The Navy on Friday released several documents regarding its data on the health impact of the November 2021 Red Hill fuel spills, just before a federal trial begins Monday in a lawsuit brought by affected families against the federal government alleging the spill has caused long-term health damage.
The Navy released three documents about water quality data as well as reports of medical and mental health issues reported to military care providers in the aftermath of the incident, during which JP-5 jet fuel stored at the Navy’s Red Hill fuel facility tainted the service’s Oahu water system, which serves 93,000 people — including service members, military families and civilians living in former military housing areas.
In the documents, the Navy concluded that while fuel entered the water system, it asserted that “the available data demonstrate a lack of a (Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam) systemwide impact associated with JP-5 fuel,” and said the main “exposure time frame” was Nov. 20-29, 2021, before the Navy shut off the tainted Red Hill water well. It argued that after Dec. 3, 2021, 100% of the drinking water supplied to the Navy system was from the Waiawa Shaft, “which was not impacted by the JP-5 fuel release.”
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.”
“The report did not look for long-term health symptoms, so it has no bearing on whether people are still experiencing symptoms from their exposure,” said Kristina Baehr, an attorney representing the families in the lawsuit. “In real life the Navy acknowledges that more than 7,000 people had medical encounters within their own system related to the fuel exposure. And in court they have hired an expert … to claim that there was not enough fuel in the water to make anyone sick at all. Their litigation position continues to defy reality, according to their own doctors.”
Some officials have posited that some of the symptoms reported by Red Hill-affected families are psychosomatic — the result of stress and mental health issues — rather than long-term symptoms from fuel exposure. But Baehr notes remarks and documents sent out by U.S. Army Col. John Oh, the Defense Health Agency’s chief of occupational and environmental health, indicate that it could be more complicated.
In an April 9 webinar hosted by the DHA regarding Red Hill exposures, Oh said that when it comes to long-term symptoms, it isn’t “either/or” in weighing mental health and fuel exposure when it comes to illnesses, noting that the event was traumatic and both could be a factor. He also said that some symptoms may not even be manifesting themselves yet and could appear years from now.
In March the DHA sent out guidance to military medical providers in dealing with patients exposed to the Red Hill fuel, advising, “The long-term health risks of exposure to JP-5 and fuel additives are unknown. Defense Health Agency Public Health is investigating the cause of persistent symptoms and reports of neurological conditions and is planning an independent, third-party Red Hill exposure registry to monitor individuals’ health and quality of life.”
The guidance stated that “the long-term health risks of exposure to JP-5 and fuel additives are unknown. Defense Health Agency Public Health is investigating the cause of persistent symptoms and reports of neurological conditions and is planning an independent, third-party Red Hill exposure registry to monitor individuals’ health and quality of life.”
Maj. Mandy Feindt, an Army officer who is among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, told the Honolulu Star- Advertiser that “mental health issues did not cause my 1-year-old son to have body rashes and skin rashes, after bathing in water that we didn’t know was contaminated. Mental health issues did did not cause my 1-year-old son to have permanent lung damage from inhaling toxic fumes in our home.”
“This is this same buffoonery that the U.S. Navy pulled with Camp Lejune families,” added Feindt, referencing water at the North Carolina Marine Corps base that was tainted with toxic “forever chemicals” causing health problems for many who lived there.
Lacey Quintero, a military spouse whose family was exposed and currently serves as co-chair of the Red Hill Community Representation Initiative, said, “They can spend all the time and effort they want to produce long-winded, misleading reports written by their paid-off experts. The reality remains the same. People living on JBPHH waterlines are still experiencing visibly contaminated household water that is causing them to experience negative health effects. … Just this week I have already personally received three new reports of water contamination and health symptoms. People are fed up with the Navy’s inaction.”
Baehr said she believes the timing of the release just before the trial is no coincidence.
“They’re basically saying this report proves that people didn’t get sicker over the long term. That’s what they’re claiming,” she said.
“But within the report there are nuggets that show that in the short term, people were even sicker than we thought,” she added, noting that the more than 7,000 people mentioned in the report are more than the 6,000 people she was aware of making medical appointments before.
“And that’s only within the the military (health care) system. It’s not including civilian providers, and many military service members and their families use civilian providers. So this is really pretty extraordinary data,” she added.
The documents also come after a Navy “Swarm Team” of experts officially concluded that recent tests detecting petroleum were the result of lab errors. The recent documents noted that in the aftermath of the November 2021 spill, there were significant gaps and potential oversights in tested water.
The Navy turned to water- testing methods that were meant for groundwater and don’t account for chlorine in drinking water systems. The documents state that “groundwater analytical methods are commonly used in emergency responses when quicker lab turnaround times are required.”
The documents also said, “There were no samples collected from the JBPHH drinking water system in the time between the JP-5 release on November 20, 2021, and when the first health impacts and fuel-like tastes, odors, and sheen began to be reported on November 28, 2021, when concentrations where likely at their highest.”
Baehr noted that the government is continuing to build a registry of people who were affected by the 2021 Red Hill fuel release.
“For decades to come, they’ll be spending at least a million dollars a year in perpetuity,” Baehr said. “If people were not at risk, if people are not at risk, why are they spending millions of dollars a year to track the risk?”
