A Trust Betrayed (41 page)

10: T
HE
P
ENTAGON
T
RIES FOR
E
XEMPTIONS

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.

8
. Press release, “Jeffords Seeks Expansion of Federal Study and Notification to Affected Marines About Camp Lejeune Drinking Water Contamination,” February 10, 2004; Dail, “Pentagon Delaying Notices.”

9
. Manuel Roig-Franzia and Catharine Skipp, “Panel in Camp Lejeune Water Probe Criticized,”
Washington Post
, March 12, 2004; United States Marine Corps, Division of Public Affairs, “Press Release: Commandant Appoints Independent Panel to Review Camp Lejeune Water Contamination Events,” February 20, 2004,
https://clnr.hqi.usmc.mil/clwater/Site/Articles/pr_2–20–04.html
.

10
. Roig-Franzia and Skipp, “Panel in Camp Lejeune Water Probe.”

11
. 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
.

12
. Ibid.

13
. Richard Frandsen and Jerry Ensminger telephone interviews with author, May 2013.

14
. Quotations through the end of this section are from Joint Hearing Before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection and Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality, “Current Environmental Issues Affecting the Readiness of the Department of Defense,” April 21, 2004, transcript at US Government Printing Office, Federal Digital System,
www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-108hhrg93306/html/CHRG-108hhrg93306.htm
; Richard Frandsen and Jerry Ensminger, telephone interviews with author, May 2013; Thomas Dail, “Military Dealt a Setback in Environmental Ruling by a House Committee,”
Jacksonville (N.C.) Daily News
, April 30, 2004.

15
. Eric Steinkopff, “Second Sewer Leak Elusive,”
Jacksonville (N.C.) Daily News
, May 5, 2004.

16
. Quotations from the June 24, 2004, hearing are from Eric Steinkopff, “Ex-Base Residents Want Wider Water Probe,”
Jacksonville (N.C.) Daily News
, June 25, 2004, online at US Senate, Committee on the Judiciary,
www.judiciary.senate.gov/judiciarydocs/CLHDW%20CDR%20Docs/Docs%20(PDFs)/1199–10257/9400_413%20AA%20USMC%20250604.pdf
.

17
. Packard's meeting with Currey is recounted in Richard Currey, “Troubled Waters: The Toxic Legacy of Camp Lejeune's Contaminated Water Supply,”
The Veteran
, August/September 2004.

18
. All quotations from the panel's report are from “Drinking Water Fact-Finding Panel for Camp Lejeune, Report to the Commandant,” US Marine Corps, October 6, 2004.

19
. Manuel Roig-Franzia, “Water Probe Backs Marine Corps Defense,”
Washington Post
, October 7, 2004.

20
. Memorandum from Henry Falk, director, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease
Registry, to Richard Frandsen, senior counsel, House Energy and Commerce Committee, September 30, 2004.

21
. All quotations from this meeting are from Meeting Transcript, Expert Panel Meeting, February 17–18, 2005; Chris Mazzolini, “Experts Share Ideas for Bad-Water Study,”
Jacksonville (N.C.) Daily News
, February 18, 2005.

22
. Report of the Camp Lejeune Scientific Advisory Panel, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Atlanta, Georgia, February 17–18, 2005.

23
. Martha Waggoner, “Panel: Lejeune Should Study Effects of Tainted Water on Thousands,” Associated Press, July 1, 2005.

24
. Chris Mazzolini, “Panel Eyeing Base Water Gets Plea to Expand Study,”
Jacksonville (N.C.) Daily News
, February 2, 2006.

25
. Chris Mazzolini, “Senate OKs Base Water Investigation,”
Jacksonville (N.C.) Daily News
, June 24, 2006.

26
. Ibid.

27
. Both news releases are quoted in ibid.

28
. Ibid.

11: O
BSTRUCTED
J
USTICE
?

1
. The quotations in this chapter are from Transcript, 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, US Government Printing Office, Federal Digital System,
www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-110hhrg37793/html/CHRG-110hhrg37793.htm
.

12: “F
LORIDA
M
AN
H
AS
B
REAST
C
ANCER
”

1
. This chapter is based on Mike Partain, telephone interviews with author, 2012 and 2013; Robin Williams Adams, “Florida Man Has Breast Cancer,”
Lakeland Ledger
, September 16, 2007,
www.theledger.com/article/20070916/NEWS/709160466
.

2
. The stories by William R. Levesque eventually included “Camp Lejeune Vets Suffer from Drinking Water Contamination,”
St. Petersburg Times
, May 29, 2009,
www.tampabay.com/news/military/veterans/camp-lejeune-vets-suffer-from-drinking-water-contamination/1005564
; “Male Breast Cancer and Camp Lejeune: Pollution or Coincidence?”
St. Petersburg Times
, June 27, 2009,
www.tampabay.com/news/military/veterans/male-breast-cancer-and-camp-lejeune-pollution-or-coincidence/1013675
; and “Hike in Camp Lejeune Male Breast Cancer Cases Expected,
St. Petersburg Times
, November 25, 2011,
www.tampabay.com/news/military/veterans/hike-in-camp-lejeune-male-breast-cancer-cases-expected/1203436
, among others. The
St. Petersburg Times
changed its name to the
Tampa Bay Times
in January 2012.

13: A S
TONE
W
ALL
C
RUMBLES

1
. Jo-Ann Moriarty and George Graham, “Sen. Kerry Pushes for Chemical Probe,”
Springfield (Mass.) Republican
, August 1, 2007,
www.masslive.com/chicopeeholyoke/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-10/1185955198167970.xml&coll=1
.

2
. Statement on the floor of the US Senate, Senator Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), July 17, 2007.

3
. “Feds Gets Earful from Camp Lejeune Residents,” WITN, Greenville, North Carolina, August 8, 2007,
www.witn.com/home/headlines/9041482.html
.

4
. Ibid.

5
. Ibid.

6
. E-mail from Jerry Ensminger to Jennifer Walsh, media officer, National Academies of Sciences, November 30, 2007.

7
. Gareth McGrath, “We Are Not Just Numbers in a Study,”
Wilmington (N.C.) Star News
, November 18, 2007; Alyssa Litoff and Katie Hinman, “Sick Families of N.C. Military Base Water Contamination May Finally Get Help, 30 Years Later,” ABC News Nightline, June 28, 2012.

8
. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, presentation to Camp Lejeune Community Assistance Panel, August 2007; Sarah Vos, “Chemical Linked to Parkinson's Disease,”
Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader
, January 9, 2008.

9
. Statement of John B. Stephenson, director, Natural Resources and Environment, Government Accountability Office, Before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, “New Assessment Process Further Limits the Credibility and Timeliness of
EPA
's Assessments of Toxic Chemicals,” September 18, 2008, transcript at US Government Printing Office, Federal Digital System,
www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08–1168T/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08–1168T.htm
.

10
. Testimony of Lynn R. Goldman, professor of environmental health sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Hearing Before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, April 28, 2008,
www.epw.senate.gov//files/22/61/39/f226139/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=61c327e8–77a4–4568-b4a3–9d34bc1d17ef
.

11
. Ibid.

12
. Ibid.

13
. Testimony of Jerry Ensminger, Hearing Before the House Committee on Science and Technology, Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight, June 12, 2008.

14
. Alison Young, “Exodus, Morale Shake
CDC
,”
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
, September 10, 2006.

15
. Rita Beamish, “Study on Camp Lejeune Toxic Water Continues with Navy Money,” Associated Press, May 30, 2008; Jerry Ensminger, e-mail to Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and others, May 29, 2008.

16
. Frank Bove and Perri Zeitz Ruckart, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, “An Assessment of the Feasibility of Conducting Future Epidemiological Studies at USMC Base Camp Lejeune,” June 23, 2008.

17
. Ibid.

18
. Presentation by Dr. Howard Frumkin, director, National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) / Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (
ATSDR
), “Understanding the National Conversation Purpose and Process,” n.d., copy attached to Jerry Ensminger, e-mail, April 8, 2009.

19
. “Update to the 1997 Camp Lejeune Public Health Assessment,” Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, May 8, 2009.

20
. Ibid.

21
. Ibid.

22
. Letter from Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (
ATSDR
), sender's name redacted, to Rick Raines at Camp Lejeune, June 6, 1997.

23
. Memorandum by Katherine Landman, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Atlantic Division, to David McConaughy, Navy Environmental Health Center, July 21, 1997.

24
. Ibid.

25
. Letter from Robert C. Williams, director, Division of Health Assessment and Consultation, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, to commanding general and brigadier general, Camp Lejeune, August 4, 1997.

26
. Christopher Portier, former director of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, telephone interview with author, May 2013.

27
. Ibid.

28
. E-mails from Jerry Ensminger and Mike Partain to Thomas Sinks, deputy director, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, May 7, 2009.

29
. Rita Beamish, “False Comfort: US Pulls Report That Minimized Cancer Risk from Toxic Water at Marine Base,” Associated Press, June 20, 2009.

30
. The quotations from the National Research Council's study through the end of this section are from Committee on Contaminated Drinking Water at Camp Lejeune, National Research Council, “Contaminated Water Supplies at Camp Lejeune: Assessing Potential Health Effects,” June 2009.

31
. National Research Council, “Scientific Evidence of Health Problems from Past Contamination of Drinking Water at Camp Lejeune Is Limited and Unlikely to Be Resolved with Further Study,” press release, June 13, 2009.

32
. Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC), press release, June 16, 2009.

33
. Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), press release, June 17, 2009.

34
. Statement in response to National Research Council report, signed by Ann Aschengrau, Richard Clapp, and David Ozonoff of the Boston University School of Public Health; Daniel Wartenberg of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School; and Sandra Steingraber of Ithaca College, June 17, 2009.

35
. William R. Levesque, “Critics Say Marine Corps Contract on Camp Lejeune Is Conflict of Interest,”
St. Petersburg Times
, November 6, 2009,
www.tampabay.com/news/military/critics-say-marine-corps-contract-on-camp-lejeune-is-conflict-of-interest/1050032
.