Sophie Cocke
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Past articles by Sophie:
2 public meetings to be held on Red Hill defueling
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is holding two meetings next week to give the public an opportunity to weigh in and ask questions about a proposed settlement agreement with the Navy and Defense Logistics Agency that requires them to take steps to ensure the safe defueling and closure of the Red Hill underground fuel storage facility. The agreement also requires the Navy to ensure the… → Read More
Report on toxic Red Hill spill delayed
The military says it’s pushed the deadline to the end of this week for an officer to complete his investigation into what caused an estimated 1,300 gallons of toxic fire suppressant to spill from a pipe at Red Hill on Nov. 29, though won’t say when that report might be released to the public. → Read More
New health clinic to treat chronic conditions from Red Hill spill
Members of military families who are experiencing long-term health problems that may be tied to last year’s fuel spill at Red Hill will have access to a new clinic at the start of the new year, according to the Defense Health Agency Region Indo-Pacific. → Read More
Navy refuses to publicly release video of latest Red Hill spill
The Navy on Monday said it would release video footage of last week’s spill of toxic fire suppressant chemicals at Red Hill to federal and state environmental regulators, but not the public claiming that doing so could impede its investigation into the latest accident at its massive underground fuel facility. → Read More
Revival of Red Hill fueling operations feared
The Honolulu Board of Water Supply’s top official expressed concern Wednesday that the Navy might try to revive its underground Red Hill storage tanks at some point in the future for fuel use, despite the Department of Defense’s assurances to the contrary. → Read More
Hawaii Department of Health approves draining of Red Hill pipelines
Hawaii Department of Health officials said today that they have given the Navy conditional approval to remove fuel from its three pipelines at Red Hill. → Read More
Kaiser’s Moanalua facility briefly closed following gun scare
Kaiser Permanente Moanalua Medical Center was placed on lockdown around noon today after staff spotted a man in the parking garage openly carrying what was believed to be a firearm, but turned out to be a Taser, according to Kaiser. → Read More
Vast majority of residents surveyed by CDC report health symptoms from Red Hill fuel contamination
Out of 2,289 people who participated in a survey to assess the health impacts of jet fuel contamination in the Navy’s drinking water system last year, 87% reported symptoms, according to results released today by the Hawaii Department of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). → Read More
New Hawaii State Hospital faces more delays
State health officials say they face additional delays in moving patients into the Hawaii State Hospital’s new, 144-bed psychiatric facility, after assuring state lawmakers in early April that all the patients would be moved in by this month. The state Department of Health now says the target date is the end of June. → Read More
Kaiser Permanente mental health workers conclude strike in Hawaii
Kaiser Permanente’s psychologists, social workers, psychiatric nurses and addiction counselors wrapped up a three-day strike Friday with picketing outside of Kaiser’s Waipio Medical Center on Oahu. → Read More
Kaiser’s mental health clinicians strike
Kaiser Permanente’s Hawaii mental health clinicians launched a three-day strike today amid stalled contract negotiations. The approximately 50 psychologists, clinical social workers, psychiatric nurses and addiction counselors are pressing for better compensation packages and say that Kaiser’s current proposal would result in a wage freeze for more than 60 percent of its mental health workforce,… → Read More
New information released shows impacts to Oahu’s aquifer from 2021 fuel spills at Red Hill
Newly analyzed monitoring-well data released Friday by the state Department of Health shows levels of petroleum contamination in the groundwater around the Navy’s Red Hill tank farm began increasing in the months following a May 6, 2021, fuel spill, adding to evidence that the Navy did not contain the spill as it has claimed. The contamination levels then spiked higher after another spill in… → Read More
Kaiser’s mental health clinicians say they are ready to strike
Mental health professionals employed by Kaiser Permanente say they are ready to strike next week as contract negotiations drag on, four years after they unionized. → Read More
Navy given 6 months to submit plan for closing Red Hill
The Navy has waived its right to contest a new emergency order issued by the state Department of Health that paves the way for permanently closing its Red Hill fuel storage facility. The order requires the Navy to come up with a plan and implementation schedule to drain the massive, underground tanks by June 30 and a plan to shutter the facility by Nov. 1. → Read More
Investigations into Red Hill water crisis drag on
Emilee Carpenter was 17 weeks pregnant when she found out in early December that the tap water she and her husband had been drinking and bathing in was laced with jet fuel. → Read More
Owner of home that fell onto beach could face big fine
The owner of a North Shore property is facing hundreds of dollars in daily fines after his house collapsed onto the beach at Rocky Point in the early morning hours of Feb. 28 as heavy surf pounded the shoreline. → Read More
North Shore beachfront homes threatened by erosion continue to sell
For years, the beachfront house at 59-181 D Ke Nui Road that looks out on the tantalizing deep blue and turquoise hues of the Pacific Ocean on Oahu’s North Shore has been battered by large winter waves. In December 2013, a powerful westerly swell tore the deck off the house and left it poised on the edge of a sheer, sandy cliff. → Read More
Navy drops lawsuit against Hawaii over defueling Red Hill
The U.S. Department of Justice has withdrawn its lawsuit filed in federal and state courts in February contesting the state’s emergency order instructing the Navy to drain its Red Hill fuel tanks. → Read More
Navy drops lawsuit against Hawaii over Red Hill defuelment
The U.S. Department of Justice has withdrawn its lawsuit filed in federal and state courts in February that contested the state’s emergency order instructing the Navy to drain its Red Hill fuel tanks following a fuel spill that contaminated the Navy’s drinking water system and sickened residents in neighborhoods around Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. → Read More
Oahu North Shore property owner says he will fight $92K fine
State conservation officials are seeking to impose a $92,000 fine against a North Shore property owner for violating state laws by moving large amounts of sand in front of his two beachfront homes to shield them from coastal erosion and refusing to remove broken sandbags, rocks, concrete rubble and other debris that they say he stacked along the public beach. → Read More