Atlanta ? Thousands of Marines and their families went to serve their country at North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune.

Instead, many wound up fighting it, blaming the government for failing to protect them from an enemy that invaded their lives in a most intimate way: through the water that quenched their thirst, cooked their food and filled their bathtubs every day.

At Camp Lejeune, an environmental tragedy realized a generation ago is drawing new scrutiny from members of Congress outraged over the government’s treatment of sick veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and elsewhere.

U.S. health officials here in Atlanta hope to finish a long-awaited study by year’s end to examine whether the water tainted with solvents affected the health of children. It will influence the Pentagon’s response to at least 850 pending legal claims by people who lived at the Marine base, officials said.

The former residents, who together seek nearly $4 billion, believe their families were afflicted by water containing industrial solvents before the Marines shut off the bad wells in the mid-1980s.

At least 120,000 people lived in family housing that may have been affected over three decades, plus uncounted civilian workers and Marines in barracks, Marine Corps figures indicate. Defense officials recently told U.S. health investigators that between 1975 and 1985 alone, nearly 200,000 Marines were stationed at Camp Lejeune.

About 56,000 Marines, family members and civilians now live or work at Camp Lejeune, the sprawling training and deployment base on the Atlantic seaboard. Its water meets current federal standards.

Delayed disclosure

Health officials and lawmakers complain that the Defense Department has delayed disclosure of important documents during investigations into the health impact of water contaminated by a dry cleaner adjacent to Camp Lejeune and by the base’s past industrial activities.

“We wouldn’t be investigating this disgraceful situation if (the Department of Defense) had put half as much effort into cleaning up the water as it has into stonewalling those who drank it,” said Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. A subcommittee expects to conduct an oversight hearing today, the first in a broader review by Democrats investigating the Pentagon’s environmental record.

The scrutiny comes as federal regulators consider whether to tighten restrictions on solvents known as TCE, trichloroethylene, and PCE, tetrachloroethylene, common contaminants at military and private industrial sites. The chemicals were highlighted in a 1998 movie starring John Travolta, “A Civil Action,” about a lawsuit against corporate polluters in Woburn, Mass.

Marine Corps officials said Camp Lejeune followed environmental rules in effect at the time.

“The health and safety of our Marines and their dependents is of primary concern to the Marine Corps,” the service said in a statement. “Base officials provided drinking water consistent with industry practices at the time.”

Rep. Barton Stupak, D-Mich., who will preside over the upcoming congressional hearings, complained that the Defense Department considers environmental cleanups to be a low priority. “That has to change,” he said.

Government health experts now believe the truth at Camp Lejeune is worse than anyone knew: Its water was contaminated as far back as 1957, and until 1987.

The newly recognized endpoint – nearly two years after the Marines said they closed all the tainted wells – is identified in a new federal water study scheduled for release this month. It is part of the continuing government study by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry into whether Camp Lejeune’s water led to leukemia and birth defects in children.

Camp Lejeune’s population is believed the largest ever exposed to the solvents at such high levels. The Environmental Protection Agency is overseeing cleanups at more than 150 military installations polluted by the same chemicals. Drinking water usually was unaffected, but underground contamination migrated to surrounding neighborhoods and wells at some sites.

No legal violations

A criminal investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency and Justice Department in 2005 at Camp Lejeune noted that federal rules limiting TCE and PCE in drinking water were not in effect until 1989 and 1992 – years after the exposure. The probe found no legal violation or conspiracy to conceal information.

PCE and TCE are believed to be carcinogens. TCE is a degreaser and PCE is used in dry cleaning. Studies link them to cancers and to kidney, liver and immune disorders, as well as childhood leukemia and neural tube defects.

Two former Marines, retired Master Sgt. Jerry Ensminger and retired Maj. Tom Townsend, have directed their grief into an encyclopedic collection of historical documents, hydrology data, e-mails and other military files they obtained mostly under the Freedom of Information Act. Townsend’s stack of papers reaches 20 feet.

Two earlier government health reports on Camp Lejeune underestimated how many base houses the contamination may have reached, documents show. The Marines failed to correct the error even when they reviewed the reports before publication. Townsend spotted the mistake and notified them in 2000, the Marine Corps acknowledged.

The Marines updated their Web site but never told federal health investigators, despite repeated urging by a Marine headquarters environmental official.

“It is important to set the record straight,” Kelly Dreyer, the official, wrote in an e-mail to the base in 2000. Eventually, in 2003, Townsend and Ensminger notified the health agency, which is now revising one flawed study.