition Survey, POL [Petroleum, Oil, Lubricants] Facilities, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina,” June 27, 1980.

  31. Wallace Eakes, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, “Trip Report for Water and Air Research at Camp Lejeune,” March 7–21, 1982; Memorandum by J. R. Bailey, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, “Pesticide Analysis of Soil Samples, MCB Camp Lejeune,” June 4, 1982.

  32. Initial Assessment Study, NACIP Program, Camp Lejeune, Water and Air Research, Inc., for Naval Facilities Engineering Command, June 1982.

  33. Memorandum by L. L. Scudder, Environmental Law Counsel, Office of Staff Judge Advocate, Camp Lejeune, “Hazardous Wastes,” October 6, 1982.

  34. Memorandum by J. G. Wallmeyer, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, “Official Telephone Call (outgoing),” November 22, 1982.

  35. Environmental Protection Agency, National Priorities List Fact Sheet, Wurtsmith Air Force Base, February 2012; Environmental Protection Agency, Current Site Information, Naval Air Development Center Warminster, January 2013; Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Public Health Assessment, Willow Grove Naval Air Station, May 2002.

  36. GAO, “Activities Related to Past Drinking Water Contamination,” 64; Letter from Colonel M. G. Lilley, assistant chief of staff, Facilities, Camp Lejeune, to Charles Rundgren, chief of Water Supply Branch, North Carolina Department of Human Resources, Division of Health Services, December 12, 1983.

  37. Memorandum from W. R. Price, Utilities System Operator General Foreman, to Director of the Utilities Branch, “Inadequate Raw Water Supply at Tarawa Terrace and Camp Johnson,” March 30, 1983.

  5: TROUBLE AT TARAWA TERRACE

  1. Quotations from Jeff Byron and other details of his family’s story in this chapter are from interviews with the author, 2013; “Statement of Jeff Byron,” Camp Lejeune Toxic Water: The Few, the Proud, the Forgotten, http://tftptf.com/CLW_Docs/JeffByronStory.pdf; Jen Roppel, “Marine Seeks Answers in Lejeune Pollution Case,” Cox News Service, October 2, 2002; Testimony of Jeff Byron, Hearing Before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, “P
oisoned Patriots: Contaminated Drinking Water at Camp Lejeune,” June 12, 2007, transcript at US Government Printing Office, Federal Digital System, www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-110hhrg37793/html/CHRG-110hhrg37793.htm.

  2. The Ensmingers’ story and quotations are from numerous author interviews; Lloyd Grove, “Semper Fi: Always Faithful: A Father’s Searing Take on a Marine Corps Coverup,” Daily Beast, April 24, 2011, www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/04/24/semper-fi-always-faithful-ensmingers-tribeca-film-on-a-marine-corps-cover-up.html; Testimony of Jerry Ensminger, Hearing Before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, “Poisoned Patriots: Contaminated Drinking Water at Camp Lejeune,” June 12, 2007, transcript at US Government Printing Office, Federal Digital System, www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-110hhrg37793/html/CHRG-110hhrg37793.htm.

  3. Interview with Rick Shiver, Camp Lejeune Environmental Fact-Finding Group, May 28 and June 25, 2004.

  4. Environmental Science and Engineering, Inc., “Confirmation Study to Determine Existence and Possible Migration of Specific Chemicals in Situ,” Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, May 1984.

  5. “Environmental Study Kicks-Off,” The Globe, Camp Lejeune, June 1984.

  6. Shiver interview.

  7. Memorandum by Elizabeth Betz, supervisory chemist, Camp Lejeune Quality Control Lab, Environmental Section, “Water Monitoring Related to the Installation Restoration Program,” April 11, 1989.

  8. Ibid.

  9. Action Brief by M. G. Lilley, assistant chief of staff for facilities, Camp Lejeune, “Alternatives for Providing Water to the Tarawa Terrace Area,” March 1, 1985.

  10. Memorandum by Julian Wooten, director of environmental affairs, to assistant chief of staff, “Standards for Certain Types of Volatile Organic Compounds Found in Drinking Water Wells,” March 11, 1985.

  11. “Environmental Study Kicks-Off”; Florida Division of State Fire Marshal Report, Case No. 99–0110, January 8, 1999.