Submit testimony to Fuel Tank Advisory Committee by 5/31
The Fuel Tank Advisory Committee held its 8th biannual meeting last week, where we witnessed almost two hours of powerful, gut-wrenching testimonies from affected community members and organizers who have been leading this fight. It was also in that meeting where Navy leadership affirmed just how far it’s willing to go to hide and mislead us from the truth. If you missed the opportunity to testify live, don’t worry, as you can still submit written testimony to thu.perry@doh.hawaii.gov by May 31 – click here for a template and sample testimony. Below are some key highlights of what we learned from the meeting.
The Department of Health presented newly analyzed monitoring well data submitted by the Navy through a series of fuel plume heat maps. The maps illustrate results of Navy samples that were tested for TPH-Diesel (indicating a recent release of jet fuel) and TPH-Oil (suggesting the presence of older jet fuel releases). Prior to the May 6, 2021 release of fuel, TPH-Diesel was detected at levels as high as 2,000 parts per billion at a monitoring well in the middle of the Facility. Following the months after the May 2021 release, levels of TPH-Diesel proliferated to as high as 3,600 ppb from August to October, demonstrating beyond doubt that the Navy did not contain the leak as it has repeatedly claimed. Levels of TPH-Diesel peaked at 4,100 ppb in February and March of this year before slightly declining in April. The Health Department’s environmental action level for TPH-Diesel is 400 ppb, which is controversial in and of itself seeing as the level was once at 100 ppb up to 2017.
The heat maps also showed striking monitoring well data of TPH-Oil. Prior to the May 2021 release, there were detections that reached high concentrations of about 850 ppb, and continued to increase following the months of May. The Health Department believes this indicates that the May release may have mobilized legacy contamination under the facility. Most existing monitoring wells now show TPH-Oil levels back down to where they were before the May 2021 release - and unfortunately, we do not know where that contamination may have gone.
If you are outraged at this newly released data, you are not alone. What all of this – albeit incomplete – information tells us is that the harms from Red Hill’s leaks are far worse than the Navy has led on. Despite the Navy’s denial, this data further confirms what the Board of Water Supply has been warning us about – that the contaminant plume has migrated westward in the direction of its Hālawa Shaft, which, until it was shut down as a precautionary measure in December of last year, provided 20% of urban Honolulu’s water supply.
When questioned about the Navy’s timeline to defuel and shut down the Facility, Captain Gordie Meyer said he couldn’t provide a timeline but that he didn’t expect it would take “multiple years.” He confirmed that the contractor’s assessment of the Facility has been submitted to the Health Department, but failed to provide any substantial information on what their plan actually is and how long it will take them to execute it. On top of circumventing opportunities for transparency, Capt. Meyer continued to gaslight affected community members who reported renewed health effects and seeing sheens and smelling fuel in their water, stating that no TPH-d has been detected in the Navy’s water samples. It’s safe to say that the Navy still has no concrete plan on how it’s going to clean up its mess and shut down Red Hill. You can write in and demand answers to your questions – click this link to submit comments and questions to the Committee. You can also watch a recording of the meeting here.
State Water Commission Report Back
On the Tuesday following the Fuel Tank Advisory Committee Meeting, the State Water Commission heard back from their Permitted Interaction Group regarding its investigations and recommendations for potential future action on the Navy’s water use permits, which authorize the Navy to pump public trust water from our aquifer. At present, only one permitted well, the Navy’s Waiawa well, is being used to supply the Navy’s water system, although its Red Hill shaft continues to “pump and dump” up to five million gallons per day into Hālawa stream in order to “capture” the contamination plume under Red Hill. Although acknowledging the complexity and gravity of hte situation, certain commissioners appeared “frustrated” by the Water Commission’s perceived lack of regulatory authority. Fortunately, public testifiers reminded the Commission of their broad public trust authorities and obligations under the Hawaiʻi Constitution to protect the public trust “corpus” - i.e., our life-giving waters.
In a subsequent presentation - as if the Navy representatives on the FTAC were not disappointing enough - Navy officials revealed to the Water Commission that they were in fact violating their Water Use Permit for their Waiawa well, overdrawing their allowed amount by one million gallons per day - for superfluous uses like irrigation. In addition, they appeared to have not done anything in the past four months to find a way to use the 4-5 million gallons per day of treated and supposedly “safe” water that they continue to dump into Hālawa stream.
You can watch the Water Commission hearing here. Stay tuned for the next Water Commission meeting, where they may actually take action on the Navy’s water use permits - and hopefully impose conditions that will motivate the Navy to act much more responsibly and urgently in resolving the crisis it created.
Reminder: Testify to the Fuel Tank Advisory Committee!
Don’t forget - there’s still time to submit written testimony to the Fuel Tank Advisory Committee! Let them know they must not complacently accept the Navy’s meaningless verbal assurances, and must do all they can to motivate the Navy to treat this crisis with the urgency it demands. E-mail your comments by May 31 to thu.perry@doh.hawaii.gov; click here for a template and sample testimony.