The Justice Department issued about $17 million in payments to 629 people, mostly military family members, tied to the 2021 Red Hill fuel spills that contaminated water in Hawaii.
The payments were the first in settlements covering about 3,600 claims from the spills, which affected military families in military housing and other Hawaii residents whose water was supplied by the Navy. About 3,000 other people had not accepted the government’s offer, which plaintiffs’ attorney Kristina Baehr called “paltry.”
Baehr said affected service members had received no payments. That issue was on appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The lawsuits, filed in U.S. District Court in Hawaii, alleged negligence in separate incidents in May and November 2021 at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility that contaminated the Navy’s water system. About 9,715 households in Navy, Army, and Air Force neighborhoods were affected by the November spill. The storage tanks have since been drained.
The first group of settlements for the 629 plaintiffs was approved May 19, and payments were issued June 22, Justice Department officials said. The two lawsuits included about 6,500 people.
Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said the settlements showed the department’s “commitment to ensuring justice for our nation’s heroes who repeatedly risk greatly to safeguard our freedoms.” Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate said the department was making “good faith efforts” to resolve the claims and called the settlements “a fair and just resolution of claims.”
Baehr disputed that characterization. “No dollars are going to America’s heroes,” she said.
She also said, “This Department of Justice proclaims that it is ensuring justice for America’s heroes by way of these paltry settlements. [It] doesn’t mention that they have paid zero dollars to service members. [DOJ] argued in court that service members should be dismissed from their Red Hill contamination claims because when they bathed their babies at home and bathed themselves naked in their showers, those were incident to military service because they occurred in military housing.”.
Service members and family members reported health problems including diarrhea and other gastrointestinal issues, rashes, neurological issues, burns, lesions, thyroid abnormalities, migraines, and neurobehavioral challenges. The Navy initially told families the water was safe to drink, later moved them to hotels while the system was flushed, and acknowledged operator error caused the contamination.