A Hawaii military family is among those suing over 2021 jet fuel leak
Richelle Dietz, a mother of two and wife of a U.S. Navy officer, often thinks about water.
The family, stationed in Honolulu, spends more than $120 a month on jugs of bottled water for drinking, cooking and cleaning, as well as showerhead and sink filters. Each night the children, ages 13 and 5, carry cups of bottled water upstairs to their bathrooms to brush their teeth.
“I hope that one day I can not think about water all the time,” Dietz said. “But right now it's a constant.”
That vigilance is to avoid more vomiting, diarrhea, rashes and other ailments, which they said they started experiencing 2021, when jet fuel leaked into the Navy water system serving 93,000 people on and around the Pearl Harbor base. It sickened thousands in military housing, including, Dietz says, her own family.
She's one of 17 relatives of U.S. military members suing the United States over the leak from the World War II-era storage tanks. She said her entire family
— including dog Rocket — continues to suffer from health problems they link to the tainted water. Her husband, a chief petty officer, declined to be interviewed by The Associated Press because he fears retaliation from the Navy.
The 17 are considered “bellwether” plaintiffs representing more than 7,500 other military family members, civilians and service members in three federal lawsuits. The outcome of their trial, which starts Monday, will help determine the success of the other cases and the damages that could be awarded.
Kristina Baehr, one of their attorneys, said she
already considers it a success because the U.S. government has admitted liability.
U.S. Department of Justice attorneys wrote in court documents that the government admits the Nov. 20, 2021, spill at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility “caused a nuisance” for the plaintiffs, that the United States “breached its duty of care” and that the plaintiffs suffered compensable injuries.
But they dispute the plaintiffs were exposed to jet fuel at levels high enough to cause their alleged health problems. Lingering issues plaintiffs say they are battling include seizures, memory loss, anxiety, eczema and asthma.
When the Dietz family arrived in Hawaii in February 2021, “we thought we were moving to heaven on earth,” Dietz wrote in a declaration filed in the case.
But around Thanksgiving — soon after the leak — they couldn't figure out their stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea. Other families in the neighborhood were also sick. Then they developed rashes.
“My throat is burning. I feel like I just drank gasoline,” Dietz remembers telling her husband on Nov. 27.
The next night, her Facebook timeline was filled with neighbors complaining about the smell of fuel in their water. The Dietzes ran to their faucets and smelled fuel, too. They noticed the tap water also had an oily sheen.
Attorneys representing the families say the trial will show Navy officers failed to warn residents after learning about fuel in the water, and even maintained that staff members were drinking the water.
Navy representatives and government attorneys didn't respond to an email seeking comment on the lawsuit.