It’s a sad irony that the latest insult to the water contaminated by the Red Hill fuel storage tanks is an anti-icing agent. It’s an additive to the fuel to ward off ice crystal formation, which may be necessary where the fuel was heading, eventually, but it’s the last thing that was needed in these warm isles.

State health experts believe the substance, diethylene glycol monomethyl ether, would have moved quickly into the water system. This was one more fact in the bad-news saga that Hawaii didn’t need.