Red Hill Updates: Court Affirms Navy Responsibility, EPA Weakens PFAS Protections
By Madison Owens, Red Hill Organizer and Wayne Tanaka, Chapter Director | Reading time: 3.75 minutes
Four years after the November 2021 fuel leak at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, a federal judge finally ruled against the US government for the poisoning of thousands of people–including children, infants, and expecting mothers.
17 of the bellwether plaintiffs were awarded damages ranging from approximately $5,000 to $100,000. This was a solid victory over the Department of Defense’s attempts to evade liability - something it is usually easily able to do, especially in federal courts. However, no amount could truly compensate these and other plaintiffs for months, years, and for some, a potential lifetime of harm; derailed careers; and the trauma of betrayal by the institution and system they trusted to keep them safe. In addition, the Department of Defense’s attorneys’ constant pointing to other potential causes of the plaintiffs’ medical harms - as far out as they may have been - did succeed in reducing the amount of damages awarded. For example, 20-month-old T.F. experienced nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and difficulty breathing in the immediate aftermath of the spill. Years later, T.F. continues to suffer from lung damage, abdominal pain, asthma, dermatitis, and elevated mast cells. Yet the what-about-ism arguments of government attorneys, emphasizing the lack of direct evidence linking fuel exposure as the cause of these symptoms, led the court to award T.F. only $6,000 in general and hedonic damages.
As we stand with the families who courageously stood up and forced the US government to acknowledge the harm it has caused, we must also remember that the US Navy and government spent years denying the harm-–arguing in court that there was insufficient evidence to prove harm by the fuel-tainted water, and that many symptoms were psychosomatic.
Nonetheless, the court's decision affirms what many have long maintained: that the Navy’s actions failed its duties to its servicemembers and their families. That a federal court held the military accountable for its role in environmental contamination is itself remarkable, and could help set a precedent for future claims and remediation demands.
Commission on Water Resource Management Meeting
On May 20, 2025, representatives from the Navy Closure Task Force–Red Hill (NCTF-RH) provided an update to the Commission on Water Resource Management. Ben Dunn, Deputy for Environmental and Remediation, and Megan Ostrum, Director of Engagement, focused their presentation on the groundwater monitoring well network, well recovery progress, and the current status of the Red Hill site assessment. Notably, while their plans for monitoring and remediation are authorized under the National Defense Authorization Act, funding to actually implement these plans are far from guaranteed. Click here to watch the NCTF-RH presentation.
EPA Backs Down on Toxic Chemicals/Drinking Water Protections
On May 14, 2025, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its intent to weaken key regulations on PFAS (Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances) and other toxic contaminants in drinking water. This rollback puts the health and safety of millions at risk, given the ubiquity and the toxicity of PFAS. Regardless of your politics or identity, or whether your water comes from a public system or a private well-–this affects you.
The regulations now being reversed were designed to protect the public from certain “forever chemicals,” such as those released from the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility and that have been found in the Navy’s Pearl Harbor Drinking Water System, the Kunia Village drinking water wells, and in Waiawa groundwater. The EPA’s rules would have required water system operators to monitor for these chemicals, notify the public if legal thresholds were exceeded, and take steps to reduce contamination.
No levels of PFAS chemicals are safe to drink and exposure to PFAS has been linked to severe health issues, including cancer, organ damage, immune system suppression and developmental delays in children. These chemicals persist in our environment and accumulate in our plants, animals and people for centuries.
Rolling back these protections, like many of the other environmental rollbacks we have been seeing, serves profit-driven polluters—not people. Clean, safe drinking water is not a partisan issue—it’s a generational responsibility. We must stay engaged, informed, and in dialogue about what real protections look like—for our water, our ‘āina, and our future.
Upcoming Events:
Groundwater Basics Webinar (Department Of Health) - 4 Sessions
Groundwater & Its Importance as a Resource in Hawai‘i - June 6, 2025, 11:30-12PM
Basics of Groundwater Flow - June 13, 2025, 11:30-12PM
Contaminant Transport in Groundwater - June 20, 2025, 11:30-12PM
Contaminant Plume & Aquifer Cleanup - June 27, 2025, 11:30-12PM
Community Representation Initiative Meeting
Details about CRI’s June meeting will be shared on Instagram (@RedHillCRI23) – follow for updates.