Public forum to address water at Camp Lejeune

For 30 years - from 1957 to 1987 - civilians, Marines and residents drank, cooked with, bathed in and swam in water contaminated by industrial degreasers and dry-cleaning solvents at Camp Lejeune, a Marine Corps base in Jacksonville.

It is estimated that between 300,000 and 1 million people may have been affected by the contamination.

To help the public better understand this issue, the Star-News is sponsoring an information-sharing forum about the Camp Lejeune water contamination at 7 tonight at Kenan Auditorium on the campus of the University of North Carolina Wilmington. The event is free.

It will include panel presentations from Gerald LeBlanc, professor of toxicology at N.C. State University; Jerry Ensminger, a former Marine master sergeant who believes his family was affected by the contamination; Morris Maslia, engineering modeling expert at the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in Atlanta; Frank Bove, senior epidemiologist at ATSDR; James Hopf, an environmental lawyer with Hopf & Higley Law Firm in Greenville; and Lindsey Neas, the military legislative assistant for Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C.

Lawrence Cahoon, a UNCW biology professor, will introduce the issue, and Megan Williams, public affairs reporter for public radio station WHQR-FM, will moderate the panel session.

A Marine Corps representative was invited but declined to attend.

"At this time, it would be premature for the Marine Corps to participate in a panel or comment on an on-going study" being done by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, wrote a Marine Corps spokeswoman in an e-mail.

After the panel presentations, a question-and-answer session will be held for the public.

Amanda Greene: 343-2365

amanda.greene@starnewsonline.com