Military families in Hawaii say water tainted by jet fuel made them sick | 60 Minutes

the US military takes pride in protecting its own that's why military families we met in Hawaii told us they feel so betrayed two years ago there was a fuel spill close to the drinking water system at the Pearl Harbor base in Hawaii Navy leadership assured thousands of military families that the tap water was safe nearly 2 weeks after the spill parents learned the truth the water they drank or used to bathe their kids contained jet fuel tonight you'll hear from some of the families who say the jet fuel tainted water made them sick but first we'll go to where the water crisis at Pearl Harbor began the story will continue in a moment from the air the historic Naval Base is easy to spot 8 mil from Honolulu sparkling blue W ERS host battle gray ships and memorials to those killed by Japan's surprise attack in 1941 what you can't see is the one secret storage site that provided fuel for the Pacific Fleet and its planes for 8 years it doesn't look like much from the outside wait till you get inside vice admiral John Wade led us through the Red Hill Bulk fuel storage facility 7 m of tunnels cut through volcanic rock built to hold 250 million gallons of fuel so this is one of the tanks oh my gosh that black hole is a steel lined fuel tank so deep it's hard to see the bottom 20 stories below to just show you how enormous this is this tank holds 12.5 million gallons and to give you kind of a reference point the stature of Liberty not the base but the statue itself can fit in here with enough room and this is just one of the 20 tanks hidden here this is the Arizona ring in death Agony when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor construction was already underway to protect the Navy's fuel reserves from an aerial attack the decision was made to embark on a herculine task to build a bulk Storage Fuel facility inside a mountain in secrecy and how long did that take to do it was a little less than 3 years at its peak they're about 4,000 men working here watch your head we're going to go this way but this Testament to American resolve became a Monumental liability after this that's jet fuel spraying from a cracked pipe the video was recorded by a worker inside Red Hill on November 20th of 2021 the fuel 20,000 gallons of it was trapped in a plastic pipe the weight caused the pipe to Sag this trolley hit it and jet fuel spewed for 21 hours close to the well that supplied drinking water for 93,000 people on and around the base at Pearl Harbor according to Navy investigators the workers who responded didn't have the right tools to contain the spill they also assumed there was no danger to the drinking water they were wrong at least 5,000 gallons of jet fuel drained into the tunnel floor and into the Navy water system the next day the Navy issued a press release about the incident and told the 8,400 families living in military housing the water remains safe to drink even though the Navy had not tested the water yet a week later residents began to notice a problem when did you get the sense that there was something wrong with the water my husband came into the kitchen and washed his hands and said gosh the water smells like I just did an oil change like the water smells weird Britney Trager lived on base about 2 and a half miles from Red Hill with her daughter and husband who is a Navy chief petty officer trer says she began to feel sick a week after the spill week I had a cough my tonsils were very swollen I remember a very distinct moment where I was walking to the car and I had vertigo so bad that I had to hold on to the car the smell was that overwhelming in an email to Residence nine days after the spill the commanding officer of the base reassured residents there are no immediate indications that the water is not safe my staff and I are drinking the water did you stop using water did you stop taking baths so I did my daughter did just because you had a bad feeling not cuz anybody told you to correct they gave us an email address that we could send an email to if we wanted to have our water tested so I emailed those people who then emailed me a phone number that I should call and I called that phone number for days and it was just busy they were overwhelmed and inundated with reports 10 days after the spill there were more than 200 reports from six neighborhoods across the base of strong fuel odor coming from kitchen and bathroom faucets but the Navy said its initial tests did not detect fuel it defied logic you know even though there was a leak and even though our water smelt like jet fuel and even though there was sheen on it they continued to say the tests are coming back negative after 12 days and four statements assuring residents the water was not contaminated with fuel the Navy reversed course on December 2nd 2021 it announced more comprehensive tests conducted by the Navy had detected jet fuel in the water 3 weeks after the spill test from Hawaii's Department of Health revealed jet fuel levels 350 times higher than what the state considers safe Michelle Deets lives on base with her husband a Navy chief petty officer and their two children Jeet feels not something that you would even think could happen to be in your water how were people reacting to the news I was so sick to my stomach from that news that I actually threw up when I hurt because why because my kids have just been poisoned within a month the Navy set up medical tents for residents some complained of stomach problems severe fatigue and coughing the military moved more than 4,000 families to hotels small studies of military personnel suggest jet fuel exposure can lead to neurological and breathing problems but the long-term impact of ingesting jet fuel is unknown because it's so unlikely to ever happen Melle deetz told us days after after the spill her daughter's tonsils became inflamed and her son started suffering from chronic headaches I can hear people saying tonsils headaches kids get that stuff how do you know it's related um because they never had it before November of 20121 it wasn't an issue it's unclear how many got sick but of 2,000 people who responded to a survey by the Centers for Disease Control and prevention more than 850 sought Medical care the water system was flushed over 3 months and bottled water brought in Britney Trager said her four-year-old now suffers respiratory problems which require hour-long treatments at least two times a day that includes a nebulizer and this vibrating vest to clear her lungs tell me about your daughter's Health 13 days after the contamination after our Waters not like Chet fuel my daughter woke up in the hotel with a cough and it pretty much never went away 3 months passed before Pearl Harbor's drinking water was deemed safe again the Navy's own investigation into the spill described quote cascading failures and revealed poor training supervision and ineffective leadership at Red Hill that fell unacceptably short of Navy standard for the last 10 years Hawaiians have raised concerns about the threat from smaller leaks at Red Hill the primary water supply for the city of Honolulu is 100 ft below the Navy complex in March of 2022 the Secretary of Defense ordered Red Hill permanently closed vice admiral John Wade was brought in to get the 104 million gallons of fuel out of the tanks and move it safely to sites around the Pacific we've got to defuel that's the imminent threat there's ongoing and will be continued long-term environmental remediation to restore the aquifer the land and surrounding area and then there's also a medical component for those that have been impacted you view now this thing that was a Lifeline for the fleet is a threat that's right that's right in six months Wade's team in Hawaii successfully removed almost all of the fuel but it took two years years before the Navy issued disciplinary letters to 14 officers involved in the spill response including five Admirals was anyone fired because of this at the time that the accountability came through uh we had officers that had already retired and so uh they had already separated from service Meredith Burger is an assistant Secretary of the Navy we met her at the Pentagon in November she told us the Navy had has been accountable we're talking about 20,000 gallons of fuel leak 90,000 people had their water contaminated it looks like people retired or were reassigned and no one was fired how is that accountability it's accountability within the system that we have established and we have heard that this was too long um and that maybe it didn't go far enough 2,000 military families agree the Navy didn't go far enough and are suing the government the triggers and deas have joined the lawsuit alleging they were hared by negligence at Red Hill are you angry that it happened or are you angry at what happened after it's a little bit of anger but it's also this feeling of betrayal what do you mean betrayal so my husband has been in for almost 18 years we have moved our family cross country cross oceans we gave so much of our life to the Navy for them to ignore warnings and then we were directly and blatantly lied to about it Navy leadership has apologized for the spill but has not said that the contaminated water is the cause of the ongoing illnesses the Navy did set up a clinic on base to collect data and treat anyone who believes they have health issues related to the tainted water what happens in 5 or 10 or 15 years will those Services still be avail ailable to these families so that's that is part of why um we are making sure that we're collecting that information to inform future actions and what the requirements are for those types of uh needs and care that doesn't sound like a guarantee of care in the future and I want to be careful because I don't do the health care part of things and so I I don't want to speak outside of um of of where I have any Authority or decision so we followed up with the defense department which told us it's reviewing the question of long-term health care for military families including more than 3,100 children 2 years after the spill some residents have reported water with the smell or Sheen the Navy is conducting daily tests at Pearl Harbor and says it is confident there is no fuel in the tap water Michelle deetz is still using bottled water the lawsuit she joined with Britney Trager and the other military families is scheduled to go to trial tomorrow What is the remedy that you want in our family it's restoring my faith in our nation that's a big thing to say there's a body of government that failed they contaminated our water they lied to us they did not protect us and they did not intervene and accountability looks like a lifelong care plan for me my family and the people affected and that will restore my faith in my nation does Red Hills still pose a threat to Honolulu this facility was a disaster waiting to happen at 60 minutes overtime.com [Music]

Channel: 60 Minutes

Views: 100,343

Keywords: 60 Minutes, CBS News, u.s. navy, pearl harbor, hawaii, red hill, 60 minutes, cbs news

Id: -DUJX58JwSA

Length: 13min 18sec (798 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 29 2024