Trento’s Take: Is Obama Putting Lipstick On The Pentagon’s Toxic Pig?
Written by Joseph Trento
Monday, 06 July 2009
For those who think the Obama Administration may be too cozy with corporate interests, there are some disturbing hints that validate this theory that go beyond economic policies.
Such hints can be found in how the Obama White House has treated chemical companies that have endangered the health of millions of Americans with toxins and chemicals left behind by military contractors—including service members and their spouses and children.
[...]
In fact, the Obama Administration has invited into the White House the very chemical companies that have been exposing Americans, including the military and their families, to toxins and chemicals that kill and destroy lives. These chemicals seep into water supplies in and around military bases. TCE and perchlorate are just two. There are many more.
By delaying the EPA’s establishment of interim public health standards, the Pentagon ensures that local governments have no way of setting a safety standard to protect the air, water, and health of those who live in communities that are affected.
Adam Sarvana’s stories on “Poisoned Patriots” and Ray DuBois on DCBureau.org are the tip of a worldwide scandal of Pentagon pollution and a corporate/government partnership to delay and confuse the public while their health suffers and the pollution is not cleaned up.
The Obama White House should shut down the Pentagon’s Chemical and Material Risk Management Directorate and give that budget to the EPA so they can independently supervise the cleanup of the Pentagon’s toxic legacy. Further, President Obama would be wise to reveal who is secretly meeting at the White House with chemical company lobbyists, instead of keeping secret White House visitor logs. Americans are entitled to know which chemical company representatives have lobbied OMB and the Administration as well as the identity of the other “stakeholders” on the White House invitation list. That is change we can believe in.
What is at stake? Further delays prevent local authorities from protecting their citizens and the EPA from dealing with one of the biggest polluters in the world—the United States Department of Defense.
A day-long meeting was held on June 26, 2009 in Washington, DC for a day-long meeting to launch this exciting stakeholder and public involvement initiative. Keynote speakers will include U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Director Dr. Linda Birnbaum. Breakout sessions allowed for discussion of specific issues related to public health and chemical exposures.
The 18 month long National Conversation will offer many opportunities for involvement, including: expert working groups, regional and local face-to-face public meetings, and web-based discussions. The resulting action agenda will outline steps for NCEH/ATSDR and other institutions to take to better protect public health from harmful chemical exposures.
Due to scheduling conflicts, we were unable to attend the kick-off meeting but we’re very interested in this initiative and will try to keep readers posted on developments here.
Did you participate in the kick-off of this “conversation?” If so, we’d like to hear from you. Please share your thoughts in the comments or privately at tceblog[at]gmail.com.
A report by the National Research Council, Contaminated Water Supplies at Camp Lejeune – Assessing Potential Health Effects, was released yesterday. Money quote:
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.
Though we’re not yet through the whole thing, the report appears to raise more questions than it answers — not so much about the exposed poisoned population at CL, but about the mindset, approach and conclusions of the NRC.
Earlier this month, a small group of citizens and legislators gathered at the New York home of Debra Hall (Founder of Hopewell Junction Citizens for Clean Water & Clean Air and founding member/co-chair of the New York State Vapor Intrusion Alliance) to announce and unveil legislation requiring the EPA to better protect the public from TCE-contaminated water and air. The new legislation is intended to be the House of Representatives’ companion to Senator Clinton et. al.’s TCE Reduction Act.
Here’s a video of the press conference announcing the new legislation:
This press release comes from U.S. Rep. John Hall’s (D-NY) website:
Standing with Hopewell Junction families who have suffered from cancer and other health problems due to groundwater contamination and vapor intrusion by the carcinogenic chemical trichloroethylene (TCE), U.S. Rep. John Hall (D-NY19) today unveiled legislation to help communities deal with TCE contamination. The TCE Reduction Act, which Hall is introducing with U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY22), would require the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set stricter regulations to protect the public from exposure to TCE.
“Growing scientific evidence shows the danger TCE pollution poses to people,” said Congressman Hall. “Yet the EPA continues to drag its feet instead of setting a new standard that would help the residents of Hopewell Junction and similar communities throughout the country.”
TCE and other contaminants have plagued Hopewell Junction residents as the result of Hopewell Precision’s disposal of painting and degreasing wastes directly on the ground, resulting in a 1.5 mile long groundwater contamination plume. Chemicals have been detected in local drinking water wells and many homes have experienced significant problems caused by vapor intrusion. The site was listed on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund National Priority List, a list of the most severely polluted sites in the country, in 2005. Yet residents are still suffering from significant TCE contamination.
“TCE is a pervasive, toxic chemical that cannot be allowed to continue to pollute our communities,” said Congressman Hall. “Study has shown that it is a likely carcinogen, can cause nerve damage, lead to developmental difficulties in children, and pose a significant threat to public health. We expect our government at all levels to provide security. When the fire alarm rings, we expect the fireman to show up and put the blaze out. EPA is no exception. But what did EPA do when the alarm rang about TCE spill here and throughout the rest of the country? It recommended more study.”
In 2001, a draft EPA Risk Assessment found TCE to be as much as 40 times more carcinogenic than previously thought, but instead of setting a more protective standard for TCE in drinking water, the Bush Administration called for more study. The National Research Council (NRC) was directed to conduct an in depth study of the health studies involving TCE. The final NRC report, issued in 2006, found that “the evidence on carcinogenic risk and other health hazards from exposure to trichloroethylene has strengthened since 2001.” The report went on to say, “The committee recommends that federal agencies finalize their risk assessment with currently available data so that risk management decisions can be made expeditiously.”
“No action has been taken by the EPA to update the water standard,” stated Debra Hall of Hopewell Junction Citizens for Clean Water. “There is no federal standard to deal with vapor intrusion even though this is a very dangerous environmental issue. I applaud Congressman Hall for taking action to force stricter regulations related to TCE. People living here in Hopewell Junction and the entire nation will benefit greatly when this bill becomes law. Stricter standards will allow more homes to be mitigated. It is obvious that legislation is needed to force protection against cancer and other health issues that are caused by TCE.”
Hopewell Junction resident Sharon Whalen testified that her father developed prostate cancer after living in her home. The house was also dubbed “the sick house” because everyone living there became almost constantly ill. Whalen’s home is impacted by vapor intrusion only and at the highest amount of the entire superfund site.
The TCE Reduction Act addresses both groundwater contamination and vapor intrusion caused by TCE and would require the EPA to:
Issue a revised health advisory for TCE within 6 months of enactment.
Issue revised draft health standards for TCE in drinking water within 12 months of enactment, and final drinking water standards within 18 months.
Issue a health advisory standard for TCE vapor intrusion within 12 months of enactment.
Establish an integrated risk information system reference concentration for TCE vapor which is protective within 18 months of enactment.
Ensure that all standards set under the bill fully protect susceptible populations (including pregnant women, infants, and children) from the adverse health affects of TCE.
Two recent drinking water contamination scares that affected Scottsdale and Paradise Valley customers were unprecedented in Arizona, and possibly the nation, federal environmental regulators said Thursday.
“I do not believe that it has happened in the rest of the country,” said Keith Takata, Environmental Protection Agency Superfund Division director.
At the behest of U.S. Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz., the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, held a hearing in Washington Thursday involving the trichloroethylene, or TCE, scares at a private drinking water facility that serves residential and commercial customers in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley.
Representatives Al Wynn (D-MD), the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials, and Hilda Solis (D-CA), the Vice Chair of the Subcommittee, are calling for a probe into a number of issues that affect American’s water and health. In a letter to the General Accounting Office (GAO), the lawmakers asked GAO to investigate bottled water, TCE, and the EPA’s rule-setting for other contaminants.
You can read more about the full range of investigation requests in the official press release. Here, we are focused on the TCE-specific portion:
Wynn and Solis are also asking the Government Accountability Office to
examine EPA’s failure to update its current drinking water standard for
Trichloroethylene (TCE). An EPA 2001 assessment found TCE was far more
likely to cause cancer than previously believed. Despite this assessment
and a recommendation from the National Academy of Science, EPA has
failed to update its national drinking water standard for TCE.
“The evidence of the dangers of TCE keep piling up and the EPA keeps
failing to act,” Wynn added. “Hopefully, GAO can shed some much needed
light on the reasons for EPA’s inaction.”
The EPA’s current drinking water standard for TCE allows a maximum of 5
parts per billion, but some have called for a revision of that standard
to reduce the maximum amount of TCE allowed in water.
From the text of the letter sent to GAO [PDF], we learn even more:
[We] request that GAO review the EPA’s failure to update it current drinking water standard for Trichloroethylene (TCE) following its August 2001 draft risk assessment entitled “Trichloroethylene Health Risk Assessment: Synthesis and Characterization.” The EPA 2001 assessment found that TCE was far more likely to cause cancer than EPA had previously believed. We note that in July 2006, the National Academy of Science (NAS) found “that the evidence on carcinogenic risk and other health hazards from exposure to trichloroethylene has strengthened since 2001” and recommended “that federal agencies finalize their risk assessment with currently available data so that risk management decisions can be made expeditiously.” EPA does not appear, however, to have acted consistently with respect to the findings and recommendations of these major scientific studies to protect the public health.
In conducting your review of the regulatory review process, and associated issues specific to TCE, please examine the following issues:
The extent to which EPA’s efforts to revise the TCE drinking water standard complies with the Safe Drinking Water Act’s requirements, and facilitate improvements to public health protection.
The obstacles, if any, that have interfered with EPA’s ability to expeditiously revise its standards for TCE.
The latest research and what it suggests about TCE’s effects on human health and the environment, including information from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry’s study related to Camp Lejeune.
The number of Department of Defense sites contaminated with TCE and the Department’s role, if any, in delaying or interfering with EPA efforts to update a drinking water standard for TCE.
Of course, we already know part of the publicly-accepted answer to #4: There are 1,400 military sites contaminated with TCE. We have reason to believe the actual number may be higher – more on this, and DOD’s interference, another time.
Yesterday brought us the introduction of the Toxic Chemical Exposure Reduction Act by Senators Clinton, Dole, Boxer, Lautenberg, and Kerry. Here are the main provisions of the 15-page bill:
The Act establishes that the EPA must:
Publish a health advisory for trichloroethylene that fully protects, with an adequate margin for safety, the health of susceptible populations;
Enforce the requirement that all qualified drinking water monitoring systems accommodate the new drinking water standards proposed and imposed above;
Require monitoring of water supplies currently in the path or proximity of migrating TCE;
Require that Consumer Confidence Reports include the known health risks of TCE exposure and detail any TCE discovered in the monitored water supplies.
With respect to Vapor Intrusion, the EPA must:
Publish a health advisory for trichloroethylene that fully protects the health of susceptible populations from vapor intrusion (again , with an adequate margin for safety);
We have some thoughts to share on several of these provisions, and will be back shortly to do so.
Meantime, we have emailed representatives for Senator Dodd and Senator Lieberman, both from Connecticut, and have asked if the Senators will be able to support the TCE Reduction Act. So far…no reply. But it’s only been a day.
Big day in the TCE world today, marked by 1 word: LEGISLATION.
Okay, maybe two words: PROPOSED LEGISLATION
Today, Senators Clinton, Dole, Boxer, Lautenberg, and Kerry introduced a bill that proposes to:
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.
Cited formally as the “Toxic Chemical Exposure Reduction Act of 2007″ (get it? “TCE Reduction Act”?) the Senators have proposed that EPA revise the national standard for allowable TCE levels in public drinking water, create a national standard for allowable TCE in indoor air, and enforce nationwide monitoring and cleanups based on these new standards. All of this is proposed to occur within the 3-18 months of the bill’s enactment.
Since the details of the bill are interesting and worth comment, we’ll post them here shortly. For now, we’ll say this: We think this bill, if passed and enforced, could go a long way towards better protecting the public from TCE.
Of course, if the EPA chooses to or is forced to play politics, we also envision ways that they could still stagnate change even if the bill is passed…
As we said, more to come from us on this. Meantime, you can download the full bill here.
Lastly, we are in the process of contacting Senators from our home state, Connecticut, to ask for their support for this legislation. We strongly urge readers to contact their state Senators as well.
(If any readers do contact their Senators for support, please consider letting us know the kind of feedback you receive. If we’re able to keep track of whom has pledged their support, we’ll keep readers posted by running updates on this blog. What could possibly be more exciting?)
UPDATE: For the official press release from Senator Clinton announcing the proposed legislation, see here.
The Camp Lejeune hearing begins tomorrow. You can watch/listen via webcast here. It appears the witness list for the hearing has been revised. The updated witness list includes:
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).
On May 11, 2007, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released a controversial 75-page report entitled: Defense Health Care: Activities Related to Past Drinking Water Contamination at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune (GAO-07-276). While we intend to dig further into the report and discuss it here in the future, here is the official GAO summary (emphasis added by us):
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.
For the original summary, see here.
To download the full report in PDF format, click here.
Yesterday, we received this announcement (Acrobat reader required) about the first Congressional Investigation and Oversight hearings regarding Camp Lejeune next Tuesday, June 12, 2007:
(click the image to enlarge)
We are told the meeting will be open to the public (Photo ID may be required. Bring yours just in case). We are also told that there may be a
big story on the way from the Associated Press this weekend. We’ll try to keep you posted…
The National Academy of Sciences’ National Research Council has released its findings from its 18-month project, Assessing the Human Health Risks of Trichloroethylene: Key Scientific Issues. The full report is expected to be available here at the National Academies’
TCE project page. Update: You can download the full report here [PDF, 2.95MB]
In addition you can currently download the following from the National Academies Press website:
- Full report [this link takes you to NAP webpage for full download]
We have not had a chance to review these documents, but look forward to doing so. Once we’ve poured through them, we’ll be back…
In the meantime, if you have any thoughts you’d be willing to share on the recent report (including press coverage by the LA Times), please use the comments feature above or email us directly.
The report will be released on July 27 at 4:00 pm EDT. It will be
posted to the National Academies’ website at that time.
Susan
The report should be available here in one week from today. Of course, upon its release, we’ll post an announcement with a link…and provide any analysis/insight that seems appropriate once we’ve reviewed it.
We’ve also received word from a source that NAS will be briefing Congress on the TCE report on Wednesday, July 26 at 2:00 pm EDT. We have been unable to confirm this with NAS.
Update: This has recently been confirmed:
Briefing for Congressional Staff Only
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
B-308 Rayburn House Office Bldg. – 2:00 p.m.
[...]
Should you have any questions about this briefing, please contact Jim
Jensen of the National Academies’ Office of Congressional and Government
Affairs at 202-334-1601 or email him at jjensen@nas.edu.
We recently pointed readers to an earlier article, claiming that this amendment included health care provisions for impacted families. By way of TFTPTF, we learn from Malcolm D. Woolf, Minority Counsel to Senator James M. Jeffords, that the health care benefits provision was in a separate amendment and did NOT pass the Senate.
Meanwhile, the text of the second amendment, which DID pass and which includes study and widespread notification requirements follows:
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.
According to this report in the Jacksonville Daily News (NC):
The amendment still must survive a conference negotiation between Senate and House members and then must be signed into law by President Bush.
Update: Over at The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten, Malcolm D. Woolf, Minority Counsel to Senator James M. Jeffords, tells folks [emphasis added]:
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.
This news just came across our plate (Thanks D.). Though we have several days of news to catch you up on, we’re starting here. Following is Senator Jim Jefford’s press statement:
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.”
According to this earlier article, the amendment also extends veterans health-care benefits to children whose mothers were exposed while pregnant to the TCE and PCE-contaminated water.
Congratulations to all who helped make this happen.
According to this morning’s Los Angeles Times (CA):
Senate Democrats on Thursday accused the Bush administration of withholding key details about toxic waste sites that present risks of exposure to nearby residents.
At a congressional hearing, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said the Environmental Protection Agency had designated as confidential the details of about 140 Superfund sites where toxic exposure remained uncontrolled.
Boxer and other Democrats said the secret data included information about how much money and time it would take to clean up the dangerous sites, including one site where the EPA predicted it would take 26 years to close off access to toxics.
“This isn’t a question of left or right,” Boxer said, waving a document marked “Privileged” by EPA officials to prevent its release to the public. “This is a question of right and wrong.”
The EPA said that it had blocked only information related to law enforcement and that the public had access to all relevant health-risk data for the sites, seven of which are in California.
