U.S. Navy Plan for Red Hill Rejected - Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jodi Malinoski, Policy Advocate, Sierra Club of Hawai‘i
Telephone: 808-278-6662
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U.S. Navy Plan for Red Hill Rejected
U.S. EPA and Hawaiʻi Department of Health find Navy's Tank Upgrade Alternative Fails to Protect Drinking Water
HONOLULU, HAWAI‘I (October 27, 2020) – Yesterday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Hawai‘i Department of Health rejected the U.S. Navy’s plan to address the Red Hill fuel tanks, saying the proposal failed to demonstrate how it will prevent and mitigate future fuel releases over O‘ahu’s primary drinking water aquifer.
“This is the latest example of how the Navy does not take the protection of Oʻahu’s drinking water seriously” said Jodi Malinoski, Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi Policy Advocate. “It’s been 5 years and still the Navy can’t provide a meaningful plan to protect our water from their antiquated tanks. Maybe that is because the tanks can’t be adequately upgraded, which means they should be retired.”
The EPA and Hawaiʻi Department of Health’s letter states that the Navy’s Tank Upgrade Alternative and Release Detection Document “lacks detail, clarity, rationale and justification” to demonstrate that the Navy’s chosen tank upgrades adequately protect Oʻahu’s drinking water and that the Navy has not demonstrated its chosen upgrades are “the most protective of the groundwater and drinking water resources and other options are either less protective or impractical”.
The Navy’s plan was submitted to the regulatory agencies on September 9, 2019. The Navy selected the least expensive, least protective option for upgrading the tanks, including applying a thin epoxy coating to the inside of the tanks and committing to “double-wall equivalency” or removal of the fuel around 2045. In response, the EPA and Department of Health wrote, “the proposed epoxy coating will not address backside corrosion concerns on the steel liner.” The agencies also noted that double-wall equivalency is an undefined solution that is outside the existing 2037 deadline for upgrading the tanks: “It is not tied to any TUA option currently before us, and therefore is not clear how this plan is intended to be implemented.”
“We appreciate the Department of Health and EPA for responding to community concerns and rejecting this inadequate plan,” says Malinoski. “Of the 400 public comments submitted, nearly half are asking for relocation of the Navy’s fuel away from O‘ahu’s drinking water. There are better options available.”
Studies of the tank facility show that the Navy’s release detection systems do not detect slow chronic leaks—leaks of under 0.5 gallons per hour, or 4,380 gallons per year––that could go undetected. The regulatory agencies state that the Navy “does not adequately analyze the significance of this concern.” Furthermore, a Navy study from earlier this year shows that the Red Hill tanks have a 27.6% chance of leaking 30,000 gallons of fuel every year.
The Tank Upgrade Alternative and Release Detection Document is part of an administrative agreement between the U.S. Navy, Environmental Protection Agency, Defense Logistics Agency and the Hawaiʻi Department of Health following the release of 27,000 gallons of fuel from the Red Hill Tank Storage Facility in 2014. The Red Hill facility houses 20 underground storage tanks that hold over 200 million gallons of fuel only 100 feet above the primary aquifer serving people from Moanalua to Maunalua.
The Navy must either quickly address the deficiencies and resubmit their plan within the next 30 days or meet with the DOH and EPA within that time to present a schedule for submitting a new plan.
Later this week, there will be a public meeting of the Legislative Task Force on Underground Storage Tanks hosted by the Department of Health. The virtual meeting will be held on Friday October 30, 2020 at 1PM. Members of the public may submit written comments to the task force and receive a link to the video conference meeting by contacting the Underground Storage Tank Division of the Health Department.
You can read the letter from the EPA and DOH here.
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About the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi: Formed in 1968, the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi has over 20,000 members and supporters working throughout the islands to stop climate change, ensure climate justice for all, and protect Hawaiʻi’s unique natural resources. The Sierra Club is the largest, oldest environmental organization in the U.S. We rely on volunteers to support outdoor education programs, trail and native species restoration projects, and grassroots advocacy for sound environmental policies.