Navy issues written reprimands for fuel spill that sickened 6,000 people at Pearl Harbor base

By AUDREY McAVOY
Associated Press

HONOLULU (AP) — The Navy is issuing written reprimands to three now-retired military officers for their roles in the spill of jet fuel into Pearl Harbor’s drinking water in 2021. But it is not firing, suspending, docking the pay or reducing the rank of anyone for the incident. The spill from the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility poisoned thousands of military families and continues to threaten the purity of Honolulu’s water supply. A Navy investigation last year concluded a series of errors caused the fuel to leak into a well that supplied water to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. The Sierra Club of Hawaii is criticizing the reprimands for being “written slaps on the wrist.”