The Red Hill Leak: How the U.S. Navy Has Poisoned Hawai'i's Waters for Decades

TL;DR - Late last year, a leak from a U.S. Navy facility poisoned the water supply of approximately 93,000 O'ahu residents with jet fuel-tainted water. Let's call it what it is: a mass atrocity. An act of astronomical violence. Today, families say they are still experiencing health issues and reporting oil sheens in their water. Today and for the indefinite future, O'ahu faces a catastrophic threat to its sole-source aquifer — likely the biggest water crisis it has ever seen.

I organize with the O'ahu Water Protectors, an intergenerational movement fighting to bring attention to the devastation this leak continues to cause. Our waters, lands, and sovereignty are threatened by the violent imprint of the U.S. military. People think of our home as a beautiful, tropical oasis, and it is. But as demilitarization scholar and organizer Kyle Kajihiro reminds us, “The image of paradise masks the violence that's going on.”

July 11, 2022: The Red Hill Leak: How the U.S. Navy Has Poisoned Hawai'i's Waters for Decades, Teen Vogue