Red Hill Roundup: August-October 2025

These last three months saw continual developments in the Red Hill saga and ongoing Oʻahu water crisis. From criminal indictments, to more revelations of “irregularities” in Navy water samples, to a changing of the guard at the Red Hill Community Representation Initiative, read on for a recap of some of these events below.

Also, be sure to check out our Red Hill Administrative Order on Consent (AOC) anniversary article describing the many efforts that took place in September, to reflect on and carry forward the hard lessons learned of Navy negligence and deception, in the ten years that have passed since the signing of the 2015 Red Hill AOC. 

The biannual Fuel Tank Advisory Committee meeting in October also provided such a clear demonstration of why these lessons must be remembered, and why the “Pledge to Our Wai, Pledge to Our Keiki” is so critical, that it is also covered in a separate article here.  

Red Hill Registry launches

On August 2, the long-awaited Red Hill Registry held a launch event at Moanalua High School, featuring booths from various organizations and service providers, music and keiki activities, and speeches by government officials and community members including Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi director Wayne Tanaka. 

The Red Hill Registry was created through a $28 million grant from the Defense Health Agency, and is housed at the University of Hawaiʻi Office of Strategic Health Initiatives. Developed through consultation with community groups and individuals, the registry seeks to document the long-term health impacts of exposure to contaminants from the Red Hill Facility - including exposures that may have occurred well before the November 2021 catastrophe. 

Anyone who may have been affected by Red Hill is encouraged to enroll - even those who may not yet have experienced any health impacts. Enrollees can also access resources and services through registry partners like Unite Us.

Individuals can enroll in the registry at www.redhillregistry.org.

Civilian employees indicted - but is this justice?

On September 2, two civilian Navy employees, the Fuels Department Deputy Director and Supervisory Engineer at the Red Hill facility in 2021, were indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiring to cause the Navy to “falsely state” that the May 2021 Red Hill fuel spill involved only 1,600 gallons, rather than the 20,000 gallons that contaminated the Navy’s water system and Oʻahu’s sole source aquifer six months later. 

Commenters suggested that the indicted civilians were being used as “scapegoats,” given the numerous military and civilian employees involved in the operation of the decrepit facility, and Navy leaders’ repeated willingness to deceive the public regarding the facility’s purported safety for years prior to and even after the catastrophic November 2021 fuel spill, without consequence. As Senator and member of the Red Hill Water Alliance Initiative working group Jarrett Keohokālole observed, “If this is the federal government’s idea of accountability, I don’t think people are going to buy it.”

Others expressed hope that the discovery process may lead to further revelations about who and what may be at fault in the direct sequence of events leading to the 2021 fuel spills. However, this is not likely to happen anytime soon, given the 3.4 million emails, documents, and other pieces of evidence as well as the dozens of witnesses that will be involved in the case - which has been pushed back as a result, to October 2026.

Must-watch NASEM presentation reveals “irregularities” in water sampling protocols prior to and following the November 2021 spill  

In the years following her family’s exposure to jet fuel-contaminated drinking water in November 2021 - resulting in debilitating health effects - Katherine McClanahan has dedicated herself to seeking accountability and information that could help heal and protect affected families, as well as Oʻahu’s water sources.  

This includes her poring through thousands of water sampling records in the months preceding and following the November 2021 fuel spill, with assistance from retired EPA officials and water testing experts with the Environmental Protection Network (EPN). What she found was deeply unsettling: elevated levels of contaminants found in groundwater samples, well before November 2021, with detected exceedances going unreported for months at a time; changes in water testing labs and testing protocols that led to reduced detections; mysterious requests from Navy contractors to remove or replace certain results, or to re-test samples that should have been discarded due to their storage conditions; and more. 

Beyond demonstrating the need to more fully inform impacted families and their healthcare providers of possible toxic exposures prior to November 2021, McClanahan’s research raises the critical question of whether and how we can avoid similar “irregularities,” and ensure much-needed transparency and accountability in water testing, in the years and decades ahead. 

Her findings were recently presented on September 8, at a National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine meeting, with a follow up discussion and question and answer session featuring herself, EPN’s Shonali Palacios, and Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi Director Wayne Tanaka. The meeting also included a presentation by former state Department of Health environmental hazard specialist Roger Brewer, on the cocktail of toxic substances that may have poisoned thousands of people - and Oʻahu’s groundwater - in the November 2021 spill. You can view this much-watch presentation here. 

A subsequent presentation by McClanahan and former EPA hydrologist and Superfund researcher Dr. Eva Davis was also provided to the Red Hill Community Representation Initiative (CRI) at its October meeting, which can be viewed here. 

Changing of the Guard: CRI Two-Year Anniversary

On September 25, the Red Hill CRI reached its two-year milestone, holding its 48th monthly meeting at the ʻŌleloTV studios in Māpunapuna. CRI members received updates and discussed the Just Well class action lawsuit and its historic finding of liability against the Navy; a new lawsuit based on the Navy’s refusal to turn over evidence and to preserve fuel samples even after being directed to do so by the EPA; and the indictment of the two civilian workers for allegedly misrepresenting the amount of fuel released in May 2021. 

The CRI also reviewed a draft report summarizing its efforts and accomplishments over the past two years, and providing recommendations for the Navy, EPA, and the CRI itself to further enhance its work. The “Cry for Kapūkakī: Two-Year Report on the Red Hill Community Representation Initiative September 2023 - September 2025” can be read here.

Per the CRI’s bylaws, members term out after two years. Accordingly, five of the CRI members who had been continuously serving since September 2023 have stepped down: Marti Townsend, CRI Chair and Oʻahu community representative; Healani Sonoda-Pale, Native Hawaiian community representative; ʻIlima deCosta, Oʻahu community representative; Melodie Aduja, community organization representative; and Mandy Feindt, affected community representative. 

Taking their place pursuant to a vote of the Red Hill CRI members are: ʻImiloa Borland, Native Hawaiian community representative; Mariko Jackson, Oʻahu community representative; Robert Huber, community organization representative; Jamie Simic, affected community representative; and Chris Anton, affected community representative.  

Susan Gorman-Chang, Oʻahu community representative, has now taken the reins as the new Red Hill CRI Chair. As of this writing, she has already successfully led the CRI at its October 24 meeting and discussion regarding ongoing uncertainty regarding groundwater and contaminant flow, and the water testing “irregularities” uncovered by Katherine McClanahan and Dr. Eva Davis.  

CRI meetings, agendas, and other announcements can be viewed at their website, https://redhillcri.my.canva.site/. 

UHERO Publishes Report on Long-Term Impacts of the Red Hill Catastrophe

On October 15, the University of Hawaiʻi Economic Research Organization published a study, “Enduring Impacts of the November 2021 Red Hill Fuel Spill: Health, Social, Economic, and Trust Implications.” 

Co-authored by Tara Sutton, whose family was directly impacted by the Red Hill fuel spill, this report analyzes the results of a survey taken in July 2023, completed by 174 people who had participated in earlier CDC and ATSDR studies. Insights include how the Red Hill catastrophe changed people’s daily lives, finances, and confidence in government agencies, as well as how it impacted their health. As the executive summary describes:

Findings reveal significant and ongoing well-being impacts including physical and mental health challenges, disruptions to social networks and relationships, and financial losses. Respondents generally felt dissatisfied and betrayed by the Navy’s response to the crisis and pointed to how inadequate disaster response exacerbated well-being impacts. While the sample size (n = 174) limits generalizability, results provide insight into the range of ongoing well-being and trust impacts experienced by community members who drank water from the JBPHH water system during the Nov 2021 fuel spill, as well as how disaster response efforts can be improved in the future. 

Nearly two years after the spill, most continue to experience physical, emotional, social, and/ or financial impacts of this crisis. For many, trust in institutions, particularly the Navy, has been broken. 

Read the report here.

The above are not the only Red Hill events that transpired this Fall. Be sure to check out our Red Hill AOC anniversary article here, and our coverage of the October Fuel Tank Advisory Committee meeting here, for additional updates and reflections on why initiatives like the Pledge to Our Wai, Pledge to Our Keiki are increasingly needed to ensure our wai, ʻāina, and people are healed in a timely manner.