A historic trial over Navy Red Hill fuel-contaminated water got underway this week. Families are suing the federal government for damages dating back to the Red Hill fuel spill in 2021.
But the mystery of why current water sampling is showing levels of total petroleum hydrocarbons in the military's water system is still making some uneasy.
Is it a case of false positives due to a reaction to chlorine and using the wrong kind of test, which is the military's theory?
Amy Miller heads the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division for Region 9 out of San Francisco.
She said the EPA has a general agreement with the Navy that their hypothesis may be correct.
But she said the EPA has not had the chance to review the Navy’s report in detail. The EPA also intends to do an independent investigation.
"That's going to take some time to do. But our primary focus right now for EPA is getting the extended drinking water monitoring plan finalized and approved by the regulatory agencies," Miller added.
"They have been meeting all of the regulatory requirements under the Safe Drinking Water Act, but it is worrisome, these total petroleum hydrocarbon detections and the amount of detections that they had over a period of time," she added. "So we want to make sure that there isn't any cause for concern."
The Red Hill crisis also launched other probes, including a recent one by the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General that last month found deficiencies with the Defense Logistics Agency’s oversight of several fuel facilities worldwide.
This interview aired on The Conversation on May 3, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
