EPA report connects Lejeune water with cancer cluster

The long road to treatment and reconciliation may be winding down:

The report, released Thursday, found that exposure to TCE, short for trichloroethylene, is convincingly linked to kidney cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and liver cancer, with more limited evidence that it causes bladder, esophageal, prostate, cervical, and breast cancers, as well as childhood leukemia. According to the findings, all routes of exposure can be carcinogenic to humans.

Delays and "inconclusive" studies are (unfortunately) not uncommon in cases like this; there's always some entity willing to spend time and money fighting against responsible action. But when it's our own government doing such, and the victims are veterans and their families, it's especially revolting:

Partain said the report also serves to further discredit a 2009 finding from the National Research Council, often cited by Marine officials and public affairs materials, finding no clear connection between the base water and latent disease.

Jerry Ensminger, a local water contamination victims’ advocate who lost a daughter to childhood leukemia in 1985, said he was heartened by the report.

“This was 20-plus years in the making,” he said. “It’s a crying shame that it takes that long for our regulatory agencies to finally getting around to protecting public health and the environment.”

Considering the suffering of the victims and the positive nature of this report leading to the possible easing of that suffering, I hesitated in expanding this diary into a broader message of environmental stewardship. But the sheer magnitude of the irresponsibility, as evidenced by the multiple sites requiring cleanup at Camp Lejeune, is a story that begs to be told:

Site 82 – In 1996, approximately 17,500 cubic yards of VOC-contaminated soils were treated with a soil vapor extraction system. A ground water treatment plant was also completed that is treating shallow and deep ground water contamination. In addition, a Bio Cell was constructed to treat 165 cubic yards of total petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated soils.

Site 21 – In 1995, the removal of 742 tons of PCB-contaminated soils was completed.

Site 6 – In 1995, the removal of 200 drums and five above-ground tanks was completed. In 1997, the removal of 2,500 cubic yards of pesticide- and PCB-contaminated soils was completed. In 2003, the removal of approximately 1600 tons of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)- and pesticide-contaminated soils was completed.

Site 43 – In 2003, the removal of approximately 1450 tons of PAH-contaminated soil was completed. The ROD for this site was issued in 2005.

Site 2 – In 1994, the removal of 1,049 tons of pesticide-contaminated soils was completed. Natural attenuation has successfully cleaned the ground water. Site Close Out is scheduled for FY 2009.

Site 35 – In 1995, the removal of 15,770 tons of solvent- and total petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated soils was completed. A ground water treatability study is underway to address the TCE-contaminated “hot spot” areas. A pilot study was conducted for a TCE “hot spot” in the area of the highway bypass. The pilot study was designed to inject modified Fenton’s Reagent and permanganate into the ground water. The study was completed and the report submitted in 2006.

Site 80 – In 1996, the removal of 950 tons of pesticide-contaminated soils was completed.

Site 88 – In 1996, the removal of five underground storage tanks, 2,000 gallons of waste liquids, and 120 tons of TCE- and perchloroethylene-contaminated soils was completed. In 2005, a second removal action was completed to address Dense Non-Aqueous Phase Liquid (DNAPL) (liquid contaminants that are relatively insoluble and heavier than water) soil source contamination under building 25.

There are other sites at this overall (Superfund) site, but you get the picture. As you can see, contamination of Lejeune's soil and water that produced these cancer cases wasn't an isolated incident that just happened to be overlooked by normally responsible facilities engineers and commanders. It was an across-the-board pattern of disregard for the proper handling, siting and disposal of toxic chemicals, creating an environment that would eventually and inevitably produce human victims.

This is what happens when you limit the scope of environmental regulators, by placing institutional barriers between them and the environment they're responsible for regulating. This is what happens when you assume those who operate a site will do so responsibly, in the absence of inspectors. This is what happens when you cut the ranks of inspectors so deep, they cannot possibly do their job of protecting us from harm.

This is what happens when you let the fox guard the henhouse.