Hawaii’s Setting Sun
The Navy has shut down public access
to environmental records in Hawaii.
By Pat Elder
July 6, 2022
The lights are going out.
In March of this year, my daughter Holly sampled water from a canal that drains into the ocean at Barber’s Point in Kapolei, Oahu, Hawaii. She found alarming concentrations of PFAS.
Naval Air Station Barbers Point is a former Navy airfield that closed in 1999 and was renamed Kalaeloa Airport. It is likely the Navy used firefighting foams containing PFAS during regular firefighting drills for 25 years on base.
PFOS, one kind of PFAS in the canal, bioaccumulates in fish at concentrations that are frequently tens of thousands of times higher than what the EPA considers to be dangerous in drinking water.
My concern for public health led me to examine the Navy’s “Administrative Records” for Barbers Point. These records, in PDF format online, track environmental reporting on naval installations. I hoped to find data on the PFAS concentrations in surface water and groundwater so I could compare them to the dangerous levels Holly found.
Barbers Point – Administrative Records
I wanted to download two documents I found in the index on the site:
FINAL TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM INITIAL BASEWIDE ASSESSMENT OF PERFLOUOURINATED COMPOUNDS OR PER AND POLYFLUOROALYKL SUBSTANCES IN GROUNDWATER FORMER NAVAL AIR STATION BARBERS POINT 12/31/17
And
DRAFT PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT POTENTIAL PER- AND POLYFLUOROALKYL SUBSTANCES NON-NATIONAL PRIORITIES LIST SITES JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM OAHU HI 5/20/19.
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Although 2,426 records appear in the index for Barbers Point dating back to 1994, the listing ends after 12/31/20, so there could be quite a bit going on that we don’t know about. The information I am seeking is no longer available on the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) website. Records are only available by filing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. The Navy is claiming that all administrative record files contain sensitive information protected by the Freedom of Information Act.
The Navy has not released data it has collected on PFAS contamination on Oahu. It could dwarf the Red Hill contamination.
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a federal law that gives the public the “right” to make requests for federal agency records, although its administration has come under attack under the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations.
FOIA requests may require several years to receive a document. The GAO reports that the federal backlog totaled 142,000 requests and that the DOD was one of the worst agencies in the U.S. government in this regard.
The DOD has indicated that it considers all administrative records to be matters of national security. “Apparently, Red Hill scared the hell out of them,” a Navy contractor explained.
Barbers Point Naval Air Station
The DOD says cleanup of all sites was completed at Barbers Point in 2016, although long term monitoring will continue until 2045 in several locations. I went through DOD records on Barbers Point that were recorded by ProPublica a few years ago. I captured their reporting of the concentrations of various hazardous chemicals in marine sediment, fresh sediment, surface water, and ground water. I have included the entirety of these results in a disturbing 600-word, hodge-podge fashion that isn’t meant to be read. You can just scroll through it.
Marine Sediment: Contaminants: Carbon disulfide 0.03 ppb Methylene chloride 0.12 ppb Nitrate 0.25 ppb Acetone 0.65 ppb Fluoranthene 1.6 ppb Benzo[a]pyrene 1.6 ppb Benzo[b]fluoranthene 1.8 ppb Benz(a)anthracene 1.8 ppb Chrysene 1.9 ppb Benzo[k]fluoranthene 2.2 ppb Selenium 2.8 ppb Pyrene 3.0 ppb Antimony and compounds 3.1 ppb Cadmium and compounds 9.2 ppb Bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) 18.0 ppb Tin and compounds 28.4 ppb Manganese and compounds 157.0 ppb Zinc 571.0 ppb Aluminum 3716.0 ppb Benzo[a]pyrene 1.6 ppb Benzo[b]fluoranthene 1.8 ppb Benz(a)anthracene 1.8 ppb Selenium 2.8 ppb Cadmium and compounds 9.2 ppb Bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) 18.0 ppb Zinc 571.0 ppb
Fresh Sediment: Contaminants: Mercury and compounds (inorganic) 2.3 ppb Selenium 6.3 ppb Methylene chloride 58.0 ppb Cadmium and compounds 131.0 ppb Nickel and compounds 133.0 ppb Chromium VI and compounds 825.0 ppb Copper and compounds 895.0 ppb Zinc 1360.0 ppb Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) 2000.0 ppb Fluorene 2500.0 ppb Dibenz[ah]anthracene 2800.0 ppb Butyl benzyl phthalate 3000.0 ppb Acenaphthene 3100.0 ppb Bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) 3900.0 ppb Lead 6890.0 ppb Anthracene 6900.0 ppb Benzo[k]fluoranthene 10000.0 ppb Indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene 12000.0 ppb Benz(a)anthracene 14000.0 ppb Chrysene 15000.0 ppb Benzo[b]fluoranthene 16000.0 ppb Benzo[a]pyrene 16000.0 ppb Phenanthrene 27000.0 ppb Pyrene 28000.0 ppb Fluoranthene 32000.0 ppb
Marine Surface Water: Dimethyl phthalate 100.0 ppb Nitrate 170.0 ppb Carbon disulfide 300.0 ppb Diethyl phthalate 300.0 ppb Mercury 530.0 ppb Nickel and compounds 2900.0 ppb Copper and compounds 3000.0 ppb Arsenic (cancer) 3500.0 ppb Manganese and compounds 5000.0 ppb Cyanide (free) 6000.0 ppb Benzoic acid 6000.0 ppb Acetone 6000.0 ppb Bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) 10000.0 ppb Zinc 20200.0 ppb Iron 40900.0 ppb Formaldehyde 110000.0 ppb Arsenic (cancer) 3400.0 ppb Thallium 6700.0 ppb Bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) 10000.0 ppb Arsenic (cancer) 4000.0 ppb Lead 5000.0 ppb Bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) 10000.0 ppb Thallium 10000.0 ppb Barium and compounds 10000.0 ppb Selenium 49000.0 ppb Methylene chloride 121000.0 ppb
Fresh Surface Water: Antimony and compounds 13000.0 ppb Lead 14000.0 ppb Vanadium 20000.0 ppb Cadmium and compounds 34000.0 ppb Barium and compounds 150000.0 ppb
Groundwater: Bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) 3000.0 ppb Arsenic (cancer) 5800.0 ppb Beryllium and compounds 240.0 ppb Demeton 320.0 ppb Diazinon 1100.0 ppb Antimony and compounds 5100.0 ppb 2,6-Dimethylphenol 8000.0 ppb Cadmium and compounds 17500.0 ppb 4-Methylphenol 33000.0 ppb Naphthalene 37000.0 ppb Lead 76400.0 ppb Benzene 79000.0 ppb Vanadium 99400.0 ppb Toluene 170000.0 ppb Arsenic (cancer) 207000.0 ppb Manganese and compounds 635000.0 ppb Xylene (mixed) 650000.0 ppb Aluminum 2940000.0 ppb Chlordane 70.0 ppb Beryllium and compounds 250.0 ppb Atrazine 900.0 ppb Benzene 1000.0 ppb Arsenic (cancer) 3100.0 ppb Thallium 3200.0 ppb Selenium 5000.0 ppb Ethyl acetate 6000.0 ppb Vanadium 40000.0 ppb Barium and compounds 100000.0 ppb Bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) 140000.0 ppb Contaminants: Indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene 500.0 ppb Benz(a)anthracene 800.0 ppb Benzo[a]pyrene 900.0 ppb Beryllium and compounds 1500.0 ppb Benzo[b]fluoranthene 3000.0 ppb Thallium 3800.0 ppb Benzene 6000.0 ppb Arsenic (cancer) 22600.0 ppb N-Nitrosodiphenylamine 31000.0 ppb N-Nitroso di-n-propylamine 36000.0 ppb Cadmium and compounds 50500.0 ppb Lead 98500.0 ppb 2-Methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid 120000.0 ppb 2-(2-Methyl-4-chlorophenoxy) propionic acid 202000.0 ppb Fluorene 580000.0 ppb Acetone 1300000.0 ppb Manganese 1500000.0 ppb Bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) 1800000.0 ppb 4-Methylphenol 2300000.0 ppb 1,2-Dichloroethylene (mixture) 3500000.0 ppb Naphthalene 4500000.0 ppb Trichloroethylene (TCE) 7500000.0 ppb Beryllium and compounds 110.0 ppb Atrazine 1300.0 ppb Arsenic (cancer) 5400.0 ppb Thallium 7000.0 ppb Bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate 14000.0 ppb Manganese 489000.0 ppb Contaminants: Ethyl benzene 183000.0 ppb Benzene 1690000.0 ppb Toluene 2410000.0 ppb Xylene (Mixed) 3360000.0 ppb Beryllium and compounds 270.0 ppb Thallium 3800.0 ppb Bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) 5000.0 ppb Lead 12800.0 ppb Arsenic (cancer) 22600.0 ppb 4-Methylphenol 1000000.0 ppb Manganese 1500000.0 ppb Fluoranthene 10.0 ppb Benzo[a]pyrene 10.0 ppb Acenaphthene 10.0 ppb Naphthalene 10.0 ppb Arsenic (cancer) 3200.0 ppb Antimony and compounds 7000.0 ppb Lead 12600.0 ppb Hexachloroethane 31000.0 ppb Contaminants: Beryllium and compounds 320.0 ppb Arsenic (cancer) 10200.0 ppb Bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) 11000.0 ppb Thallium 15600.0 ppb Antimony and compounds 210.0 ppb Arsenic 5500.0 ppb Selenium 7400.0 ppb Iron 444000.0 ppb
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Sorry about that.
Eating seafood and breathing the air near Barbers Point may be hazardous to your health. (photo - fishing at sunset in Kapolei). Generally, the municipal drinking water is OK to drink as far as the PFAS is concerned.
Breathing the air? PFAS chemicals coat the banks of the stream and canals. When the water recedes the contaminants bake in the sun and are lifted into the air by the wind to settle in our lungs and in the dust in our homes.
Back to the FOIA’s
The DOD may withhold information according to nine FOIA exemptions contained in the statute. Exemption #1 identifies information that is classified to protect national security.
The Air Force still makes the majority of their records immediately available to the public, although they’re often redacted. In the case here, information about the deadly PFAS plume near Plattsburgh AFB, NY is withheld from the public for national security reasons. We tested the water in the Salmon River flowing into Lake Champlain and found astronomical levels. The Air Force knows it too, although this is a matter of national security. Women who are pregnant or may become pregnant, should be warned not to eat the fish from this beautiful lake.
Five U.S. Navy Lockheed P-3B Orion aircraft and a Lockheed C 130F Hercules of Patrol Wing 2 at Naval Air Station Barbers Point, Hawaii, in the 1970s. - U.S. Navy photo
Although administrative records are off limits to the public, the Navy trotted out a new product for public consumption on July 1, 2022 called the PFAS Sampling Summary. This data sheet, used for each naval facility across the country, identifies levels of PFAS in Off-Base Drinking Water and On-Base Groundwater.
The following bases reported no test results:
Barking Sands Missile Range Facility
Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Camp H.M. Smith
Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station Pacific Honolulu
Marine Corps Base Hawaii Kaneohe Bay
Naval Air Station Midway Island
Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility
Navy Munitions Command, East Asia Division Unit Pearl Harbor
Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam
Navy Region Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard
Pacific Warfighting Center
There was one notable exception -The Pearl Harbor Fleet and Industrial Supply Center. Pearl Harbor FISC, as it is known, reported 14 groundwater wells with concentrations of PFOS/PFOA over the old EPA limit of 70 parts per trillion. This is all we know about PFAS contamination caused by the Navy in Hawaii. Everything else is kept from us.
It’s not like this anywhere else. For instance, in Maryland, at the Naval Research Laboratory – Chesapeake Bay Detachment, we know there’s 241,000 ppt of PFOS/PFOA in the groundwater. We know the groundwater contains 6,800 ppt of PFOA, which is 1.7 million times over the EPA’s health advisory. We know these things.
We also know the Navy hasn’t tested the private drinking wells in neighborhoods near the burn pit they’ve used to test PFAS in firefighting foam since 1968.
The Navy has reported over 8 million parts per trillion of mostly PFOS in subsurface soil at the Maryland facility. They say 1,376 ppt of three compounds: PFOS, PFOA and PFBS are present in a stream draining into the Chesapeake Bay. We also know the seafood is poisoned in the Chesapeake Bay. We know these things.
Meanwhile, we don’t know much in Hawaii, while the history of contamination is being re-written.