Hawaii

A Hawaii military family avoids tap water at home. They're among those suing over 2021 jet fuel leak

Published

2 weeks ago

April 28, 2024

A Hawaii military family avoids tap water at home. They're among those suing over 2021 jet fuel leak

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii — Richelle Dietz, a mother of two and wife of a U.S. Navy officer, often thinks about water.

The family, stationed in Honolulu, spends more than $120 a month on jugs of bottled water for drinking, cooking and cleaning, as well as showerhead and sink filters. Each night the children, ages 13 and 5, carry cups of bottled water upstairs to their bathrooms to brush their teeth.

“I hope that one day I can not think about water all the time,” Dietz said. “But right now it’s a constant.”

That vigilance is to avoid more vomiting, diarrhea, rashes and other ailments, which they said they started experiencing 2021, when jet fuel leaked into the Navy water system serving 93,000 people on and around the Pearl Harbor base. It sickened thousands in military housing, including, Dietz says, her own family.

She’s one of 17 relatives of U.S. military members suing the United States over the leak from the World War II-era storage tanks. She said her entire family — including dog Rocket — continues to suffer from health problems they link to the tainted water. Her husband, a chief petty officer, declined to be interviewed by The Associated Press because he fears retaliation from the Navy.

The 17 are considered “bellwether” plaintiffs representing more than 7,500 other military family members, civilians and service members in three federal lawsuits. The outcome of their trial, which starts Monday, will help determine the success of the other cases and the damages that could be awarded.

Kristina Baehr, one of their attorneys, said she already considers it a success because the U.S. government has admitted liability.

U.S. Department of Justice attorneys wrote in court documents that the government admits the Nov. 20, 2021, spill at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility “caused a nuisance” for the plaintiffs, that the United States “breached its duty of care” and that the plaintiffs suffered compensable injuries.

But they dispute the plaintiffs were exposed to jet fuel at levels high enough to cause their alleged health problems. Lingering issues plaintiffs say they are battling include 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 wrote in a declaration filed in the case.

But around Thanksgiving — soon after the leak — they couldn’t figure out their stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea. Other families in the neighborhood were also sick. Then they developed rashes.

“My throat is burning. I feel like I just drank gasoline,” Dietz remembers telling her husband on Nov. 27.

The next night, her Facebook timeline was filled with neighbors complaining about the smell of fuel in their water. The Dietzes ran to their faucets and smelled fuel, too. They noticed the tap water also had an oily sheen.

Attorneys representing the families say the trial will show Navy officers failed to warn residents after learning about fuel in the water, and even maintained that staff members were drinking the water.

Navy representatives and government attorneys didn’t respond to an email seeking comment on the lawsuit.

The 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 threatened the broader water supply. The tanks sit above an aquifer that delivers water to 400,000 people in urban Honolulu.

At first, the Navy said it hadn’t determined how petroleum got into the water, but its own investigation eventually pinned the cause to a cascading series of mistakes.

On May 6, 2021, a pipe ruptured due to an operator error and caused 21,000 gallons (80,000 liters) of fuel that was being transferred between tanks to spill. Most of the fuel, however, entered a fire suppression line and remained there until six months later, when a cart rammed into the line and released 20,000 gallons (75,700 liters) that eventually got into the water system.

Red Hill workers noticed that one of the tanks was short that amount, but didn’t report the discrepancy to senior leadership.

Dietz didn’t want to risk her husband’s career by asking to leave Hawaii. So they stayed and were committed to avoiding tap water while they figured out their next steps.

“They’re just going to put another family in this house,” she said. “So we need to stay here and we need to try to fight to get this fixed.”

In doing so, Dietz says she found unexpected allies among Native Hawaiians, who revere water as a sacred resource and already have a distrust of the U.S. military, which can be traced back to at least 1893, when a group of American businessmen, with support from U.S. Marines, overthrew the Hawaiian kingdom.

Kawenaʻulaokalā Kapahua — a Native Hawaiian political science doctoral student and one of the activists who pushed to shut down the tanks — said the water crisis forged a sense of solidarity with affected military families. It also fostered relationships within a military community of members who often cycle quickly in and out of the islands, he said.

When families felt abandoned by the military, “the people who did show up for them was the Native community,” Kapahua said.

Dietz agreed. “They gave us a seat at the table,” she said through tears.

Eventually, under orders from state officials, pressure from the outcry and ongoing protests, the military drained the tanks.

Dietz’s husband later got new orders and the family is relocating to Jacksonville, Florida, this summer. They don’t plan to live in military housing there.

As she prepares to move out of a house where the ice maker has remained off since 2021, Dietz hopes the trial will renew awareness about what happened to the water.

“Somebody’s going to move in,” she said, “and I’m worried they’re going to turn on the ice machine.”

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Hawaii

Hilo businesses begin cleanup process after rain pummels Hawaii Island

Published

6 hours ago

May 11, 2024

Press Room

Hilo businesses begin cleanup process after rain pummels Hawaii Island

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Businesses in Hilo are now beginning the cleanup process after Friday’s rain battered Hawaii Island.

It was 90 minutes of downpour in Hilo Friday afternoon

The store Simply Sisters, located on Kamehameha Avenue, watched as water seeped into the store.

“It started flooding throughout all of downtown and throughout all the shops, so our shop actually got flooded, and so it was just me and three other girls at the time, so we had to move everything out of the window because it started to leak and we had to try and clean up the water and stop the water from coming in,” Makanoe Lagua of Simply Sisters said.

With no sandbags on hand, they had to improvise.

“We used bubble wrap until the sandbags could come later, actually, but we did the best that we could,” Makanoe Lagua said.

First Alert Weather Day: Weather alerts issued as heavy rains persist

“When the county or the mayor says be prepared, we really do need to be prepared, and this is a learning experience for us as well about having maybe our own sandbags and being more mindful,” Manager of Simply Sisters Brenda Kenui said.

“It happened really quick because I just got off the phone with her and was like, we’re gonna close up, and I said, OK, just close up, and next thing you know, I’m getting this video. I’m like, oh my gosh, I gotta get down there.”

Because of their quick thinking, none of the merchandise was damaged, and they were still able to hold their Mother’s Day sale Saturday morning.

“We also have some hula and entertainment going on as part of our Mother’s Day weekend, so we have a lot going on, a lot of specials, 30% of the bags, buy one get one half BOGO sale,” Brenda Kenui said.

A few stores down Bayfront, a longtime surf shop owner Stan Lawrence of Orchid Land Surf Shop says his experience from past storms came in handy Friday.

“I’ve been through this before: the flood of 2000. Yesterday’s storm was like a two-hour storm; the flood of 2000 was a 12-hour storm, and it was thunder and lightning all night. I happened to be down here, and I was picking all of my low stuff near the floor; I had mountains of merchandise stacked up,” Stan Lawrence said.

Meanwhile, The Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency says cleanup and damage assessment began today.

“We know some of the businesses or quite a bit of the businesses in Hilo probably had water damage from the eyewitness accounts that we had as far as what was happening down there; we know water got into a bunch of businesses, and then yesterday afternoon, we were taking quite a bit bunch of calls for people asking for sandbags so we’ll follow up with those people to see what kind of damage they had,” Talmadge Magno an Administrator of Hawaii County Civil Defence Agency said.

To report damage, fill out this assessment form on the Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency website or call (808) 935-0031.

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Hawaii

Cast of Cancelled NCIS: Hawai’i Gathers at Sunset to Celebrate Ohana

Published

13 hours ago

May 11, 2024

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Cast of Cancelled ‘NCIS: Hawaii’ Gathers at Sunset to Celebrate Ohana

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Hawaii baseball team makes it 10 straight with rout of UC Riverside

Published

20 hours ago

May 11, 2024

Press Room

Hawaii baseball team makes it 10 straight with rout of UC Riverside

Quality starts continue to provide the Hawaii baseball team with its longest stretch of quality play in some time.

The Rainbow Warriors attained their NCAA-leading 10^th straight win with an 8-2 victory over UC Riverside at Les Murakami Stadium on Friday night, thanks in large part to Randy Abshier’s second straight scoreless start.

A night after reaching the 30-win plateau for the first time since 2012, UH (31-15, 14-9 Big West) achieved a double-digit win streak for only the second time since 2000. The Rainbow Warriors claimed their fourth straight series since getting swept at conference leader UC Santa Barbara in mid-April.

Morale is high, though a postseason berth is still unlikely with seven games remaining in the regular season and no winning teams left to face to boost UH’s resume.

“It happens when you’re on this streak. The vibe in the dugout is awesome,” coach Rich Hill told the Spectrum Sports crew postgame. “People are comfortable with their roles. And we have a good time, anyway. I just believe in that. Baseball’s supposed to be fun. We have a real good synergy going right now.”

Abshier (4-4) went 6 1/3 innings with just four hits and no walks allowed while striking out five. The left-hander from San Diego has 13 1/3 straight scoreless innings going back to last weekend’s start against Cal State Northridge.

“He’s great. This time of the season that slider is really working for him,” Hill said. “He has a lot of confidence in that changeup. Playing with that 90 mph fastball, it’s tough on opposing hitters.”

When UCR got consecutive one-out singles on Abshier in the seventh, Itsuki Takemoto came out of the bullpen and elicited a strikeout and a lineout.

UH took a shutout into the ninth inning but the Highlanders (15-30, 5-18) got on the board against Takemoto with two walks and a double.

Dallas Duarte got a night off from catching as he swapped roles with usual designated hitter Austin Machado, who went 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and drove in three runs.

Kyson Donahue reached the 100-RBI mark for his UH career with a single to left in the sixth. Jordan Donahue and Elijah Ickes registered multi-hit games – for Ickes it was his fourth straight.

Center fielder Matthew Miura made a highlight diving grab of Cole Koniarsky as the first out in the top of the ninth, and Jared Quandt made a similar play to Rudy Rodriguez IV in right to end the game.

The teams have the day off Saturday for UH Manoa graduation and are scheduled to finish the series at 1:05 p.m. Sunday.

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.

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