1 week Ago By None
The Department of Defense’s inspector general (IG) report released last week provides another disheartening blow to families sickened during the 2021 fuel leak as we learned the Navy missed not one, but four opportunities to warn us. The report validates local leaders like Honolulu Board of Water Supply chief Ernie Lau and other Hawaii residents who publicly shared years-long concerns about the safety of the aging fuel storage facility located just 100 feet from Oahu’s sole-source aquifer. Ultimately, the new report clearly describes the Navy’s frequent, negligent actions, validates a whistleblower’s claims about the facility’s poor management, and explains why many Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam residents were left with overt signs of the toxins’ damage, spreading clusters of illnesses and diseases among families, neighbors and friends.
The report is even more distressing for parents whose babies and children will live with lifelong issues, issues we now know were preventable had the Navy acted with integrity and complied with the very rules and regulations that were designed to protect. The Navy and anyone overseeing water systems ought to have learned from Camp Lejeune that chemicals leaking into drinking water systems are some of the most dangerous, but preventable, tragedies in our country. Sadly, because the toxins are often unknown and “silent,” not always manifesting physical symptoms for years, those responsible for the diseases and illnesses they cause quietly “sail away” into retirement and second careers, leaving the evidence long gone and those suffering abandoned with no hope of justice or healthy futures, like the families of Camp Lejeune.
Those families suffered unthinkable illnesses and tragedies all while the Marines, part of the Navy, hid relevant information for years. While Camp Lejeune’s families struggled with their health and illnesses, neither they, nor their doctors, were aware of the deadly toxins they had ingested. They were abandoned with no hope of justice or healthy futures.
However, in the case of Red Hill, amid the tragedy, there can be hope. Hope that justice will be served by holding people accountable for their negligent actions. Hope that it’s not too late for families and doctors to be fully informed about the exposure.
Hope for Hawaii to move forward with better knowledge to best protect its precious wai. That hope will come only if the DOD truly reflects on the findings of the IG report, faces the harsh reality of how dangerous Red Hill was throughout 2021, and begins practicing the ”transparency” they preach. The IG report ought to urge the DOD to release all information regarding the Red Hill facility and families’ medical struggles.
After the 2021 fuel leak, multiple families dialogued with DOD doctors about common symptoms known among neighbors. Those doctors requested a study to look for several diagnosis codes, not broad medical record reviews, among Red Hill families. The study, completed by the DOD’s Epi-Data Center, shows Red Hill families have higher diagnosis rates of both migraines and eosinophilic esophagitis (EOE) when compared to families living on Marine Corp Base Kaneohe during the same time.
EOE is significant because the diagnosis is made based on biological markers, not a diagnosis based solely on symptoms reported. The “Additional Clinical Conditions of Interest” study offers hope and validation to families suffering, but that study must first be made public. When honest DOD officials act with families’ best interest in mind, the DOD must not hamper those efforts or delay the information from those reports.
It’s time for the DOD to stop hiding and accept responsibility for all the damage Red Hill has caused. People are sick and suffering. Oahu’s aquifer is at risk, and the best hope moving forward is for the DOD to share the whole truth about Red Hill.
Katherine McClanahan is the wife of an Air Force Reserve colonel whose family has been affected by the Red Hill contamination..
