It appears that Democrats on the House Armed Services Readiness subcommittee have decided to investigate Pentagon and Camp Lejeune responses to contaminated water supplies.
GovExec.
House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee Chairman Solomon Ortiz, D-Texas, said communities where bases are being closed are concerned that the sites cannot be redeveloped because of contamination, and that oversight is needed.
“We’re going to be looking at that, no question,” he said, adding he is considering a hearing on the matter this month.
In the 1980s it was discovered that Camp Lejeune had caused a trichloroethylene (TCE) to be introduced into ground water supplies. The results were not pretty.
After the camp was declared a Superfund site in 1989, the ATSDR found an alarming rate of miscarriages, birth defects and childhood leukemia there.
Senator Richard Burr (R) has come to the defense of the military by declaring that action was taken, even if it weren’t enough.
“When we looked back at Camp Lejeune, the concerns that were raised were, in fact, vetted,” Burr said. “Camp Lejeune did not ignore the claims. Did they carry it as far as they could have and perhaps they should have? That’s open to question.”
Military leaders in the Pentagon feel that some environmental regulations and restrictions will inhibit the ability to properly train troops and have tried to create exemptions for munitions. The requests for exemptions failed approval.
It’s nice to see that the Congress is performing oversight and on important, not just political, matters.
Do you have a personal experience with tainted water in Jacksonville?
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