A Trust Betrayed

by Mike Magner

  12. Major General L. H. Buehl, Camp Lejeune commanding general, “Notice to Residents of Tarawa Terrace,” April 30, 1985.

  13. Richard F. Smith, “Chemicals Discovered in Lejeune Water Wells,” Jacksonville Daily News, May 10, 1985.

  14. Donna Long and Shannon Brennan, “Base Closes Ten Wells; Wastes Found,” Wil mington (N.C.) Morning Star, May 11, 1985.

  15. Byron House Testimony.

  16. Grove, “Semper Fi.”

  17. Ensminger House Testimony; Ensminger interview.

  6: A PERILOUS MESS

  1. New York State Department of Health, Office of Public Health, “Love Canal, Public Health Time Bomb,” Special Report to the Governor and Legislature, September 1978, www.health.ny.gov/environmental/investigations/love_canal/lctimbmb.htm.

  2. Government Accountability Office, “Superfund: Interagency Agreements and Improved Project Management Needed to Achieve Cleanup Progress at Key Defense Installations,” GAO-10–348, July 15, 2010, www.gao.gov/new.items/d10348.pdf.

  3. William Powell, “Remember Times Beach: The Dioxin Disaster, 30 Years Later,” St. Louis Magazine, December 2012, www.stlmag.com/St-Louis-Magazine/December-2012/Remember-Times-Beach-The-Dioxin-Disaster-30-Years-Later/.

  4. Memorandum from R. A. Tiebout, assistant chief of staff for facilities, Camp Lejeune, to commanding general, “Graphic Description of the Aquifer for Camp Lejeune and the City of Jacksonville,” June 5, 1985.

  5. Memo to File by Gold Johnson, utilities director, Camp Lejeune, June 21, 1985.

  6. Memo from Bob Alexander, environmental engineer, Camp Lejeune, to Marine Corps headquarters, “Analyses of Camp Lejeune Water Supply,” May 31, 1985.

  7. Testimony of Thomas Sinks, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 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.

  8. US Geological Survey, Raleigh, North Carolina, “An Appraisal of the Ground-Water Resources of Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base,” August 14, 1985.

  9. Letter from Charles Wakild, regional supervisor, North Carolina Department of Natural Resources and Community Development, to Major General L. H. Buehl, commanding general of Camp Lejeune, “Notice of Violation, Groundwater Classification and Standards,” May 15, 1985.

  10. Letter from Major General L. H. Buehl, commanding general of Camp Lejeune, to Charles Wakild, regional supervisor, North Carolina Department of Natural Resources and Community Development, “Notice of Violation, Groundwater Classification and Standards,” July 19, 1985.

  11. Jerry Allegood, “Civilians, Military Investigating Waste Dumps at Camp Lejeune,” Raleigh (N.C.)News and Observer, September 15, 1985.

  12. Memorandum from Chuck Wakild, regional supervisor, North Carolina Department of Natural Resources and Community Development, to Perry Nelson, chief of the groundwater section, “Mr. Larry Fitzpatrick’s Inquiry, Groundwater Quality Problems, Camp Lejeune,” October 8, 1985.

  13. Rick Shiver, hydrogeologist, Wilmington Regional Office, North Carolina Division of Environmental Management, “An Assessment of Groundwater Pollution Sources at the Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune,” October 1985.

  14. Memorandum from R. A. Tiebout, assistant chief of staff for facilities, Camp Lejeune, to commanding general, “State of North Carolina Data on Tarawa Terrace Water Supply Wells,” November 6, 1985; Memorandum from Julian Wooten, director of environmental affairs, Camp Lejeune, to Bob Alexander, environmental engineer, “Analysis of Drinking Water Systems Aboard Camp Lejeune,” January 24, 1986.

  15. Memorandum by Rear Admiral J. B. Finkelstein, US Navy chief of information, “Public Affairs Guidance—Hazardous Waste Site Cleanup,” July 1, 1986.

  16. Rick Shiver, notes on meeting at Camp Lejeune, July 31, 1986.

  17. O’Brien & Gere, “Contaminated Ground Water Study, Hadnot Point Area, Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune,” December 1988; Minutes of Technical Review Committee meeting at Camp Lejeune, February 20, 1992; EPA Superfund Record of Decision, Camp Lejeune, EPA ID: NC6170022580, September 24, 1993; Site Management Plan for Camp Lejeune, prepared for the US Navy by Baker Environmental, Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, September 29, 1993; letter from L. L. Scudder, environmental law counsel, to the US Navy Judge Advocate General’s office, Camp Lejeune, October 6, 1982; Environmental Science and Engineering, Inc., “Confirmation Study to Determine Existence and Possible Migration of Specific Chemicals In Situ,” Camp Lejeune, May 1984.

  18. Cheryl McMorris, North Carolina Solid Waste and Hazardous Waste Management Branch, “Site Inspection Report,” ABC One-Hour Cleaners, May 27, 1987.

  19. Letter from A. P. Tokarz, US Navy Judge Advocate General’s office, to Lee Crosby, North Carolina Office of Attorney General, February 8, 1988; Environmental Protection Agency, Site Summary Profile, NCD024644494, ABC One-Hour Cleaners, updated April 2013.

  20. Action brief by C. H. Baker, director of utilities branch, Camp Lejeune, “Environmental Concerns of Utilities Branch, Base Maintenance Division,” March 15, 1988.

  21. Environmental Science and Engineering, Inc., Feasibility Study for Hadnot Point Industrial Area, Camp Lejeune, “Description of Interim Alternatives,” May 1988.

  22. Memorandum by A. P. Tokarz, US Navy Judge Advocate General’s office, to assistant chief of staff for facilities, Camp Lejeune, “Leaking Underground Storage Tanks; Gasoline Contamination in Hadnot Point Fuel Farm Area,” March 29, 1988.

  23. Memorandum from H. P. Scott, director, Naval Hospital at Camp Lejeune, to commanding general, “Installation Restoration Program,” August 25, 1988; William R. Levesque, “Marine Corps Can’t Find Records of Critical Tests,” St. Petersburg Times, May 20, 2011, www.tampabay.com/news/military/marine-corps-cant-find-records-of-critical-tests/1170791.

  24. Levesque, “Marine Corps Can’t Find Records.”

  25. Letter from H. Kirk Lucius, chief of site investigation and support branch, Environmental Protection Agency, to assistant chief of staff, Camp Lejeune, “Characterization Step Report, Feasibility Study for Hadnot Point Industrial Area,” September 29, 1988.

  26. Environmental Protection Agency, Briefing Notes, Camp Lejeune Military Reservation, North Carolina, May 1988.

  27. Colonel Dave Mundy, “Base Taps Into Drinking Water Concerns,” The Globe, August 31, 1989.

  28. Colonel Dave Mundy, “Measures Taken to Prevent Future Water Contamination,” The Globe, September 14, 1989.

  29. Environmental Protection Agency, National Priorities List (NPL), Site Narrative for Camp Lejeune Military Reservation, October 4, 1989.

  7: THE STRUGGLE FOR DATA

  1. Committee on Environmental Epidemiology, Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, and National Research Council, Environmental Epidemiology, vol. 1, Public Health and Hazardous Wastes (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1991), 92.

  2. Sanford Lewis, Brian Keating, and Dick Russell for the Environmental Health Network and National Toxics Campaign Fund, “Inconclusive by Design: Waste, Fraud and Abuse in Federal Environmental Health Research,” May 1992, online at www.ejnet.org/toxics/inconclusive.html.

  3. Testimony of Thomas Frieden, director, Centers for Disease Control, 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.

  4. Letter from Nancy Sonnenfeld, epidemiologist, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, to Neal Paul, Camp Lejeune, February 23, 1993.

  5. Letter from Stephen Aoyama, environmental engineer, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, to Neal Paul, Camp Lejeune, March 5, 1993; letter from Carol Aloisio, Offic
e of Assistant Administrator, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, to Yvonne Walker, Navy Environmental Health Center, September 2, 1994.

  6. Letter from W. P. Thomas, commanding officer, Navy Environmental Health Center, to Commander, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, September 13, 1994.

  7. Andrea Lunsford, head, Health Risk Assessment Department, Navy Environmental Health Center, “Medical Review of Initial Release of Public Health Assessment for U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune,” October 28, 1994.

  8. Hearing Charter, 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.

  9. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, “Public Health Assessment for U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune,” August 4, 1997.

  10. Memorandum by Kelly Dreyer, public affairs manager, Marine Corps headquarters, “Study of Drinking Water Contamination and Childhood Cancer at MCB Camp Lejeune,” August 29, 1997.

  11. Mark Bashor’s quotations throughout this section are from Letter and Report from Mark Bashor, associate administrator for federal programs, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, to Elsie Munsell, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy, environment and safety, July 16, 1997.

  12. Jeanetta Churchill, epidemiologist, Division of Health Studies, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, “Request for OMB Review and Approval: Exposure to Volatile Organic Compounds and Childhood Leukemia Incidence at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune,” July 1997.

  13. Ibid.

  14. Letter from Elsie Munsell, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy, environment and safety, to Mark Bashor, associate administrator for federal programs, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, October 10, 1997.

  15. Quotations throughout this section from epidemiologist Jeffrey Hyman at the Navy Environmental Health Center are from his “Review of Camp Lejeune—Childhood Leukemia Study Proposal,” August 1997.

  16. Government Accountability Office, “Activities Related to Past Drinking Water Contamination at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune,” May 11, 2007, 7.

  17. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, “Volatile Organic Compounds in Drinking Water and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes, United States Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune,” August 1998.

  18. E-mail from Neal Paul, Camp Lejeune information officer, to Kelly Dreyer, Marine Corps public affairs manager, Washington, DC, October 23, 1998.

  19. E-mail exchanges between Kelly Dreyer, Marine Corps public affairs manager in Washington, DC, and Kathy Skipper, chief of public affairs, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, April 1999.

  20. Department of Defense News Briefing, Colonel Michael Lehnert, November 1, 2000.

  21. Robert Burns, “Marine Corps Warns of Camp Lejeune’s Bad Water,” Associated Press, November 2, 2000.

  8: SLOW AWAKENING FOR THE VICTIMS

  1. Quotations and details for Mike Gros in this chapter are from an author telephone interview with him in May 2013; Testimony of Mike Gros, 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; Lise Olsen, “Doctor Blames Marines for Illness; Base’s Water May Be Tied to Cancer,” Houston Chronicle, April 4, 2004.

  2. Joan Lewis, telephone interview with author, April 2013; 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.

  3. Louella Holliday, telephone interview with author, April 2013; “Statement of Louella D. Holliday,” Camp Lejeune Toxic Water: The Few, the Proud, the Forgotten, http://tftptf.com/CLW_Docs/LouellaHollidayStory.pdf.

  4. Quotations and details for Terry Dyer and Karen Strand in this chapter are from Terry Dyer, telephone interview with author, February 2013; 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.

  5. Quotations and other details in this chapter for Sandra Carbone and Anita Roach are from telephone interviews in April and May 2013; “Statement of Sandra Carbone,” Camp Lejeune Toxic Water: The Few, the Proud, the Forgotten, http://tftptf.com/CLW_Docs/Carbone_Story.pdf.

  6. Jeff Byron’s quotations and other details are from telephone interview with author, April 2013; Testimony of Jeff Byron, 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; “Statement of Jeff Byron,” Camp Lejeune Toxic Water: The Few, the Proud, the Forgotten, http://tftptf.com/CLW_Docs/JeffByronStory.pdf; Anna Griffin, “Camp Lejeune Veterans Haunted by Illnesses,” Knight Ridder Newspapers, January 2, 2003, http://billingsgazette.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/camp-lejeune-veterans-haunted-by-illnesses/article_590a3878–4a86–5fae-8764-c2c32a2c0ebf.html; Jen Roppel, “Marine Fights for Answers,” Cox News Service, October 2, 2002, www.yourlawyer.com/articles/title/marine-fights-for-answers.

  7. Quotations from the Townsends are from Tom Townsend, telephone interviews with author in 2013; Anne Townsend, written statement (in author’s files); Griffin, “Camp Lejeune Veterans Haunted.”

  8. Quotations from Jerry Ensminger in this chapter are from numerous author interviews; Lloyd Grove, “Semper Fi: Always Faithful: A Father’s Searing Take on a Marine Corps Coverup,” The 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.

  9. “Survey of Childhood Cancers and Birth Defects at USMC Camp Lejeune, NC, 1968–1985,” July 16, 2003, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, www.atsdr.cdc.gov/news/displaynews.asp?PRid=2068.

  10. Testimony of Frank Bove, 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.

  9: EPA VS. DOD

  1. M. Sittig, Handbook of Toxic and Hazardous Chemicals (Saddle River, NJ: Noyes, 1981); J. Fagliano, M. Berry, F. Bove, and T. Burke, “Drinking Water Contamination and the Incidence of Leukemia: An Ecologic Study,” American Journal of Public Health 80, no. 10 (1990): 1209–1212.

  2. Fagliano et al., “Drinking Water Contamination,” 1209–1212.

  3. Environmental Protection Agency, “Trichloroethylene Health Risk Assessment: Synthesis and Characterization,” August 2001.

  4. Ralph Vartabedian, “How Environmentalists Lost the Battle over TCE,” Los Angeles Times, Part 1, March 29, 2006.

  5. Ibid.

  6. Ibid.

  7. Environmental Protection Agency, “Review of Draft Trichloroethylene Health Risk Assessment: Synthesis and Characterization; An EPA Science Advisory Board Report,” December 2002.

  8. Vartabedian, “How Environmentalists Lost the Battle.”

  9. Paul Dugard, director of scientific programs, Halogenated Solvents Industry Alliance, commentary on White House Office of Management
and Budget 2003 Draft Report to Congress on the Costs and Benefits of Federal Regulations, May 5, 2003.

  10. E-mail from V. J. Cogliano to the author, June 9, 2005.

  11. Paul Dugard, director of scientific programs, Halogenated Solvents Industry Alliance, memorandum to National Academy of Sciences panel on “Assessing the Human Health Risks of Trichloroethylene: Key Scientific Issues,” November 16, 2005.

  12. Shannon Cunniff, special assistant for emerging contaminants, US Department of Defense, “Summary of DoD, DOE, and NASA Science Issues Related to TCE,” slides, February 10, 2006.

  13. Jerry Ensminger, Statement to the National Academies of Sciences, April 20, 2005.

  14. National Research Council, “Assessing the Human Health Risks of Trichloroethylene: Key Scientific Issues,” June 2006.

  15. Ralph Vartabedian, “Cancer Risk from Industrial Chemical Rises, Study Finds,” Los Angeles Times, July 27, 2006, http://articles.latimes.com/2006/jul/27/nation/na-tce27.

  10: THE PENTAGON TRIES FOR EXEMPTIONS

  1. Memorandum from Paul Wolfowitz, deputy secretary of defense, to Secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force, “Consideration of Requests for Use of Existing Exemptions Under Federal Environmental Laws,” March 7, 2003.

  2. Ibid.

  3. Hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, “Environmental Laws: Encroachment on Military Training?” April 2, 2003, transcript at US Government Printing Office, Federal Digital System, www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-108shrg91745/pdf/CHRG-108shrg91745.pdf.

  4. Statement of Senator James Jeffords, “Camp Lejeune Survey of Childhood Cancers and Birth Defects,” July 16, 2003.

  5. Thomas Dail, “Water Study Review,” Jacksonville (N.C.) Daily News, October 29, 2003.

  6. Manuel Roig-Franzia and Catharine Skipp, “Tainted Water in the Land of Semper Fi; Marines Want to Know Why Base Did Not Close Wells When Toxins Were Found,” Washington Post, January 28, 2004.

  7. Thomas Dail, “Pentagon Delaying Notices,” Jacksonville (N.C.) Daily News, February 16, 2004.