The Department of Defense Office of Inspector General released a management advisory report Thursday detailing concerns about the Navy’s handling of spills involving thousands of gallons of aqueous film- forming foam concentrate — a toxic fire suppressant containing “forever chemicals” — at Red Hill from 2019 to 2022.
The Inspector General found that Navy officials from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam had failed to report incidents in compliance with Defense Department policy involving aqueous film forming foam, or AFFF, from its Defense Fuel Support Point AFFF system at Red Hill.
Additionally, the report noted inadequate documentation of how the Navy responded to the incidents, and for environmental cleanup for these incidents.
The advisory on AFFF spills follows a series of Inspector General reports addressing the operations of the Navy’s Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility and the Navy’s response to contamination of its water system on Oahu.
In its evaluation, the Inspector General identified concerns regarding the Navy’s handling of four AFFF incidents occurring in December 2019, September 2020, October 2021 and November 2022. According to the report, Navy officials were unable to provide evidence that required response actions, such as reporting and thorough cleanup, were properly completed for the incidents in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
The Inspector General in response recommended that the secretary of the Navy direct Navy Region Hawaii to review its response to AFFF incidents and implement corrective actions. The information provided for this subsequent request excluded the September 2020 incident, which the Navy said it had deemed as nonenvironmental.
The advisory report released Thursday said despite the Navy’s assertion, the incident did meet environmental criteria, and gives the Navy 30 days to respond on how the incident will be included in the review and coordinated with the Environmental Restoration Program for necessary corrective actions.
There hasn’t been a way to break down AFFF, so “it persists in the environment indefinitely,” said Marti Townsend, a member of the Red Hill Community Representation Initiative, created to represent community interests in the defueling and closure of the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility. “It is a significant source of cancer, and it’s not well studied, so we don’t know the full extent of the risk, but we do know that it is bad, especially if you’re immune-compromised.”
Townsend called the AFFF incidents unfortunate but said, “What is egregious and unacceptable and should be criminal is that after the first week they didn’t do anything to improve their procedures to ensure that it didn’t happen again.”
Townsend said the effects will not only affect Red Hill families and those living nearby, but could also extend statewide as contamination spreads through streams and oceans. Marine wildlife could be affected, potentially disrupting the local food supply.
The Inspector General’s advisory said the Navy had agreed to its recommendation that it determine “whether a broader review of AFFF incident response and reporting at all its facilities is warranted based on this management advisory; conduct the review, if warranted; and implement corrective actions as appropriate.”
