A federal judge has decided to award more than $680,000 to 17 families who claimed they suffered from a jet fuel leak into a Navy drinking water system in Hawaii in 2021. These initial cases are setting the stage legally for another 7,500 individuals, which include military family members, civilians, and service members, whose cases are still unresolved.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi delivered the ruling, granting amounts ranging from $5,000 to over $104,000 to each plaintiff. Kobayashi’s order highlighted that while the contaminated water could potentially cause many of the health issues suffered by the families, there was insufficient evidence to firmly establish a direct causation.
The awarded damages were notably less than the $225,000 to $1.25 million range requested by one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, Kristina Baehr, during a two-week trial held in federal court in Honolulu. As representative bellwethers, these 17 plaintiffs were selected to reflect the broader situation affecting thousands of others still pending.
Baehr expressed that the awarded damages were disappointing but noted that the families “prevailed against all odds against the U.S. Government.” She mentioned that these families played a critical role in proving the adverse effects of the military’s actions regarding the water supply near Pearl Harbor.
“They helped show the world the truth about the Navy’s negligence when it contaminated the water and caused widespread sickness,” stated Baehr in a press release. “The Court did not support the Government’s claim that our clients’ symptoms were psychosomatic and that there wasn’t enough fuel exposure to cause illness.”
Baehr added that the legal team is currently exploring options for dealing with the thousands of remaining cases. Although the government acknowledged responsibility for the incident before the trial, their lawyers challenged whether the plaintiffs had been exposed to enough jet fuel to cause the claimed health issues, including vomiting and rashes.
The spill occurred at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, a massive facility established in the 1940s to supply war vehicles across the Pacific. This installation contains colossal tanks, comparable to 25-story buildings, with each capable of storing up to 12.5 million gallons inside caverns carved out by the military from a mountain ridge above Pearl Harbor.
An aquifer located beneath the facility, equipped with wells, supplied drinking water to both the Navy and the residents of Honolulu. A pipe rupture in May 2021 led to over 20,000 gallons of fuel spilling into a fire suppression line, remaining hidden for six months until it was inadvertently released by a cart collision. Consequently, around Thanksgiving, the spilled fuel leaked into a drain and drinking water well, impacting 90,000 people at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.
An investigation report from the Navy published the following year found several oversights by military officials, including a delay in notifying the state Department of Health, missing opportunities to enact emergency responses for the contamination, and assuring residents of having safe drinking water without conducting necessary laboratory analysis for verification.
After the spill, military families reported various health issues like skin peeling, stomach pains, vomiting, and diarrhea within a week. Plaintiffs suffered from long-term problems such as seizures, asthma, eczema, and vestibular dysfunction. Public outrage ensued, prompting calls from lawmakers, environmentalists, and residents, eventually leading the military to agree to drain and close down the facility. Last year, the tanks were finally emptied.