Editorial: Help finally comes for vets harmed by polluted water

The Department of Veterans Affairs finally owned up to its responsibility with last week's announcement that it would pay benefits to veterans who were exposed to polluted drinking water at Camp Lejeune. It took the VA far too long to act, and it should not have required years of pressure by members of Congress and the news media for the government to do the right thing for the thousands of veterans who were harmed and need help. Now the department needs to act quickly to ensure that eligible Americans get the care they deserve.

The VA says it will grant automatic benefits to those who served at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina from 1953 to 1987 if they suffer from one of eight diseases. Scientists believe up to 1 million people may have been exposed to toxic chemicals that seeped into the drinking water at Camp Lejeune, making it perhaps the worst mass exposure to polluted water in the United States. The base's water was tainted with fuel and industrial solvents that came in part from leaky underground fuel tanks. The contamination stretched for a half-century and affected residents now scattered across the nation.

The VA decision is an admission that the evidence overwhelmingly establishes a link between the polluted water and the diseases. It means that thousands of veterans suffering with kidney and liver cancer, leukemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and other illnesses can get benefits without undergoing the prolonged claims process, which can take years and routinely ends in frustration.

The move was another in a series of encouraging steps since Robert A. McDonald, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, assumed control as VA secretary last year. McDonald minced no words in a statement Thursday. Noting that the water at the Marine Corps base was laced with vinyl chloride, benzene and other petroleum contaminants, the secretary declared that the water was "a hidden hazard," adding: "It is only years later that we know how dangerous it was."

The VA and the Pentagon could and should have come to this conclusion years earlier. It is only because of the efforts by lawmakers such as Sens. Bill Nelson of Florida and Richard Burr of North Carolina, and the reporting by Tampa Bay Times staff writer William R. Levesque and others, that an entrenched bureaucracy finally was forced to acknowledge its obligation to America's military families.

But time is still the enemy. The VA will need to move quickly if this policy change is to be meaningful, as many of these veterans are entering their senior years. The VA said Friday that the rulemaking process would take "12 months or more." That is a ridiculous amount of time. There is no excuse for allowing the VA to use the rulemaking process as an excuse to drag its feet. It must make the enrollments as speedy and as hassle-free as possible. That doesn't take a year to figure out.

McDonald has set a new tone, but his bureaucracy is legendary for waiting out even the hardest-charging reformers. Lawmakers should keep an eye on the VA to ensure that it follows through on this new promise of care. With about 14,000 Lejeune veterans and family members living in Florida, the Sunshine State has the second-highest total in the nation. That makes this a prime issue for Florida's congressional delegation.