Battling Contamination: Community Efforts and Insights from Red Hill
By Madison Owens, Red Hill Organizer, Wayne Tanaka, Chapter Director, and Rosalie Luo, Volunteer | Reading time: 8 minutes
The much-anticipated trial for those harmed by the November 2021 Red Hill fuel spill (Feindt et al. vs. United States of America), which was held at the Prince Kūhiō Federal Building, began on April 29th and concluded earlier this month on May 13th. The trial for the mass environmental injury case centered around the experiences of 17 bellwether plaintiffs and was overseen by US District Court Judge Leslie Kobayashi. These plaintiffs were a selection of individuals representing more than 7,500 others who were affected, including active service members, over three federal lawsuits.
The trial comes after the US government admitted that the US “breached its duty of care” during the November 20, 2021 spill at the Red Hill facility and that the plaintiffs suffered injuries as a result of the spill. The government’s attorneys from the Department of Justice, however, have maintained their dispute over the extent to which residents were exposed to jet fuel and whether that exposure caused their health effects.
Attorneys for Just Well Law, the firm representing the plaintiffs, emphasized the Navy’s failure to immediately warn residents despite its awareness of fuel in the water, contributing to the psychological distress and sense of institutional betrayal that has continued to plague many of those who were poisoned in 2021. Plaintiffs also testified on the stand and in their declarations about other mental and physical health effects and experiences in the aftermath of the spill, as well as their lost job and career opportunities. Nastasia Freeman, the wife of a Navy lieutenant and mother of three, described the various physical effects of the exposure, including seizures, skin conditions, and vestibular dysfunction (related to balance). Freeman, like many other plaintiffs, spoke about her newfound fear of water and how her home no longer was a place of comfort and safety. Beau, an 18-year old and the youngest plaintiff at the trial, testified tearfully about his hand tremors and spoke about how his new symptoms will now prevent him from his lifelong goal to join the Navy like his father.
According to Just Well, over 5,000 people sought medical care for symptoms related to the exposure, and many lost trust in the military because of the spill and the subsequent response. Various technical experts from the plaintiffs’ side spoke on the stand as witnesses, including water system experts like Joseph Hughes, an engineering professor, who developed models based on government data and estimated that over 2,000 gallons of fuel entered the system from the well before the water was shut off. Medical professionals also served as witnesses for the plaintiffs, including Dr. Steven Storage, who treated Freeman’s symptoms. The Department of Justice attorneys brought in witnesses including Dr. Michael McGinnis, who served as the active-duty fleet surgeon and the INDOPACOM commander’s medical advisor at the time of the spill. It was clear throughout the trial that Judge Kobayashi wanted to focus only on discussing issues relevant to causation and damages, and felt that certain issues were outside the scope of the case, such as the efficacy of the Navy’s response in alerting residents about their water.
On the final day of the trial, the plaintiffs’ lawyers concluded with persuasive closing arguments, summarizing the nature of the harms and the importance of the Federal Tort Claims Act to hold government institutions accountable. Baehr detailed the amount of compensation that each plaintiff ought to be awarded for physical pain, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, and other harms, ranging from $225,000 to upwards of $1 million. In their closing arguments, the DOJ continued to maintain that the plaintiffs’ exposures to jet fuel were insufficient to cause lasting medical issues, and that other factors could not be ruled out, going so far as to say that “the science doesn’t support” their symptoms. Judge Kobayashi is expected to issue her decision sometime after July 12.
PFAS Detections in Navy Tap Water Samples
On Wednesday, May 15, 2024, the Red Hill Community Representation Initiative for Red Hill (CRI) advised residents to not drink or use untreated water delivered via the Navy’s water system, after home water tests of household tap water indicated the presence of highly toxic PFAS: PFBA, N-MeFOSA, and NMeFOSE.
At one Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam home, test results found 2.3 parts per trillion (ppt) of Perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA). PFBA is highly cancerous, and can cause damage to the liver, thyroid, and immune system, among other ailments, according to the Environmental Working Group, a national nonprofit organization advocating to reduce PFAS contamination. The Environmental Working Group recommends a health guideline of 1 ppt for all PFAS, including PFBA.
In light of these results, the CRI renewed their call for the Navy to provide clean water to its water system consumers, which it had previously urged due to the unexplained but ongoing reports of illness and “sheens” in Navy tap water.
PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals,” is a large category of chemicals that do not break down in the environment and are extremely dangerous to human health. The Defense Department has used “forever chemicals” extensively in firefighting foam, including at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, where there have been several releases of PFAS-laden firefighting foam: most recently in November 2022, as well in previous years as reported by the Navy and revealed in an unsealed whistleblower complaint earlier this year. Five types of PFAS, including PFOA and PFOS, had been found in the Navy’s drinking water system from samples taken in 2020, before the November 2021 fuel spill that led to the Navy shutting down its Red Hill drinking water shaft.
The forever chemicals being detected now do not appear to be the same ones accidentally released at Red Hill in 2022, which were detected in the soil outside the facility even after the Navy’s attempt to excavate and clean up the contamination. In any case the releases of PFAS from the Red Hill Facility could migrate through the environment over generations, requiring indefinite monitoring of the aquifer underlying the Red Hill Facility.
For more information you can watch the CRI press conference video here.
Community Representation Initiative Meeting Features PFAS Presentations and the Department of Health
Both the EPA and Navy were once again absent from CRI’s eighth meeting on May 16th; however, the CRI was joined by a discussion on PFAS with toxics expert Sonya Lunder, as well as Hawai‘i Department of Health (DOH) representatives including deputy director Kathy Ho.
Sonya Lunder, Director of Community Science at the Natural Resources Defense Council, and former Sierra Club Senior Toxics Advisor, has long specialized in PFAS and AFFF. Her presentation included an identification of potential and confirmed sites on Oʻahu where PFAS may have been released, and whether and how PFAS can be safely filtered and disposed of. You can find Lunder’s presentation slides linked here.
The DOH also confirmed that they had finally accepted a Navy groundwater monitoring plan, after the Navy agreed to additional conditions, which would allow the Navy to reduce the amount of water being pumped from the Red Hill Shaft and discharged into Hālawa Stream from 4.5 million gallons per day (mgd) to 1.8 mgd. So far, over 3 billion gallons of “essentially drinkable” water has been “pumped and dumped” from the Red Hill Shaft in the Navy’s effort to prevent the fuel contamination plume under the Red Hill Facility from migrating towards other drinking water wells and area springs. A small fraction of the water pumped from the Red Hill Shaft will now be used to washdown the Red Hill fuel tanks, although plans to use this water - including for the Navy’s drinking water system - may still be years out from implementation.
Unfortunately, the absence of the Navy and EPA left the CRI, and by extension, the larger community, in the dark regarding questions that remained about pressing matters, including the details of a proposal for the “venting” of the Red Hill Facility’s 250-foot tall fuel tanks (see more below).
To learn more about the CRI, please visit their website here. You can also email them at redhillcri@gmail.com.
Tank Venting and Air Quality Monitoring
On May 29, the Navy Closure Task Force-Red Hill posted a notice on its website that “venting” of the toxic fumes inside one of the Red Hill fuel tanks would begin that week, although it was unclear whether the DOH had approved of an air quality monitoring plan it had requested of the Navy after the CRI had raised public health concerns. On May 30, the DOH issued a press release saying it had conditionally approved of the Navy’s air quality monitoring plan the previous day, with requirements including a 12 hour notice to the public prior to venting and a “near real-time” provision of air quality monitoring data to the public via the Navy Closure Task Force-Red Hill website and the “NCTF-Red Hill” app (available on Google Play and the Apple Store).
Notably, the DOH and Navy had previously engaged in an intense back-and-forth requiring the air quality modeling and monitoring requirements for venting, as well as the authority of the DOH to impose them as part of its emergency closure order. Requests to the DOH for a copy of the approved air quality monitoring plan, and the particulars of the DOH’s conditions - including the public notification requirements - have also gone unanswered. According to Navy Closure Task Force representatives, a copy of the air quality monitoring plan will be made available in the first week of June.
If you live or work in the ‘Aiea/Hālawa/Moanalua area near Kapūkakī, please be sure to report any fuel odors to the Department of Health’s Clean Air Branch (cab.general@doh.hawaii.gov) and to the Navy Closure Task Force-Red Hill (808-210-6968), and consider monitoring the Navy Closure Task Force-Red Hill website or downloading the “NCTF-Red Hill” app (available on Google Play and the Apple Store - per the Navy, you can adjust permissions to prevent the tracking of your location if you have privacy concerns) for air quality data.