Make sure the Navy does not defy the law while poisoning our water
By Anna Chua | Reading time: 1.5 minutes
On Monday, Governor Ige and the Hawaiʻi Department of Health ordered the Navy to defuel the tanks at Red Hill. While we wish it didn’t take families and pets being poisoned to get Hawaiʻi’s leaders finally on board with shutting down Red Hill, this is a strong and much needed shift in action that should have happened years ago.
While the Governor and Department of Health do, indeed, have legal authority to protect us from the Red Hill Fuel Facility, we already know that the Secretary of the Navy, Carlos Del Toro—plans to treat this lawful order as a “request.” And now, they are requesting a contested case hearing to delay having to comply with the order.
This is it. We NEED YOU AND EVERYONE YOU KNOW to make sure the Navy does not defy the law while contaminating our water and poisoning thousands of people—as they have in other places time and again. Here are three easy things you can do:
Write a letter to the Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (Del Toro’s boss) demanding that the Navy comply with the emergency order and immediately shut down Red Hill to protect Oʻahu’s water and public health. Snail mail is the best way to get our message across and not be ignored, let’s fill up his inbox with personal messages.
Make some noise on Twitter! Tweet at Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III demanding action
Post this picture on your Instagram and Facebook and tag Obama @barackobama who was raised on Red Hill water and appointed Sec. Austin , & a “Hawaiʻi celebrity” you want to see stand with us on this issue (think: Jason Momoa, Oprah, Woody Harrelson, etc)
Also be sure to bookmark our Red Hill page and Red Hill live updates page for the latest information, including what to do if you think your water is contaminated, ways to act, ways to donate, and more.
We also want to give a big shoutout to Kūʻike Kamakea-ʻŌhelo for helping deliver the water to affected schools and Menehune Water Company for joining with us to donate water to the Armed Forces Housing Advocates. Mahalo!