Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi Demands Information, Data on Navy Water System Contamination

HONOLULU, HAWAIʻI – The Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi today submitted a formal public records  request to the University of Hawaiʻi (UH), for e-mails and data relating to the UH Red Hill Task  Force’s efforts to investigate water contamination complaints from the Navy and Board of Water  Supply water systems. The request was made after UH officials took down briefly publicized  Task Force findings indicating that JP-5, the type of jet fuel released from the Red Hill Bulk Fuel  Storage Facility in November of last year, was present in water samples from the Navy’s water  system as recently as May. 

“This is a matter of health and safety, as well as informed decisionmaking,” said Sierra Club of  Hawai‘i director Wayne Tanaka. “People need to know if they may be exposing themselves – and their infants, children and pets – to toxic contaminants when they turn on their taps.”  

The Red Hill Task Force utilized fluorescence spectroscopy, a screening method used to  monitor the movement of oil plumes during the Deepwater Horizon spill and by the U.S. Coast  Guard to assess oil spill dispersion, to provide a rapid assessment of potential JP-5  contamination in water samples collected from both the Navy and municipal water sources.  Information on a now password-locked “dashboard” described how the process was developed  and refined over the last seven months, and validated using a sample of JP-5 jet fuel obtained  from the U.S. Navy.  

For months, individuals on the Navy’s water system have reported visible contamination sheens  in their tapwater, fuel-like odors and new or continued health symptoms consistent with  petroleum exposure, despite Navy assurances that their drinking water is no longer  contaminated. The Red Hill Task Force’s work would aid in the further investigation of residents’  concerns, and “is intended to help community members better understand the quality of their tap  water, allows for open and transparent knowledge exchange and aids in communication  between UH researchers and the communities they serve,” according to a now unpublished UH  press release.  

The Sierra Club’s Uniform Information Practices Act request asks for copies of e-mail  communications regarding the Red Hill Task Force’s efforts between Department of Defense  employees and contractors and top UH officials, including the UH President, Spokesperson,  Board of Regents and the head of the Water Resources Research Center. It also asks for  copies of the now unpublished Red Hill Dashboard.  

“The families that were poisoned, new residents who are just arriving, schools, businesses, child  development centers – they must be immediately provided with all available information  regarding the safety of their drinking water. At the very least, it will allow them to evaluate their 

own tolerance for risk; moreover, this may help to prevent even further harm from befalling  residents and visitors who consume water from the Navy’s water system,” said Tanaka.  

“Our public records request will also allow us to determine what the Navy knew over these past  few months regarding the indications of continued contamination, at the same time that they  were denying knowledge of health and water safety issues.” 

Dr. Rick Rothschiller, lead author of an open letter from various mental health and medical  professionals to USINDOPACOM Admiral John Aquilino, underscored the need for more  proactive protections and action, as the water contamination findings are further investigated.  

“The Red Hill Task Force’s findings only exacerbate the concerns in our letter to Admiral  Aquilino, and call for additional investments by the Navy to survey and assess the medical and  mental health needs of affected residents. In the meantime, the Navy needs to move, now, to  provide them with alternative water and housing as well as appropriate medical and mental  health support, and provide the transparency and action it has repeatedly promised to all the  people of Hawaiʻi,” said Dr. Rothschiller. “Too much harm, too much trauma has already been  inflicted on people, children, pets and the ʻāina itself. Why do we even need to ask, much less  demand, that Navy leadership act with basic human decency?”

The University of Hawaiʻi now has business 10 days to respond to the Sierra Club’s public  records request.  

##