Red Hill moms demand congressional hearing on Navy’s fuel-tainted water
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Two moms who were sickened during the Red Hill fuel-tainted water crisis more than a year ago are on Capitol Hill, demanding a congressional hearing on potential long-term health impacts.
Both mothers lived at Pearl Harbor and have since moved away.
They say it’s been an uphill battle to get people on a national level to listen to their concerns.
Army Maj. Amanda Feindt’s husband, Patrick, was released from a Colorado hospital three days ago after eight days there. He had double vision, slurred speech, and pain.
Feindt is convinced his lingering illness is from the Red Hill fuel spills that tainted the Navy’s tap water in 2021.
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“What I’m fearful of is that we don’t know now what we will know in a year from now,” Feindt said. “The harm is people continue to get sick. Symptoms are not fleeting. People are very sick and it’s scary.”
Kat McClanahan suffers from balance issues and tremors.
“It’s alarming to me that we can be in a position now in 2023 that we can have water sources that are debated about whether safe levels of jet fuel are safe in it or not and I think that’s outrageous,” she said.
They met with new Hawaii Congresswoman Jill Tokuda and U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, whose amendment to demand the Veterans Affairs Department investigate health impacts on jet fuel exposure on U.S. service members was passed by the House last year.
“We’ve been able to meet with a couple of congressmen and women during this during this trip who actually do have constituents in their own state who have been exposed to jet fuel,” said Feindt.
“It is very serious symptoms that prove not to be fleeting.”
U.S. Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawaii, said addressing the Red Hill fuel facility is a “huge issue reamining.”
“We have now appropriated over $2 billion to what we need to continue that work,” he said.
Earlier this month, the Defense Health Agency opened the Red Hill Clinic for patients experiencing symptoms that may be related to the Red Hill fuel spill.
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