Richelle Dietz holds an empty 5-gallon water bottle at her home at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Monday, April 22, 2024, in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Dietz family relies on biweekly water supplies for basic needs since their water was contaminated in 2021.
Mengshin Lin/AP
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Mengshin Lin/AP
Richelle Dietz holds an empty 5-gallon water bottle at her home at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Monday, April 22, 2024, in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Dietz family relies on biweekly water supplies for basic needs since their water was contaminated in 2021.
Mengshin Lin/AP
HONOLULU – A trial in a mass environmental harm case begins in Hawaii on Monday, more than two years after a U.S. military underground fuel tank facility poisoned thousands of people when it Jet fuel leaked into Pearl Harbor’s drinking water.
Instead of a jury, the judge in U.S. District Court in Honolulu will hear the case against the United States by 17 “standard” plaintiffs: a cross-selection of military relatives representing more than 7,500 others, including military personnel, in three federal lawsuits.
According to court documents, the United States government admitted that the November 20, 2021 oil spill at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility caused a nuisance to the plaintiffs, that the United States “violated breach of duty of care” and the plaintiffs must pay compensation. injury.
But they dispute whether people were exposed to jet fuel at levels high enough to cause their alleged health effects, from vomiting to rashes.
Plaintiffs filed affidavits describing how the water crisis made them sick and left them with ongoing health problems, including seizures, asthma, eczema and dysfunction. vestibule.
Nastasia Freeman, the wife of a Navy lieutenant and mother of three, described how the family thought their vomiting and diarrhea were caused by Thanksgiving food poisoning.
“I had a rash on my arms with ulcers and lesions on my scalp, feet and hands along with headaches,” she wrote. “I had a very strange feeling that I had never had before – I felt like my blood was on fire.”
Even their dog vomited.
On November 29, a nurse told her she was receiving many calls, all with a common theme: tap water.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys argued that Navy officials knew there was fuel in the water and failed to warn people not to drink it, even while telling people the water was safe.
“It felt like we were being suffocated,” Freeman’s statement in the case said. “We knew the water wasn’t safe, but the Navy told us it was. They said they didn’t know what was in the water and they were ‘investigating’.”
A 2022 Navy investigation report listed a series of failures dating back to May 6, 2021, when operator error caused a pipe to rupture and cause 21,000 gallons (80,000 liters) of fuel to spill. as it is transferred between containers. Much of this fuel entered the fire lines and remained there for six months, causing the lines to sag. When a trolley crashed into this hammock on November 20, it released 20,000 gallons (75,700 liters) of fuel.
The Army finally agreed to drain the tanks after the 2021 oil spill, amid a state order and protests from Native Hawaiians and other Hawaii residents concerned about the threat to Honolulu’s water supply. The tanks sit above the aquifer that supplies water to 400,000 people in urban Honolulu.
A lot is going on in this trial.
“An in-person trial helps attorneys understand the likelihood of success or failure of cases,” explains Loretta Sheehan, a Honolulu-based personal injury attorney not involved in the water lawsuit. happenning”.
The results could help determine what future damages should be compensated or settled, she said.
