In November 2021, 93,000 people living near the U.S. military’s Strategic Fuel Storage Facility near Honolulu, Hawaii, woke up to find their drinking water contaminated with toxic jet fuel. 27,000 gallons had leaked into an aquifer near Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. Now, more than 2,500 plaintiffs who suffered side effects from ingesting the jet fuel are suing the government, seeking damages of up to $1.25 million each.
The fuel storage facility known as Red Hill was the largest in the Pacific and was built during World War II. Fuel was stored in miles of tunnels up to 20 levels underground to supply the Navy’s Pacific Fleet with a strategic fuel reserve of 250 million gallons.
Attorney Christina Baer of Just Well Law is representing military families and civilians suing the U.S. government over water contamination in Red Hill.
Military families sue government over contaminated water at Hawaii base in lawsuit
“The government calls it contamination and our clients call it poisoning, because that’s what happened. The government knew it was contaminated and yet they allowed it to be used,” Baer said in an interview with Fox News.
Baer said her patients suffer from a variety of long-term conditions, including Parkinson’s disease and seizures.
This case is personal for Baer: After her own family’s experience with toxic exposure, she decided to leave her job at the Justice Department to represent families like her own.
Baby Maverick developed a rash just a few days after birth. (Courtesy of Jacqueline Hughes)
“They’re standing up not for themselves, but to make sure this doesn’t happen again. We as a country can’t be up to the task if we get sick, if our people get sick,” Baer said of the thousands he represents in the lawsuit.
The incident is named after Jacqueline Hughes and her family. At the time of the leak, Hughes had just given birth to her son, Maverick. Just a few days after his birth, his son was covered in a red rash and Hughes’ own throat began to burn immediately after drinking water from her home.
Hughes’ husband was deployed with the US Navy at the time of the leak and was unable to be present for their son’s birth. When he returned home to meet Maverick, Hughes described how the water had an oily sheen and smelled of gasoline.
The lawsuit aims to stop the military and FBI from creating false arrest records of soldiers and veterans who have not been charged with a crime.
“My husband was deployed at the time. He missed the birth of our son. He came home to see him when he was five days old. He came home and found jet fuel in his drinking water, he had to deploy again, he left us in the hands of the Navy that he swore to protect, and we were denied care, rejected, gaslighted, and to this day we still don’t have the proper care that our daughter needs,” Hughes told Fox.
Hughes said his daughter Kayla, who was just four at the time of the leak, suffered a complete psychosis.
“When Kayla began experiencing her symptoms she went from being a happy-go-lucky four-year-old girl to being completely psychotic. We went from her being normal at school to her impairment being so severe she couldn’t leave the house for months at a time,” Ms Hughes said.
The Hughes family. (Courtesy of Jacqueline Hughes)
Another plaintiff, Aurora Briggs, was 22 at the time of the breach. She lived with her siblings and mother in a private home on U.S. Navy land. Briggs has suffered a range of symptoms from a sore throat to memory loss and brain fog. She now lives in Arizona but is struggling to access treatment.
Briggs explained that it’s not every day that a doctor tells a patient that their symptoms are due to long-term exposure to jet fuel.
“The list is so long that I have a binder just to keep track of all the different medical conditions, symptoms, doctor appointments, etc. It’s overwhelming,” Briggs said.
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“It feels like I have dementia because I can’t remember things and it’s hard to even think of words. Sometimes I even have trouble speaking,” Briggs said of her condition.
Both Hughes and Briggs believe the US Navy bears responsibility for its response to the leak.
“The Navy has badly mishandled this, particularly those who were in contact with us regarding testing, maintenance and treatment of the Red Hill contaminants. We are a proud Navy family. My husband is in the Navy and is currently deployed. We have family members in the Navy. We feel betrayed by the institution that is supposed to protect us,” Hughes said.
Aurora was hospitalized after ingesting jet fuel and developing symptoms. (Courtesy of Aurora Briggs)
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the closure of the Red Hill facility in March 2022. It required the transfer of 12.4 million gallons of diesel fuel and 93 million gallons of jet fuel to multiple locations in the Indo-Pacific region.
But Baer said the Navy has yet to remove the jet fuel from the pipes, and families report the water is still shiny and smells like oil.
“Either way, we know the water is sheen. People are getting symptoms. The EPA is concerned, but the Navy continues to turn a blind eye. So the water is not safe. We’re in a situation in November 2021 where people who were there are still getting sick. And the water is still not safe.”
The U.S. Navy denied the allegations in a statement to Fox News.
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“Following the initial spill in November 2021, the Navy took immediate steps to restore (clean) the system and conducted a thorough sampling program. The Navy also isolated the affected wells and ensured that all drinking water is supplied from separate wells,” the statement said.
The Navy told Fox it took 9,000 samples to an EPA-certified laboratory to confirm the water now meets state and federal safety standards. The Navy noted that the Hawaii State Department of Health confirmed in its own testing that no petroleum or jet fuel compounds were found in drinking water samples taken on or near the Navy base.
But there is still a long way to go to deal with the fallout from the breach.
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“We, the thousands of affected families, need to hear from them: ‘Yes, you have been hurt by this. Yes, you have sick children. Yes, you have children who need long-term care. We need accountability,'” Hughes said.
