Fuel from the Red Hill fuel facility leaked into the Red Hill water well, contaminating the Navy’s Oahu water system. Get the latest updates about cleanup.
It’s been nearly a year since the Honolulu Board of Water Supply filed a $1.2 billion claim against the Navy to recover costs for its response to massive jet fuel leaks at the Navy’s Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility in 2021. Read more
Nearly 105 million gallons of military fuel stored 100 feet above a key aquifer have now been removed from Red Hill — good — but unfortunately, threat of serious contamination from residual toxins lingers. Read more
The Honolulu City Council adopted a resolution Wednesday urging the Navy and Department of Defense to immediately implement weekly testing of monitoring wells related to past fuel spills at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility. Read more
Due to the massive 2021 fuel spills linked to the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, which sickened families, fears over further contamination of Oahu’s groundwater supply have prompted the Honolulu City Council to take greater action on the matter. Read more
Testing by the Honolulu Board of Water Supply earlier this summer indicated that a plume of contaminants often associated with petroleum fuel recently passed through a pair of drinking wells in Aiea near the Navy’s underground Red Hill fuel storage facility. Read more
The Red Hill Community Representation Initiative received an email Friday from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency confirming that the organization will not be disbanded, despite being notified in June about its potential dissolution in response to Navy complaints. Read more
The Environmental Protection Agency is making moves to disband the elected community advisory board it established as part of a federal consent decree regarding the closure of the Navy’s underground Red Hill fuel storage facility. Read more
Some residents are nervous about potential health and enviromental risks as the ventilation plan moves forward. Read more
A recent investigation by the state Department of Health into the Navy’s Oahu drinking water system found no petroleum or jet fuel compounds in drinking water samples collected in February but did not rule out the possibility of residual fuel in the system after fuel from the Navy’s Red Hill storage facility contaminated it in November 2021. Read more
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A lawsuit trial brought by families affected by the Red Hill water crisis against the federal government under the Federal Tort Claims Act saw both sides make their closing arguments Monday. Read more
Vice Adm. John Wade, former commander of the joint task force that oversaw removal of most of the fuel in the Navy’s Red Hill facility, has been officially nominated to take over the Navy’s 3rd Fleet in San Diego. Read more
Two-and-a-half years after the disastrous Red Hill fuel spill that contaminated the area’s water, people who were sickened then — and claim ongoing health problems even now — are in the midst of a landmark lawsuit trying to make the Navy pay. Read more
Government witnesses are taking the stand this week to defend the Navy’s response to the Red Hill water crisis and sow doubts about the severity of the contamination as a federal mass tort lawsuit on behalf of affected families continues. Read more
Water system experts testified Tuesday on the second day of a class-action lawsuit against the U.S. government that tests may have missed contamination in the critical early days of the Red Hill fuel crisis. Read more
The trial involves the first 17 plaintiffs claiming medical, emotional and financial injuries from the contamination. Another roughly 7,500 plaintiffs have joined other lawsuits also seeking compensation. Read more
The Navy also found that while there was a spike in doctors’ visits around the spill, involving a variety of symptoms ranging from rashes to intestinal problems, neurological issues and psychological symptoms, by the end of December the visits “returned to pre-release levels.” Read more
Laboratory contamination was the cause of increased low levels of total petroleum hydrocarbons detected in the Navy’s drinking water system since last summer, the Navy Closure Task Force-Red Hill announced Wednesday. Read more
Since the March community meeting, several new documents have emerged that CRI members say raise serious questions. The absence of officials calls pledges of transparency into question, they say. Read more
The report was prompted by a spill of 19,000 gallons of jet fuel from the Navy’s underground Red Hill facility that in November 2021 made its way into and tainted the Navy’s Oahu water system. Read more
The Navy as of Monday had removed just over 1,000 gallons of aqueous film forming foam concentrate — a toxic fire suppressant containing “forever chemicals” — from its AFFF system at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility. Read more
Now would be a good time to stake out, for the public, the motto and mission of the new Navy Closure Task Force-Red Hill. Read more
