Brockovich wades into Lejeune water issue

Well-known environmental advocate Erin Brockovich is wading into the Camp Lejeune contaminated water issue.

Brockovich — who became a household name 11 years ago when Julia Roberts portrayed her in a film about the fight against a California company that polluted a city’s water supply — has joined 22 national and state organizations in support of a bill that would make it easier for veterans and their families affected by contaminated water aboard base to receive medical assistance.

Brockovich also recently told reporters at a Wilmington meeting on advocacy issues that Camp Lejeune veterans have asked for her help.

“We need to look at what happened at Camp Lejeune, the ground water contamination,” she said. “Who’s been affected, find them all and make sure that we do everything possible to make their future a little bit brighter.”

Pollution at Camp Lejeune is the largest documented Defense Department environmental contamination incident on record. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, at least 500,000 people may have been exposed in the 30-year period from 1957 to 1987 to a host of toxic chemicals, including known human carcinogens benzene and vinyl chloride, as well as drying cleaning solvents and degreasers.

A letter from Environmental Working Group was sent late last week to the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs in support of the “Caring for Camp Lejeune Veterans Act of 2011” introduced by North Carolina’s two senators, Republican Richard Burr and Democrat Kay Hagan.

The bill would provide health care for service members and families who drank, bathed and cooked with water contaminated with toxic and carcinogenic chemicals while stationed or living aboard the base.

“The environmental and public interest communities are calling on our leaders in Congress to come to the aid of these brave Americans, who are still waiting for justice and for the answers they deserve,” said Heather White, EWG chief of staff and general counsel.

Military veterans and families with health problems they believe may be linked to toxic chemical exposure at Lejeune are not being afforded adequate health benefits, White said, adding that hundreds of veterans have filed claims for disability compensation through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs but only a handful of the applications have been approved.

Brockovich also sat on a panel earlier this year that urged a Senate committee to conduct an investigation into a male breast cancer cluster surrounding Camp Lejeune. Her involvement is not the first time the Camp Lejeune water contamination issue has been linked to Hollywood.

According to emails obtained by The Daily News, military officials sought to delay releasing information about the bad water at Camp Lejeune in 1998 so as not to coincide with the release of the John Travolta film “A Civil Action,” which depicted a legal battle over the pollution of drinking water in Woburn, Mass.

Camp Lejeune water contamination is also the focus of the award-winning documentary “Semper Fi: Always Faithful,” which has been screened at the Tribeca Film Festival and shown to members of Congress.

The documentary details the quest of retired Marine Jerry Ensminger of Richlands who is searching for answers from the government in the wake of his young daughter’s death due to leukemia he believes was caused by toxic drinking water aboard Camp Lejeune.

Ensminger also signed the EWG letter, which has been posted online here.

Daily News Military Reporter Hope Hodge contributed to this report. Contact Daily News Senior Reporter Lindell Kay at 910-219-8455 or lkay@freedomenc.com. Read his crime blog, "Off the Cuff," at http://onslowcrime.encblogs.com.