A federal grand jury in Honolulu has indicted two civilian workers on charges that they caused the Navy to provide the Hawaii Department of Health with false information about jet fuel that spilled from a Pearl Harbor storage site before it seeped into drinking water and sickened 6,000 people over Thanksgiving in 2021, media outlets reported.
John Floyd, 63, who worked as the Navy’s fuels department deputy director, and Nelson Wu, 38, who was the fuels department’s supervisory engineer and reported to Floyd, were indicted Thursday.
The indictment alleged that they provided the Navy with inaccurate information about a May 2021 spill that occurred six months before the fuel seeped into the drinking water.
It also alleged they caused the Navy to mislead the Hawaii Department of Health about how much fuel leaked from one of the tanks and assured officers that their information was accurate.
Floyd and Wu were charged with conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States. They were also accused of causing another person to make a materially false statement or a material omission in a matter within the jurisdiction of the executive branch of the government of the United States, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Their arraignment is set for Friday in front of Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Kenneth Mansfield. They are not in federal custody, but if convicted, they face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on each charge.
After 20,000 gallons of jet fuel spilled on May 6, 2021, after the failure of two pipeline couplings at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, the Hawaii Department of Health issued a formal request for answers, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.
On Oct. 1, 2021, the Navy responded to the state’s request for information, which Floyd and Wu participated in drafting. The Fuels Department was the main source of information for the response.
“When questioned about the accuracy of the May 6, 2021, spill volume data by multiple Navy officers involved in approving the response to the RFI [Request for Information], Floyd and Wu reiterated that only an estimated 1,618 gallons had spilled into the tunnel and that the remainder of the jet fuel put into the JP-5 pipeline during the attempted transfer from Tank 12 had remained in the pipeline,” the indictment stated, according to the Star-Advertiser.
The water contamination included a Nov. 20, 2021, spill of 20,000 gallons and affected roughly 93,000 people, mainly military families. For months, the state Department of Health issued an advisory that the water was unsafe to drink.
Thousands of families relocated to hotel rooms or moved out of their housing as the Navy and regulators worked to make the water safe to drink. The all-clear was declared in March 2022, about four months after the contamination was found.
In March 2022, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the department would permanently close the Red Hill site, the Star-Advertiser reported. The decision came amid pressure from state officials, the Hawaii congressional delegation, protests, and extensive community opposition to keeping the World War II-era underground fuel facility open.
The federal public defender’s office, which is representing Floyd, didn’t immediately return a phone call to Stars and Stripes seeking comment. Wu’s attorney, Alen Kaneshiro, told Stars and Stripes he didn’t have a comment.
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