Lejeune amendment signed into law as part of defense funding bill

Navy officials say they support the recently passed amendment preventing the Department of the Navy from adjudicating on former Camp Lejeune residents affected by toxic base drinking water.

On Monday, President Barack Obama signed into law the 2010 defense funding bill. Included in the legislation, an amendment by Sens. Kay Hagan (D-NC) and Richard Burr (R-NC) will prevent the Navy from adjudicating the claims of former military and family members who were exposed to contaminated Camp Lejeune drinking water before full testing and analysis by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry can be completed.

To date, tens of thousands across the country have officially complained of ailments they believe related to high concentrations of the dry cleaning chemicals TCE and PCE in drinking water on residential areas aboard Lejeune between the 1950s and 1980s. The number includes a rare cluster of male breast cancer survivors that now totals more than 50.

A spokesperson for the Navy, Lt. j.g. Laura Stegherr, said Tuesday, “The Navy supports the National Defense Appropriations Act as passed by Congress and signed by the president. We are ready to execute those decisions in the time frames directed.”

Mike Partain, a Tallahasse, Fla., resident who was born aboard Camp Lejeune and has battled male breast cancer that he believes is water-related, said that while pleased with the measure’s passage, the fight for answers should not have come to this.

“If the Navy and the Marine Corps were so concerned about the health and safety of their families, why did it take an amendment to a bill to force the Navy to do the right thing?” Partain asked.

Partain said the amendment would help show legislative involvement with the issue.

Apart from North Carolina, Florida has the highest number of names in the base’s registry of those affected by the water contamination. Earlier this month, senators Bill Nelson (D-FL) and George LeMieux (R-FL) joined Hagan and Burr in sending a letter to Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus requesting that the Navy fund all remaining water studies, particularly a proposed mortality study. The Navy has agreed to fund certain studies, including a birth weight analysis and $2 million water modeling project, but has not addressed requests for a mortality study.

Partain, who has taken an active role in “banging on doors” and testifying about his experiences after living on Camp Lejeune, said he was happy to see this step taken for water survivors.

“We’re heading in the right direction,” he said. “Unfortunately, everybody but the Navy seems to be heading in the right direction.”

Contact Hope Hodge at 910-219-8453 or hhodge@freedomenc.com.