Congress and a federal anti-toxics office are continuing to investigate the controversy of contaminated water at the U.S. Marine Corps’ Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, where numerous military and civilian personnel have contracted various forms of cancer.
McClatchy Newspapers, which has been investigating the issue, has reported that Marine commanders withheld information from the
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry about the presence of the carcinogen benzene in an underground well at the military base. Lawmakers want to know why the Corps was not more forthcoming about the contamination, which lasted from the 1950s to the 1980s.
McClatchy discovered government documents showing that as many as 800,000 gallons of fuel leaked from underground storage tanks near a well that served base barracks, officers’ quarters and the base hospital. Other records reveal that federal, state and camp environmental officials knew about the benzene contamination as early as 1988.
Secretary of the Navy
Ray Mabus, who oversees the Marine Corps, tried to downplay the necessity of examining benzene-related deaths at the base until media reports exposed the seriousness of the problem. The Navy is now funding a study that will do just that.
-Noel Brinkerhoff