Red Hill defueling update and more
By Liz Wiggans, Madison Owens, Rebekah Garrison, Kirsten Kagimoto, Sharde Freitas, and Rosalie Luo
Reading time: 7.5 minutes
Navy defueling prep underway, prepare your ʻohana too
The Navy has reported the removal of 480,000 gallons from its four Red Hill facility surge tanks. Last month, the Navy completed all 253 of the necessary repairs before draining fuel from the four surge tanks. The 480,000 gallons have been moved to above-ground repositories and will be used by the military for their day-to-day fuel needs. Currently, the Department of Health is inspecting and validating hundreds of delayed repairs. Once the repairs have been checked, “repacking” may begin on August 28. Repacking the pipelines with fuel will prevent a pressure vacuum or explosion when gravity-based defueling pulls the fuel from the storage tanks and toward the defueling site. According to the Navy’s timeline, the defueling is still promised to start on October 16. We continue to remind the Department of Defense that defueling, removing the pipelines, and decommissioning the tanks are just initial steps toward the remediation of Kapūkakī and our island’s damaged water supply, and must be reckoned with.
There are four ways to start preparing for a spill during defueling because the Navy has committed to spilling “not one drop” of fuel, and we are wary of their promises. To prepare for a worst case scenario defueling incident, the community can look up, set aside, clean, and stay updated on their water systems.
Water drinkers can look up which well sources the household’s water with the Honolulu Board of Water Supply here and the University of Hawaiʻi here.
Households are encouraged to set aside one gallon of water per person per day for a week-long period. The Board of Water Supply has emergency storage bags available during hurricane season at the Board of Water Supply Building (while supplies last), as well as at Board of Water Supply community events.
Water drinkers may consider alternatives to clean household water, such as testing kits and water filter replacements. More info on testing kits and filters can be found here.
The Department of Health is determining which clinics are accessible to civilians if contaminated water is ingested and agencies prepare, so stay updated with us.
We have a dedicated page on our website to providing as much information as we can on how best to prepare your ʻohana and home for Red Hill defueling. Check it out here and be sure to bookmark the page as we will be making updates as defueling progresses.
Demand an on-island water testing facility
Earlier this week, the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi sent a letter to the Pentagon urging the Department of Defense to invest a small percentage of the departments $2 trillion budget to create an on-island, EPA-certified water testing laboratory that can deliver test results to island and regional consumers in a timely manner.
Currently, water samples are shipped to the continental US for testing to already overwhelmed laboratories for testing. This not only creates months-long delay in results but also subjects the samples to damage and loss during the shipping process—leaving Hawaiʻi’s people at risk of being poisoned and the further contamination of our drinking water resources.
Jet fuel and forever chemicals cannot be removed from a water source. The US Navy’s negligence has led to Oʻahu’s primary drinking water resource has been forever contaminated. Permanent contamination calls for timely and thorough water testing in perpetuity.
We cannot continue to rely on laboratories thousands of miles away to know whether or not our water is safe to drink. Take a moment now to write to President Biden and the Pentagon urging their immediate action to establish an on-island water testing facility. Snail mail is harder for them to ignore, please write them a note on any paper you may have—addresses and sample message below.
President Joe Biden
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20500
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, D.C. 20301-1000
Sample message (please feel free to add your own personal message too):
Aloha [President Biden/Mr. Lloyd J. Austin III],
The 2021 fuel and PFAS leaks at the US Navy's Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility have contaminated Oʻahu's drinking forever. Forever contamination demands forever testing.
I urge you to invest a small percentage of the Department of Defense budget in an EPA-certified water testing laboratory in Hawaiʻi that can deliver test results to island and regional consumers in a timely manner.
[Personal note]
Sincerely,
[Your name]
Dark Waters Screening
Join us THIS FRIDAY, August 4 from 5-9pm at Church of the Crossroads for a free screening of Dark Waters, a Blockbuster film that tells one community’s story of their fight to remediate the contamination of forever chemicals in their drinking water. Please RSVP here by 11:59pm TONIGHT to save your spot and find event details here.
Community Representation Initiative
The EPA’s Scoping Meeting on the Community Representation Initiative (CRI) took place on Thursday, July 27, at Aliamanu Middle School. Here are six quick facts we learned:
The EPA is funding facilitators with Triangle Associates, a consulting firm based out of Seattle, to facilitate and support setting up the CRI.
The CRI will consist of 10 people from the “community”—how to define “community” is still up for consideration.
The CRI will meet every other month.
We are still unsure what type of power/authority, if any, the CRI will have in the decision-making process with respect to the Shut Down Red Hill campaign.
The purpose of the CRI is to review Navy and DLA actions related to defueling, closure, and drinking water protections.
We are still unsure if the CRI will be a colossal waste of time or if, as promised by the military representative in attendance, the CRI will have a voice in determining the future (NO!) reuse of the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility.
The CRI process is still very much unfolding and as of right now we are not sure when the next CRI meeting will be held. For more information, we recommend reaching out to Dominique Smith, the Environmental Justice Coordinator with the EPA at smith.dominique@epa.gov.
How we got here:
The EPA received a record-breaking number of comments on their Administrative Order on Consent with the Navy, which is the official regulatory response to the 2021 fuel release(s) that contaminated Oʻahu’s drinking water supply. One thing that many of the comments called for was more direct community involvement in the oversight of Red Hill. The Community Representation Initiative is the EPA’s response to those comments.
Info provided by the EPA:
Lā Hoʻi Hoʻi Ea
Last Sunday in partnership with Wisdom Circles Oceania, Hawaiʻi Alliance for Progressive Action, Oʻahu Water Protectors, Shut Down Red Hill Coalition, and Hoʻopae Pono Peace Project we participated in the 180th Lā Hoʻi Hoʻi Ea celebration at Thomas Square Park.
July 31 marks Lā Hoʻi Hoʻi Ea, Sovereignty Restoration Day, a national holiday established by King Kamehameha III following the rightful return of the sovereign government to Hawaiʻi by the United Kingdom, after an illegal seizure by one of their representatives.
We are so grateful to be a part of such an unforgettable art and educational tent for keiki of all ages with poster making, screen-printing, stenciling, poetry, lei-making, and an open mic, spearheaded by Wisdom Circles Oceania.
During our time together we were able to weave a few more hundred feet of ti leaf lei (see below), discuss what’s next in the fight to #shutdownredhill, reflect on what safety truly means to our communities, and spend quality time together with our fellow water drinkers.
Check out this coverage from Hawaiʻi Public Radio featuring our very own Rebekah Garrison about the lei weaving at Lā Hoʻi Hoʻi Ea.
Weaving lāʻī for a drinking water safety
Our friends at the Shut Down Red Hill Coalition, Wisdom Circles Oceania, 15 Craigside, OHA, Earthjustice, Oʻahu Water Protectors and us have been organizing together to weave a ti leaf lei the size of a Red Hill fuel tank to help demonstrate the monstrous size of the tanks. Through this weaving, we all have helped grow a life-giving and relaxing space for folks to come together and talk story about what safety means to the community, and how the community--not the military--would like to move the shut down Red Hill campaign forward.
Lāʻī, ti leaf, are traditionally and culturally used for protection, medicinally, and also as an adornment for cultural practitioners embodying these same qualities.
Over the last few months, and several events including last weekend’s Lā Hoʻi Hoʻi Ea, water drinkers have come together to weave lāʻī from across the paeʻāina into a lei spanning almost 400 feet! The original goal was to reach 250 feet, the height of a single tank, but now we are setting out for 700 feet, the full outline of a Red Hill tank.
Mahalo nui to everyone that has donated lāʻī already! If you would like to contribute lāʻī, please contact Sharde at sharde.freitas@sierraclub.org for Hawaiʻi Island donations, Becka at garrisonrs@gmail.com for Oʻahu donations, and hawaii.chapter@sierraclub.org for all other islands.
Together, we rise
On July 13th, the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi co-hosted the third panel of the Water Protectors Rising series, titled “Together, We Rise,” alongside Hawaiʻi Alliance for Progressive Action and Water Protectors Legal Collective. This webinar explored the patterns and crises systemically rooted in US imperialism, militarization, racism, and highlighted the importance of our response to also be systemic. Read more about the panel and watch the recording here.