In November 2021, 93,000 people living near the U.S. military's strategic fuel storage facility near Honolulu, Hawaii woke up to find their drinking water contaminated with toxic jet fuel. 27,000 gallons had leaked into the aquifer near Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. Now more than 2,500 plaintiffs who have dealt with the side effects of ingesting jet fuel joined a lawsuit asking the government for up to $1.25 million each in damages.
My husband was forward deployed at the time. He missed the birth of his son. He came home when he was five days old to meet him. To come home to jet fuel in our drinking water and have to deploy again, leaving us in the hands of the Navy he was sworn to protect, to have us refused care, denied, gaslit, and to this day not have all the appropriate care that we need for our daughter,' Hughes told Fox.