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Detections of toxic chemicals near the Navy’s Red Hill fuel complex indicate the facility has a “wider” problem with so-called PFAS contamination than previously known, according to state and federal regulators. 

In to the Navy, officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Hawaii Department of Health said test results show the soil and groundwater around Red Hill is tainted with PFAS, a class of “forever chemicals” that don’t break down in the environment. 

Officially known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS may be dangerous to consume even in small amounts, according to the . Testing of around Red Hill showed PFAS levels in excess of EPA standards last year. 

The groundwater that was tested is not directly used for drinking water but lies in the same interconnected aquifer the Navy and civilian water utilities rely on. Both water purveyors maintain the water they are delivering to customers is safe. 

PFAS captured the public’s attention in November 2022 when some 1,300 gallons of PFAS-containing firefighting foam, referred to as AFFF, leaked at Red Hill. Test results show PFAS is still being detected in the location of that spill, referred to as Adit 6.

Regulators noted that an older configuration of PFAS, called PFOS, was found in “very high concentrations” in soil near Adit 6 and in groundwater under a different part of the facility, called Adit 3. Those findings may indicate historical PFAS contamination.

“These detections of PFOS in soil and groundwater may indicate a wider Red Hill problem with PFAS that cannot be solely attributed to the November 2022 AFFF release,” regulators wrote. “Further investigation to determine the source and extent is warranted.” 

The Navy told regulators in December it planned to cease its monthly groundwater monitoring for PFAS and did not intend to monitor other locations at Red Hill where PFAS was found, according to regulators’ letter. The military said it also wouldn’t start a so-called into the contamination until the summer of 2025. 

In light of the test results, the EPA and DOH are pushing back. The agencies are calling on the Navy to start its investigation sooner, perform PFAS testing every two months and compare the results to state environmental standards. 

The Navy declined to be interviewed for this story. In a statement, a spokesman gave no indication of whether the Navy plans to comply. 

“The Navy is committed to working with regulators on efforts to monitor, delineate, and remediate the area in and around Red Hill and to ensure the drinking water continues to meet all state and federal standards and requirements,” Lt. Cmdr. Joe Keiley said in an email. 

The regulators’ letter is labeled as a “request,” not an order. But Kenneth Dixon, who manages the underground storage tanks section of the EPA’s regional office, said the Navy is legally required to investigate its chemical releases. Red Hill is part of Pearl Harbor’s Superfund designation, obligating the Navy to follow certain protocols, Dixon said.

“The work is required, and there is no disagreement about that,” Dixon said.

The Navy has not yet responded to the letter, according to Dixon.

Honolulu Board of Water Supply Chief Engineer Ernie Lau raised concerns for years about how the Navy’s storage of 100 million gallons of fuel at Red Hill threatened the drinking water aquifer below. Most of that fuel has been removed after a contamination disaster in 2021 sickened hundreds of people.

Now, it’s becoming clear that PFAS has been an under-recognized threat at Red Hill, and it should be taken more seriously, according to Lau.

Some PFAS can easily dissolve in water and move with groundwater flow, Lau noted.

“I think the regulators should exert more of the authority they have under federal and state law and just require the Navy test immediately,” he said. “I think it should at the minimum be every month or better yet, every 2 weeks.”

The area around Adit 3 may be of particular concern, according to the EPA and DOH letter. Testing there yielded PFAS results in excess of EPA standards. The results indicated the presence of so-called “legacy” PFAS that were used prior to the November 2022 spill of AFFF, or aqueous film-forming foam.

Officials don’t know the source of those PFAS chemicals, according to Dixon.

“Clearly, more information is needed, which is why we’re asking for more monitoring,” Dixon said.

Lau noted that the Navy used to operate an oily waste disposal facility near Adit 3. Throughout the 1940s, crews used to take the oily waste and sludge generated from cleaning the Red Hill tanks and dump it into an “unlined pit,” according to a In subsequent decades, the Navy used a pit lined with asphalt, which cracked with time, and then transitioned to aboveground storage tanks, the report says.

The waste site is about 700 feet from the Red Hill drinking water well, according to the report. The well is not currently in use, but officials have discussed the possibility of bringing it back online in the future.

Whether the Navy ever dumped non-fuel substances like PFAS in the nearby waste pit, Lau doesn’t know. That is one reason Lau feels the Navy should also release all the information it has about the hazardous substances it has stored at Red Hill over the years. The BWS chief asked the Navy to do as much in a but he said the military has not provided the information.

“It’s time for the Navy to come clean and share all the complete history,” Lau said. “That will give us a sense of what we’re up against. Until now, we’re kind of in this dark room and trying to feel our way around the room.”

PFOA and PFOS – two types of older, “long chain” PFAS – were found in the Red Hill well after the December 2021 fuel leak, but subsequent testing did not detect them.

PFAS chemicals are known to have leaked at Red Hill prior to the November 2022 spill.

Red Hill personnel observed in August 2021 that AFFF had escaped the steel piping that is supposed to contain it at Adit 6 and had leaked into the PVC shell surrounding it. A leak of some kind had occurred, but they didn’t know where the release was coming from or how long it had been leaking, Navy officials acknowledged last year.

And in 2020, some 5,000 gallons of water and AFFF were released at an underground pumphouse at Adit 1. Something had inadvertently activated the facility’s fire suppression system.

Approximately 900 gallons of AFFF concentrate remain in the lower access tunnel at Red Hill, according to Lt. Cmdr. Pat Foughty, a spokesman for the Red Hill Closure Task Force. Military officials previously said the fire suppression chemicals were needed for the safety of personnel working to remove fuel from the facility.

Foughty said the Navy has submitted information to Red Hill’s regulators about areas where PFAS has been stored and released.

In December 2022, Civil Beat filed a Freedom of Information Act request for documentation showing all releases of toxic firefighting foam by the military in Hawaii. The Pentagon never provided the requested documents.

Civil Beat’s community health coverage is supported by the Swayne Family Fund of Hawaii Community Foundation, the Cooke Foundation, and Papa Ola Lokahi.