U.S. Agrees to Pay Billions to Marines Affected by Toxic Water

[GMDino]

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/u-s-agrees-pay-billions-marines-affected-toxic-water-n706346

Quote:The Obama administration has agreed to provide disability benefits totaling more than $2 billion to veterans who had been exposed to contaminated drinking water while assigned to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

The decision was quietly made public Thursday with a notice in the Federal Register, the government's official journal.
Beginning in March, the cash payouts from the Department of Veterans Affairs may supplement VA health care already being provided to eligible veterans stationed at the Marine base for at least 30 days cumulative between Aug. 1, 1953, and Dec. 31, 1987. Veterans will have to submit evidence of their diagnosis and service information.

Related: Donald Trump Picks David Shulkin, Current Obama Appointee, to Lead Veterans Affairs

Outgoing VA Secretary Bob McDonald determined that there was "sufficient scientific and medical evidence" to establish a connection between exposure to the contaminated water and eight medical conditions for purposes of awarding disability compensation.
The estimated taxpayer cost is $2.2 billion over a five-year period. The VA estimates that as many as 900,000 service members were potentially exposed to the tainted water.

"This is good news," said retired Marine Master Sgt. Jerry Ensminger, whose daughter Janey was born in 1976 while he was stationed at Lejeune. Janey died from leukemia at age 9. Ensminger now heads a veterans group, The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten, which advocates for those seeking disability compensation.

"This has been a hard, long slog," said Ensminger, who says the government must go further in covering additional diseases. "This is not the end of the issue."

The new rule covers active duty, Reserve and National Guard members who developed one of eight diseases: adult leukemia, aplastic anemia, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, liver cancer, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and Parkinson's disease.

Related: One-Third of Calls to VA Suicide Hotline Don't Get Answered: Ex-Director

Documents uncovered by veterans groups over the years suggest Marine leaders were slow to respond when tests first found evidence of contaminated ground water at Camp Lejeune in the early 1980s. Some drinking water wells were closed in 1984 and 1985, after further testing confirmed contamination from leaking fuel tanks and an off-base dry cleaner. The Marine Corps has said the contamination was unintentional, occurring when federal law didn't limit toxins in drinking water.


Spurred by Ensminger's case, Congress in 2012 passed a bill signed into law by President Barack Obama extending free VA medical care to affected veterans and their families. But veterans were not automatically provided disability aid or survivor benefits. The issue has prompted lawsuits by veterans organizations, which note that military personnel in Camp Lejeune housing "drank, cooked and bathed" in contaminated water for years.

"Expanded coverage is making progress, but we also need to know whether the government may be purposefully leaving people out," said Rick Weidman, executive director of Vietnam Veterans of America.

Affected veterans who were stationed at Camp Lejeune may now submit applications for benefits, once the rule is officially published Friday. Roughly 1,400 disability claims related to Lejeune are already pending, and will be reviewed immediately, according to the VA. 

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

Oh Government, how well you run and take care of us......

[CageTheBengal]

So at what point do we evaluate our whole water system? Is there any thought to prevention or just dealing with the problem as it comes?

[GMDino]

(01-14-2017, 03:30 PM)CageTheBengal Wrote: So at what point do we evaluate our whole water system? Is there any thought to prevention or just dealing with the problem as it comes?

What?!?!  You want the cater company to take that money we pay and INVEST in updating the systems?

Why do you have capitalism and profit?!?!

[JustWinBaby]

(01-14-2017, 03:30 PM)CageTheBengal Wrote: So at what point do we evaluate our whole water system? Is there any thought to prevention or just dealing with the problem as it comes?

That's an interesting question.  We can keep kicking the can down the road, but when do address the fact that infrastructure needs upgraded?

Oddly enough, these are serious and grave issues that should be debated....but that you rarely hear about (unless it's a ***** uncomfortable with taking a dump in a green port-a-let)

[oncemoreuntothejimbreech]

(01-14-2017, 12:54 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Oh Government, how well you run and take care of us......

Do you think private corporations would set limits on pollution, conduct the testing, and pay reparations voluntarily?

[oncemoreuntothejimbreech]

(01-15-2017, 05:42 AM)JustWinBaby Wrote: That's an interesting question.  We can keep kicking the can down the road, but when do address the fact that infrastructure needs upgraded?

Oddly enough, these are serious and grave issues that should be debated....but that you rarely hear about (unless it's a ***** uncomfortable with taking a dump in a green port-a-let)

Stay golden, Ponyboy. 

Yeah, never hear about infrastructure unless some ***** is involved. 

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(01-15-2017, 08:35 AM)oncemoreuntothejimbreech Wrote: Do you think private corporations would set limits on pollution, conduct the testing, and pay reparations voluntarily?

"The new rule covers active duty, Reserve and National Guard members who developed one of eight diseases: adult leukemia, aplastic anemia, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, liver cancer, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and Parkinson's disease."



Sixty-three+ years later. Forgive me if I am not giving a standing ovation. Sixty-three years, plus 17 being the youngest you can enlist. That's people who are at least eighty years old or more (provided they are not already dead from that list of horribleness listed above) finally getting satisfaction right before they die of natural causes anyway. After they've likely had to foot a lifetime of medical expenses for their life crippling disease(s).

The only people who need to be praised for this are the Veteran's groups who fought for this and got what those vets deserved long ago from our government.

[oncemoreuntothejimbreech]

(01-16-2017, 03:33 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: "The new rule covers active duty, Reserve and National Guard members who developed one of eight diseases: adult leukemia, aplastic anemia, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, liver cancer, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and Parkinson's disease."



Sixty-three+ years later. Forgive me if I am not giving a standing ovation. Sixty-three years, plus 17 being the youngest you can enlist. That's people who are at least eighty years old or more (provided they are not already dead from that list of horribleness listed above) finally getting satisfaction right before they die of natural causes anyway. After they've likely had to foot a lifetime of medical expenses for their life crippling disease(s).

The only people who need to be praised for this are the Veteran's groups who fought for this and got what those vets deserved long ago from our government.

Who did I praise?  No one.  Can you please answer my original question?