'The Red Hill disaster is just one more example of the Department of Defense's disregard for human lives when those lives get in the way of their expensive, deadly operations.'
The Red Hill disaster is just one more example of the Department of Defense's disregard for human lives when those lives get in the way of their expensive, deadly operations.Concerns from hundreds of military families living on the Joint Naval Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawai'i about foul-smelling drinking water were dismissed on November 29th, 2021, by Naval Commander Captain Erik Spitzer, who assured residents the water was safe to drink.
What had happened in the days between initial denials of water contamination and the issuing of the apology? As it turns out, the complaints of nearly 1,000 military and civilian households weren't unfounded. Rather, a November 20th jet fuel spill at a fuel storage facility near the base had leaked into the water supply, rendering the tap water of 93,000 residents, both military families and civilians, hazardous to drink.
While Hawai'i's Department of Health warned residents on the base against using the water, the Navy continued to deny any danger. Behind the scenes, however, the Navy had halted the use of the Red Hill fuel storage facility and took its Red Hill water well offline on November 27th and 28th– without disclosing either decision to residents.
A day later, Governor David Ige and the Department of Health issued an emergency order directing the Navy to further suspend operations of the Red Hill storage tank facility until independent evaluators could prove that appropriate actions were being taken to protect drinking water. They also ordered the Navy to treat toxic drinking water and plan to remove the fuel.
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