Lejeune water issue going back to Congress - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

Lejeune water issue going back to Congress

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — Members of Congress are looking to provide health care to Marine veterans and family members who say they’ve suffered poor health because of polluted water at Camp Lejeune.

Veterans and family members who have been active on the issue are optimistic about the introduction of legislation in Congress this month that would accomplish that, according to The Daily News of Jacksonville. A similar bill introduced last year failed to make headway, but advocates hope this version will attract support from both sides of the aisle.

“This is the second time around, and we’re working Republican support for it, making it what it should be in the first place: a bipartisan issue,” said Jerry Ensminger, a former drill sergeant at the base. “None of us had any political affiliations when we served in the military. Our affiliation was to serve this country.”

The bill was introduced by Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C., and has attracted 16 other sponsors so far, although just three are Republicans, including fellow North Carolina Rep. Walter Jones. The legislation would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide health care to veterans and family members with illnesses or disabilities that could be related to toxic chemicals that contaminated water supplies at Lejeune between the 1950s and 1980s.

Ensminger has been active in pursuing answers about contaminated water at Lejeune since his 9-year-old daughter, Janey, died of leukemia in 1985. A film focusing on the family’s story, “Semper Fi: Always Faithful,” premiered last month at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.

“Passing this legislation is the next step in acknowledging responsibility for the harm the water contamination has done and providing justice to for families like Jerry’s,” Miller said in a statement.

A Marine spokesman said Friday the Corps doesn’t comment on pending legislation.

Wells at the base were contaminated by fuel leaks and other sources of pollution, in some cases for decades, before tests alerted officials to the problem. Health officials believe as many as 1 million people may have been exposed to tainted water before the wells were closed two decades ago.

Jacksonville resident Gary LaClair believes his diagnosis this year for leukemia stems from the time between 1974 and 1977 when he lived and worked at Lejeune as the son of a Navy officer. As his savings dwindle, LaClair hopes the bill will pass to provide him some relief.

“It’s a crazy mess. I have no income now,” he said.

Last year, the Navy agreed to fund a study by the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry into whether mortality rates are higher for Marines who served at the base before the wells were closed.