Red Hill Water Contamination Caused by Navy Mismanagement, Report Claims

Federal officials have determined that because of the Navy’s mismanagement of chemicals and leaks at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, a drinking water reservoir near Honolulu, Hawaii was repeatedly contaminated with petroleum jet fuel and firefighting foam.

Located near the Pearl Harbor Memorial in Honolulu, Hawaii, the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility was designed to hold up to 250 million gallons of fuel to help support U.S. military operations across the Pacific. However, the facility is designed in such a way that its storage tanks are located in close proximity to the Southern Oʻahu Basal Aquifer, which is the primary source of drinking water for more than 400,000 people.

In May and November 2021, errors were allegedly made by the Red Hill facility’s Naval personnel, which resulted in the release of petroleum jet fuel and other toxic chemicals into the Red Hill well, which provides drinking, bathing and residential water to approximately 93,000 military service members and residents of the U.S. military Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam (JBPHH).

As a result, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) office of the Inspector General has released three different reports detailing the U.S. Navy’s shortcomings surrounding the release of jet fuel and toxic firefighting foam at the Red Hill facility.

In a report on the storage facility’s contamination of the base’s community water system (PDF), the DoD’s Office of the Inspector General indicates that Naval officials missed opportunities in both May and November 2021 to “lessen the impact of the drinking water contamination incident.”

A separate DoD report (PDF) also indicates that the U.S. Navy did not properly handle four additional incidents concerning the release of aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) at the base, which is a firefighting foam that contains perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that have been linked to an increased risk of liver cancer, ulcerative colitis, testicular cancer, kidney cancer, thyroid disease and other serious side effects.

Amid the release of these findings, more than 2,000 Hawaiian residents have filed water contamination lawsuits over the Red Hill fuel storage leaks, claiming that the U.S. Navy failed to warn them about the risks of spills, treat the contamination, or provide adequate recovery programs for those in the affected areas.

The three reports released by the DoD Inspector General highlight these failings.

“Although there were documented risks, we determined that DoD officials did not effectively manage and oversee the operations, maintenance, and safety of (Defense Fuel Support Point) JBPHH,” the DoD Inspector General said in a third report concerning the operation, maintenance, safety and oversight of the Red Hill facility (PDF). “Additionally, we determined that Navy officials did not follow the basic tenets of their oil and hazardous substance (OHS) incident response plans when responding to the fuel incidents discussed in this report.”

Following its investigation, the DoD Inspector General recommends:

• An entity be appointed to ensure that all policies made in response to the 2021 drinking water contamination incident at the Red Hill facility be implemented.
• The Navy clarify its requirements related to drinking water management and drinking water contamination responses at its facilities.
• Naval Command should identify all facilities’ infrastructure that poses a threat to community water reserves and develop plans to mitigate those threats.

AFFF Firefighter Cancer Lawsuits

In addition to the lawsuits related to the Red Hill water contamination, over 8,000 AFFF lawsuits have been filed by individuals who were either directly exposed to the toxic chemicals in firefighting foam during U.S. Navy and military training or active firefighting duties, or by those who have consumed water contaminated by AFFF chemicals that have seeped into local water supplies.

Given the common questions of fact and law raised in the growing number of claims, the lawsuits were centralized for pretrial proceedings before U.S. District Judge Richard M. Gergel in the District of South Carolina, as part of the Aqueous Film-Forming Foams Products Liability Litigation.

As part of the coordinated management of the litigation, a small group of PFAS injury lawsuits are being prepared for trial dates in 2025, involving claims that were brought by individuals who developed testicular cancer, kidney cancer, liver cancer, thyroid cancer, thyroid disease and ulcerative colitis, after drinking water known to be contaminated with high levels of the chemicals.

While the outcome of these early trial dates will not have any binding impact on other claims being pursued throughout the federal court system, they are designed to help gauge how juries may respond to certain evidence and testimony that will be repeated throughout cancer lawsuits brought by firefighters and other plaintiffs.