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Hawaii News Now - March 20, 2023
A lawsuit based on new Health Department revelations says drinking water contaminated in the Navy’s Red Hill spill in 2021 not only contained fuel, but a de-icing agent.
The Health Department stresses the “fuel system icing inhibitor” found in aviation fuel is not the same chemical as what’s in car antifreeze. Car antifreeze has ethylene glycol, which is more and differently toxic than fuel system icing inhibitor, which contains diethylene glycol monomethyl ether.
Lawyers who are suing the U.S. government have amended their lawsuit to include the new information ― included in an internal state Health Department memo made public Monday.
In November 2021, thousands of people were sickened after drinking the Navy’s fuel-tainted tap water in and around Pearl Harbor. And in the years to follow, many say they continue to experience symptoms.
The fuel came from leaks at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility ― just 100 feet above Oahu’s aquifer.
Last month, an internal state Health Department memo warned about a de-icing agent in the jet fuel.
“Fuel system icing inhibitor” is used in aviation fuels to prevent ice from forming and the letter warns that it “could pose the most significant health risk from exposure to contaminated water.”
On Monday afternoon, the Health Department told HNN that soon after the 2021 spill, the Navy confirmed that its Red Hill jet fuel contained the de-icing agent.
