Inspector General Report On Red Hill Fuel Spill Confirms Resident Concerns

November 21, 2024 –
From Popular Resistance

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Above photo: Sierra Club of Hawai’i.

Honolulu, Hawai’i – The Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General (IG) recently issued three major reports concerning the lead-up to and aftermath of the Red Hill crisis: the “Evaluation of the Operation, Maintenance, Safety, and Oversight of the Navy’s Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility,” the “Evaluation of the DoD Actions Related to the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility’s Contamination of the Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam Community Water System,” and the “Management Advisory: Concerns with the Navy’s Handling of Incidents Involving Aqueous Film-Forming Foam at Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam.” Today, the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi Executive Director Wayne Chung Tanaka and Sierra Club O‘ahu Group Acting Chair Marti Townsend issued the following response:

We appreciate the breadth and depth of the IG reports, which shed light on the Navy’s and Department of Defense’s abysmal operations and crisis response before and after the Red Hill water crisis that poisoned thousands of residents and contaminated our primary drinking water aquifer with a toxic plume of unknown size, location, and movement.

These reports confirm what we have long known:

● Leak detection and the Red Hill facility’s “system of systems” for operational safety could not adequately detect, much less prevent, multiple fuel spills, despite adamant assurances[1] by the Navy;
● Navy officials were woefully unaware of their own spill prevention and response plans to the extent such plans did exist;[2]
● The Navy repeatedly engaged in disingenuous public relations tactics, attempting to discredit valid concerns from entities like the Board of Water Supply, Sierra Club of Hawai‘i, and poisoned residents, rather than addressing the inherent dangers posed by the Red Hill facility;[3] and
● Navy officials consistently failed to disclose, and did not reliably clean up, multiple spills involving thousands of gallons of fire fighting foam containing extremely toxic “forever chemicals,” which may now pose a centuries-long threat to our future generations.[4]

While the IG’s many recommendations for the Department of Defense are appreciated, whether or not they are actually implemented remains highly uncertain. Moreover, they do not address a demonstrable institutional culture of carelessness, leadership hubris, and disingenuous public messaging that set the stage for the Red Hill water crisis.

Navy officials have continued to gaslight poisoned families;[5] largely ignored concerns regarding 6,000 detections of lead in its drinking water system – including over two dozen samples that exceeded health action levels, using sampling methods that reduce the likelihood of detecting lead in water [6] – and even baselessly accused the Board of Water Supply of spreading “grossly inaccurate” information.[7]

Meanwhile, they have doubled down on public relations tactics[8] to mask their own shortcomings – such as the ongoing Safe Drinking Water Act issues in a recent EPA investigation[9] – in an attempt to distract the local and national public from critical matters of accountability and public and environmental health.

The Navy’s and Department of Defense’s initial responses to the IG’s recommendations provide little assurance of meaningful accountability and protections moving forward. Most “resolved” recommendations remain to be implemented over months or years, while numerous other recommendations remain “unresolved.”

Particularly troubling is the response to the primary IG recommendations that oversight of fuels facilities operations and maintenance and drinking water compliance be assigned to specific accountable individuals. The Department of Defense’s vague responses—assigning these roles to the Pearl Harbor Commanding Officer—would merely continue the practice of entrusting the operation of extremely complex systems to a revolving door of short-term Navy leaders, for whom environmental and human health and safety have never been a demonstrated priority.

Accordingly, the IG findings reinforce the urgent need for true accountability and decisive action to clean up the mess created by the Navy and Department of Defense. We must take it upon ourselves to protect our islands, our children, and generations yet unborn from the current and potential future contamination crises impacting our ‘āina, wai, and all that depend upon our precious natural and cultural resources.

Our community must remain vigilant and informed to prevent further contamination of Oʻahu’s water system from historical and recent contamination plumes. Local leaders must abandon their blind deference to the Department of Defense and reject its disingenuous public relations strategies. It is imperative that we recognize that our islands’, nation’s, and planet’s true “security” lies not in our ability to destroy but in our ability to defend and enhance the health and integrity of our environment, planet, and collective well-being.

To this end, we urge the Department of Health, Governor Green’s Administration, and our Congressional Delegation to stand with and for the Hawai‘i community, and ensure that the Department of Defense implements the robust testing and remediation actions demanded by the Board of Water Supply and Water Alliance Initiative.

We urge the federal government, including the Department of Defense and Environmental Protection Agency, to prioritize proactive measures to safeguard public health and the remediation of the contamination it has inflicted on our islands and in too many other places throughout the Pacific.

Finally, we call on all Hawai‘i residents to recognize the critical importance of continued public education, vigilance, and civic engagement in the Red Hill crisis, to secure the true government accountability that we need and deserve.

Source: Popularresistance.org