- Richelle Dietz, a mother of two and the wife of a U.S. naval officer stationed in Honolulu, is one of the 17 people who filed suit against the U.S. government.
- The lawsuit stems from health problems such as vomiting and rashes allegedly related to a 2021 jet fuel leak.
- The government has admitted responsibility but disputes the extent of the exposure and the resulting health problems.
Richelle Dietz, a mother of two and the wife of a U.S. naval officer, thinks about water a lot.
This Honolulu-based family spends more than $120 a month on bottled water for drinking, cooking, and cleaning, as well as showerhead and sink filters. Every night, the 13-year-old and her 5-year-old bring bottled water to her upstairs bathroom to brush their teeth.
“I hope that one day we won’t have to worry about water all the time,” Dietz said. “But now it’s a constant.”
Military families continue to file lawsuits over fuel-contaminated drinking water: “We’re just collateral damage”
That vigilance is to avoid further outbreaks of vomiting, diarrhea, rashes and other illnesses, and they said jet fuel will serve 93,000 people in and around Pearl Harbor base in 2021. He said he started experiencing it when there was a leak in his water supply system. Dietz said thousands of people got sick in military housing, including her own family.
Richelle Dietz holds an empty 5-gallon water bottle at her home at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Honolulu, Hawaii, on April 22, 2024. The Dietz family has relied on biweekly water deliveries for her daily necessities since the water became contaminated in 2021. (AP Photo/Lin Mengxin)
She is one of 17 relatives of U.S. military personnel suing the United States over a leak from a World War II-era storage tank. She said her entire family, including her dog Rocket, continues to suffer from health problems related to contaminated water. Her husband, a chief petty officer, declined to be interviewed by The Associated Press, fearing retaliation from the Navy.
The 17 are considered “lead” plaintiffs on behalf of more than 7,500 other military families, civilians, and service members in three federal lawsuits. The outcome of the trial, which begins Monday, will help determine the amount of damages awarded in other lawsuits.
One of the lawyers, Christina Behr, said she considered it a success already because the U.S. government admitted responsibility.
Hawaii military family complains jet fuel leaks into supply, giving tap water a chemical odor and oily sheen
Lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice said in court documents that the November 20, 2021 spill at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility “caused inconvenience” to the plaintiffs and that the U.S. “breached its duty of care.” He said the government has approved it. The plaintiffs claimed that they had suffered compensable injuries.
But they claim the plaintiffs were exposed to sufficient levels of jet fuel to cause health problems. Plaintiffs say they battle problems including seizures, memory loss, anxiety, eczema and asthma.
When the Dietz family arrived in Hawaii in February 2021, “we thought we were moving to heaven on earth,” Dietz said in a statement filed in the lawsuit.
But right after the spill, around Thanksgiving, they couldn’t figure out their symptoms of abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. Other families in the neighborhood also became ill. Then a rash appeared.
Dietz remembers telling her husband on Nov. 27, “My throat hurts. It feels like I drank gasoline.”
The next night, her Facebook timeline was filled with complaints from neighbors about the smell of fuel in the water. The Dietzes also ran to the faucet and smelled the fuel. They noticed that the tap water also had an oily sheen to it.
Lawyers representing the families say the trial will reveal that Navy officers failed to warn residents after learning of the presence of fuel in the water, and even claimed that the staff members had been drinking the water. It says that it will be.
Navy representatives and government lawyers did not respond to emails seeking comment on the lawsuit.
Fuel storage tanks have long been a flashpoint in Hawaii, with Native Hawaiians and other residents raising concerns over the past decade about leaks that threaten widespread water supplies. These tanks sit on top of an aquifer and provide water to 400,000 people in metropolitan Honolulu.
The Navy initially said it was unclear how the oil ended up in the ocean, but its own investigation ultimately determined that a series of mistakes were to blame.
On May 6, 2021, operator error caused a pipe to burst, spilling 21,000 gallons (80,000 liters) of fuel that was being transferred between tanks. However, most of the fuel entered the fire line and remained there until six months later, when a truck rammed into the line and 20,000 gallons (75,700 liters) were released and eventually entered the water system.
Red Hill employees noticed that one of the tanks was short on that amount, but did not report the discrepancy to senior management.
Dietz didn’t want to jeopardize her husband’s career by offering to leave Hawaii. So they stayed and focused on avoiding tap water while they figured out their next step.
“They’re just trying to put another family in this house,” she said. “So we need to stay here and we need to fight to solve this problem.”
In doing so, Dietz says he found an unexpected ally among Native Hawaiians who revere water as a sacred resource and were already distrustful of the U.S. military. Its origins can be traced back to at least 1893. Overthrew the Kingdom of Hawaii from the U.S. Marines.
Kawenaulaokala Kapahua, a Native Hawaiian political science doctoral student and one of the activists who pushed for the tank’s closure, said the water crisis fostered a sense of solidarity with affected military families. Ta. It also fostered relationships within the military community, who frequently bike to and from the island, he said.
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When her family felt abandoned by the military, “the indigenous community came to their rescue,” Kapahua said.
Dietz agreed. “They gave us a seat at the table,” she said through tears.
Eventually, on orders from state authorities and under pressure from protests and continued protests, the military drained the tank.
Dietz’s husband has since received new orders, and the family plans to move to Jacksonville, Florida, this summer. They’re not going to live there in military housing.
Dietz, who is preparing to move from a house where the ice maker has been off since 2021, hopes the trial will bring new awareness to what happened to the water.
“Someone is moving in and I’m worried that the ice machine will turn on,” she said.
