Speaking at the Pentagon on Thursday, Navy Secretary Richard Spencer told reporters that he made the decision earlier this week after the Navy judged it had “exhausted our avenue of satisfaction for the claimants.” He cited three separate legal rationales — including a 2016 district court decision related to the principle of sovereign immunity, an exemption to the Federal Tort Claims Act and the Feres doctrine — for why he made the decision after his own review and at the advice of the Navy’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps, Navy General Counsel, and the Department of Justice.
Two drinking wells at Lejeune — one of the Marine Corps’ largest bases — were found to be contaminated with industrial chemicals in 1984 and 1985 before they were shuttered.
Spencer said his decision this week has “no impact” on those benefits.
One of the chemicals that contaminated drinking water at Lejeune was Trichloroethylene, more commonly known as TCE.
The chemical is used to degrease metal and is listed as a “known human carcinogen” by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency.
For the last 20 years, more than 4,000 claims of adverse health effects related to the water contamination have been filed against the Navy “with new claims submitted literally every week,” Spencer said.
The VA has linked the following eight diseases to exposure to the contaminants in Lejeune’s water supply during that 34-year period: adult leukemia, aplastic anemia and other myelodysplastic syndromes, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, liver cancer, multiple myeloma, Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and Parkinson’s disease.
“This is a difficult decision to be very frank with you,” Spencer said, adding, “This is not a happy outcome but it is fact that we had to decide on to move on.” The secretary emphasized that service members and veterans affected by the water contamination receive healthcare and disability benefits and that they can now seek other remedies through congressional action.
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For at least 35 years, people who lived and worked on Camp Lejeune were drinking dangerously contaminated water.
The chemicals came from leaking fuel tanks, an off-base dry cleaning business and quite possibly other sources as well.
Ingestion of those substances is dangerous and can produce a host of severe illnesses, including leukemia, aplastic anemias, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, liver cancer, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and Parkinson’s disease.
And indeed, thousands of former service members and base civilians have developed those illnesses and others that may be related to the water contamination.
Navy Secretary Richard Spencer said last week that at least 4,400 claims totaling $963 billion have been filed.
That’s astonishing and deeply disappointing, although certainly without precedent.
But those are certainly not the only ones that medical research has connected with longterm ingestion of those chemicals —and civilian employees and service members’ families were exposed as well.
Spencer may be right that law limits federal liability for the illnesses.
A North Carolina law puts a 10-year statute of limitations on such cases, a federal law limits government liability unless actual negligence is found, and a Supreme Court decision rules that the federal government isn’t liable for injuries to military members hurt while on duty.
And Congress needs to act as well, providing relief for the thousands of Marines, civilians and families whose lives were tragically disrupted because the government failed to adequately test the water on Camp Lejeune for safety.

“I have no strength to grab anything.” The fall was one of dozens that Walker has sustained in recent months, events tied to conditions several doctors have told him are being caused by multiple sclerosis.
About 900,000 people lived at Camp Lejeune between 1953 and 1987, the years during which the base’s water was contaminated.
After a decades-long struggle, in March 2017, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) began presuming that veterans with one of eight conditions were ill because of their exposure on the base, no further proof necessary.
Key to the rules was creating a presumptive link between eight conditions and the Camp Lejeune contamination.
Since March 2017, the VA has granted 4,568 veterans a service connection for a presumptive condition, while another 876 veterans were ruled eligible for a condition not among the eight conditions.
Walker recalled saying, “You’ve got to understand: There’s a lot going on with Congress, and I’m not sure you’ll get to that stuff by the time I’m gone.” Among Burr’s recent efforts is the Janey Ensminger Act of 2017, a bill introduced last year that would require the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to review the diseases linked to Lejeune contamination every three years.
“Camp Lejeune is the only toxic exposure incident or issue that the VA deals with that has a subject matter expert program for all the claims that are not covered by the presumptive,” Ensminger said.
After falling shortly before Easter, Walker was admitted to the hospital.
He could not, they told him, go to the bathroom without assistance from two of them.
Once the group reached the bathroom, a nurse offered to help Walker undo his pants.

EXCLUSIVE: The Investigation Into Water Contamination At Camp Lejeune May Reopen Soon.
The toxic water crisis at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, that left 750,000 Marines, sailors, spouses and their families exposed to contaminated drinking water between the 1950s and the 1980s may face a renewed investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
On May 10, the CDC posted a sources sought notice for a cancer incidence study on water contamination at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
The purpose of the study, according to the notice is to: “… assess whether there is an association between exposure to the contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune and the incidence of specific cancers in approximately 463,922 cohort members, the study will require that vital status and cause of death for decedents be obtained for 425,319 of the cohort members who had not died prior to January 1, 2009 before accessing cancer registry data from up to 55 state, territorial, and federal cancer registries.” The difference between this proposed study, which is focused on cancer incidence, and previous studies, which focused on mortality rates, is that a “cancer incidence study would have a greater capability of evaluating cases of highly survivable cancers than a mortality study.” A 2005 panel of scientists recommended that a cancer incidence “should receive the highest priority,” but one has yet to be conducted.
The study, though still tentative at this time, may start to gain ground in the coming months, Bernadette Burden, a spokesperson for the CDC, told Task & Purpose in an email: “The request for capability studies is a step to make sure we are on the right track with the proposal request and have clearly stated the needs and intent,” Burden said.
“We are still planning to post the request for proposals this summer.
The study has received all the necessary approvals.” The water contamination that occurred at Camp Lejeune ranks among the biggest in U.S. history, but it wasn’t until January of this year that the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that veterans stationed at Lejeune in the 1950s through the 1980s were eligible to submit applications for VA benefits.
“Hundreds of mothers suffered miscarriages or gave birth to stillborn babies or infants with birth defects, such as spina bifida.
And while the Department of Defense cleared Camp Lejeune water of toxins after Dec. 31, 1987, families posted there in the years following believe their health issues may be the result of water contamination.
A 2014 mortality study using two groups — one from Lejeune and one from Camp Pendleton, California, where there were no instances of contaminated water — revealed that residents of Camp Lejeune had a higher mortality rate for the following causes of death: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; cancers of the bladder, brain, cervix, colon, esophagus, female breast, kidney, larynx, liver, lung, oral cavity, pancreas, prostate, rectum, and soft tissue; hematopoietic cancers; Hodgkin’s Lymphoma; leukemias; multiple sclerosis; Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma; non-cancerous kidney diseases; non-cancerous liver diseases; and multiple sclerosis.

Veterans, families have lingering questions about contamination even as VA starts disability compensation JACKSONVILLE — When Wayne Rummings left Buffalo, N.Y., in 1983 to enlist in the U.S. Navy, he could not have known he would find himself in the middle of one of the largest cases of water contamination in the nation’s history. Camp Lejeune’s 34 years of water contamination ended in 1987, while Rummings was still serving as a medic at the sprawling Onslow County base. He did not feel the effects for years until, in 2010, he thought he had kidney stones. His doctor suspected something else was amiss when Rummings wasn’t crying from pain and ordered a CT scan. Seven years later, Rummings is recovering from a bout with kidney cancer — one of the hallmark diseases of Camp Lejeune water poisoning. Recounting the ordeal recently, Rummings sat at his dining room table, a compression sleeve on his right arm in an effort to numb the painful throbbing a nervous system condition shoots through his fingertips. “I think about cancer when I wake up, I think about cancer when I go to bed because I know what cancer does,” Rummings said. His wife, Johana Rummings, helps him cope with the anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress that came along with the diagnosis. At the other end of the table sat Joe Walker, Johana’s brother who stuck around Jacksonville after leaving the Corps in 1974. Walker made a living bouncing people from local nightclubs and nabbing shoplifters, but was forced to stop when he was told multiple sclerosis — not vertigo — had been causing his bouts of dizziness. Now, a year later, the self-described tough guy can’t stand without the aid of his ever-present cane. X-rays show lesions spiking across his head. “My brain,” Walker said, “hurts so bad.” Both Walker and Rummings believe their ailments can be traced to their service on Lejeune, the site of water contamination between 1953 and 1987. This month, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) began accepting disability claims for veterans exposed to chemicals in Lejeune’s water. Rummings’ kidney cancer is among the eight diseases earmarked for approval, along with adult leukemia, aplastic anemia, bladder cancer, liver cancer, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and Parkinson’s disease. Walker and thousands of others must be able to prove their illnesses were caused by the benzene, trichloroethylene and vinyl chloride in Lejeune’s well water. Many of them are eligible for free VA medical care, but not the disability compensation. The $2.2 billion compensation program approved in the final months of the Obama Administration was hailed as a victory for Marines poisoned on Camp Lejeune, but many veterans and advocates say the Marines continue to shirk responsibility for poisoning as many as 1 million people, according to past estimates by health officials. “The United States Marine Corps and the Department of the Navy have not been held accountable,” said retired Marine Master Sgt. Jerry Ensminger, who heads The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten, which advocates for those affected by the contamination. The program The VA estimates it will spend $379.8 million on disability compensation during the first year of the program, which is similar to one granting compensation to Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange. Lejeune’s case is different, though, in that it is the first time veterans are eligible for disability compensation for injuries not sustained in combat. “We have a responsibility to take care of those who have served our nation and have been exposed to harm as a result of that service,” outgoing VA Sec. Rob McDonald said after the ruling was released. U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., both fought to get the “presumptive status” because many of Lejeune veterans’ claims were being denied. “I’m disappointed at how long it took,” Burr said. “I think it is safe to say that the VA has known what scientific data has shown for a while.” Any Lejeune veteran with one of the eight conditions won’t have to provide documentation proving it was caused by tainted water. Active-duty, Reserve and National Guard members who served at Camp Lejeune for at least 30 days between Aug. 1, 1953, and Dec. 31, 1987, are eligible. While health officials have estimated as many as 1 million people may have been exposed to the water, the ruling only applies to veterans — not men, women or children who lived or worked on Lejeune but were not enlisted. ‘Two-thirds of our family’ Joe Walker’s holidays begin at the Coastal Carolina State…

Veterans, families have lingering questions about contamination even as VA starts disability compensation JACKSONVILLE — When Wayne Rummings left Buffalo, N.Y., in 1983 to enlist in the U.S. Navy, he could not have known he would find himself in the middle of one of the largest cases of water contamination in the nation’s history. Camp Lejeune’s 34 years of water contamination ended in 1987, while Rummings was still serving as a medic at the sprawling Onslow County base. He did not feel the effects for years until, in 2010, he thought he had kidney stones. His doctor suspected something else was amiss when Rummings wasn’t crying from pain and ordered a CT scan. Seven years later, Rummings is recovering from a bout with kidney cancer — one of the hallmark diseases of Camp Lejeune water poisoning. Recounting the ordeal recently, Rummings sat at his dining room table, a compression sleeve on his right arm in an effort to numb the painful throbbing a nervous system condition shoots through his fingertips. “I think about cancer when I wake up, I think about cancer when I go to bed because I know what cancer does,” Rummings said. His wife, Johana Rummings, helps him cope with the anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress that came along with the diagnosis. At the other end of the table sat Joe Walker, Johana’s brother who stuck around Jacksonville after leaving the Corps in 1974. Walker made a living bouncing people from local nightclubs and nabbing shoplifters, but was forced to stop when he was told multiple sclerosis — not vertigo — had been causing his bouts of dizziness. Now, a year later, the self-described tough guy can’t stand without the aid of his ever-present cane. X-rays show lesions spiking across his head. “My brain,” Walker said, “hurts so bad.” Both Walker and Rummings believe their ailments can be traced to their service on Lejeune, the site of water contamination between 1953 and 1987. This month, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) began accepting disability claims for veterans exposed to chemicals in Lejeune’s water. Rummings’ kidney cancer is among the eight diseases earmarked for approval, along with adult leukemia, aplastic anemia, bladder cancer, liver cancer, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and Parkinson’s disease. Walker and thousands of others must be able to prove their illnesses were caused by the benzene, trichloroethylene and vinyl chloride in Lejeune’s well water. Many of them are eligible for free VA medical care, but not the disability compensation. The $2.2 billion compensation program approved in the final months of the Obama Administration was hailed as a victory for Marines poisoned on Camp Lejeune, but many veterans and advocates say the Marines continue to shirk responsibility for poisoning as many as 1 million people, according to past estimates by health officials. “The United States Marine Corps and the Department of the Navy have not been held accountable,” said retired Marine Master Sgt. Jerry Ensminger, who heads The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten, which advocates for those affected by the contamination. The program The VA estimates it will spend $379.8 million on disability compensation during the first year of the program, which is similar to one granting compensation to Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange. Lejeune’s case is different, though, in that it is the first time veterans are eligible for disability compensation for injuries not sustained in combat. “We have a responsibility to take care of those who have served our nation and have been exposed to harm as a result of that service,” outgoing VA Sec. Rob McDonald said after the ruling was released. U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., both fought to get the “presumptive status” because many of Lejeune veterans’ claims were being denied. “I’m disappointed at how long it took,” Burr said. “I think it is safe to say that the VA has known what scientific data has shown for a while.” Any Lejeune veteran with one of the eight conditions won’t have to provide documentation proving it was caused by tainted water. Active-duty, Reserve and National Guard members who served at Camp Lejeune for at least 30 days between Aug. 1, 1953, and Dec. 31, 1987, are eligible. While health officials have estimated as many as 1 million people may have been exposed to the water, the ruling only applies to veterans — not men, women or children who lived or worked on Lejeune but were not enlisted. ‘Two-thirds of our family’ Joe Walker’s holidays…

The Marine Corps has begun outreach to hundreds of thousands of veterans who served at Camp Lejeune, N.C., at least 30 days from August 1953 to December 1987, inviting them or surviving spouses to file for VA compensation if veterans suffered one of eight ailments linked to water contamination on the base. On Wednesday, the Corps sent an email “blast” to more than 120,000 Lejeune veterans who had shared current online addresses on a registry created to identify and educate potential victims of polluted drinking water at Lejeune over a 34-year period, in an era that ended 30 years ago. The email explained that veterans who can show they served at Lejeune from Aug. 1, 1953, to Dec. 31, 1987, for 30 days or more, are now eligible to file fast-track VA disability compensation claims for eight conditions. The “presumptive” ailments for Lejeune vets are: adult leukemia; aplastic anemia and other myelodysplastic syndromes; bladder cancer; kidney cancer; liver cancer; multiple myeloma; non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma; Parkinson’s disease. The Marine Corps will follow its email blast with a postal mailing of 200,000 over the next several weeks to home addresses on file with the Camp Lejeune Historic Drinking Water website: https://clnr.hqi.usmc.mil/clwater/Home.aspx . Mailing will advise veterans and survivors that medical science affirms a strong association between compounds that leached into drinking water at Lejeune and the eight ailments. On March 14, a final VA regulation accelerated the processing of qualifying for disability pay. Even drilling reservists who spent weekends and annual training at Lejeune, also for a total of at least 30 days, will be found eligible for VA compensation if they have one of the presumptive ailments. If Lejeune veterans died from any of the ailments, their surviving spouses or children will see claims for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) fast tracked too, under the accelerated process established for Lejeune victims. Years ago, studies confirmed that Lejeune water had been contaminated by benzene, vinyl chloride and two volatile organic compounds — trichloroethylene (TCE), a metal degreaser, and perchloroethylene (PCE), a dry-cleaning agent. In 2012 Congress passed the Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act, which opened VA medical care to…

Today the VA begins providing disability benefits to Veterans, Reservists, and National Guard members affected by the contaminants in the water supply at Camp Lejeune, NC. Disability Benefits For Veterans Who Were Stationed At Camp Lejeune VA has established a rule stating that those who were stationed at Camp Lejeune, MCAS New River, all including satellite camps and housing areas.from August 1, 1953 through December 31, 1987 who later developed one of the following eight diseases can now receive disability benefits:: Adult leukemia Aplastic anemia and other myelodysplastic syndromes Bladder cancer Kidney cancer Liver cancer Multiple myeloma Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma Parkinson’s disease Presently, these conditions are the only ones for which there is sufficient scientific and medical evidence to support the creation of presumptions; however, VA will continue to review relevant information as it becomes available. See our Disability Compensation page for more information about including how to apply for VA Disability Compensation. Health Benefits In accordance with the 2012 Camp Lejeune health care law, the…

Today, Antonett, now a wife and mother, has cancer — breast cancer, lymph cancer, brain cancer.
Brewster moved to Waterloo from Chicago to help Jonathan care for Antonett.
Dill himself was a Marine stationed at Camp Lejeune for a time.
Also disabled, Dill’s condition is being monitored due to exposure to the contaminated water.
Dill wants any veteran who served at Camp Lejeune for 30 days or more between 1953 and 1987 to contact his office at 291-2512.
Another issue is with dependents of veterans, like Antonett Cox.
She receives medical care but does not receive monthly compensation like her father.
Brewster was among the first to discover a connection between her daughter’s illness and Camp Lejeune.
She found information online about the contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.
Jones was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2015.