Red Hill Roundup
By Anna Chua | Reading time: 6 minutes
In this month’s Red Hill roundup: a Congressional funding bill to defuel the Red Hill Facility gets signed into law, two federal bills calling for permanent shutdown have been introduced, State legislature bills are on the move, and the City Council’s Bill 48 passes its final hearing! Every day we get closer to shutting down this decrepit facility forever, and we are this close because of every single one of you who have taken action to protect our water! Read on to learn more about what’s happening and how you can stay plugged in.
Red Hill Pledge and Petition
We launched two grassroots initiatives last week to ensure that decision-makers in Washington D.C. are reminded about this existential threat and our demand that the Red Hill Facility be defueled and decommissioned without any undue delay. We joined hands with over 70 other organizations to launch the Red Hill pledge to hold elected officials accountable to their commitment to supporting legislation to permanently shut down Red Hill. With the help of COMMUNITYx, we also launched a petition urging President Biden and former President Obama to intervene before this crisis becomes an existential catastrophe.
Join us in sending the message directly to key decisionmakers on the continent that no matter what the Pentagon may be saying, Hawai‘i is uniting to #shutdownredhill. Visit www.redhillcrisis.com, where you can:
Sign the COMMUNITYx petition
Check out more ways to help here
If your community organization would like to sign in support of the pledge, please send your logo and website (optional) to hawaii.chapter@sierraclub.org, and it will be included on the site,
Spread the word to everyone you know about these next moves to bring the Red Hill fight to Washington, D.C.!
Bill 48
Bill 48 CD2 passed its final hearing in the Honolulu City Council on February 23! This bill will further protect Oʻahu’s drinking water from the Red Hill tanks and ensure that perilous tanks like these will never exist to threaten our island again. It requires any any operator of underground storage tanks with a capacity of 100,000 gallons or more, to obtain a permit from the City and stipulates that no permit will be granted unless the applicant proves that the tank or tank system will not leak regulated substances into the environment (which we know to be impossible in the context of the Red Hill Facility). The permit would only last five years and can be revoked if the operator violates conditions of the permit, misrepresented facts to get the permit or there is a release or threatened release of the regulated substance.
After the City bill takes effect, that is, after Mayor Blangiardi signs it into law, the Navy would need to request a permit from the City to continue operating the Red Hill Facility. After filing for a permit with the City, the Navy would also need to submit a permit application with the state health director, both of which would accrue a $15,000 application review fee.
Red Hill bills on the move in the State legislature
HB2274, HB2514
Two House bills that would effectively prohibit the state from permitting the Red Hill Facility and similarly massive underground storage tank facilities that may threaten our precious public trust water sources passed their final hearings in the House on February 25! The Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce passed HB2514 HD1 with no amendments, which prohibits the issuance of permits for any underground storage tank greater than 100,000 gallons and HB2274 SD1 with minor technical amendments, which seeks to prohibit underground fuel storage tanks of greater than 100,000 gallons located mauka of the underground injection control line. The bills will now be voted on the House floor and assuming all goes well, they will move to the Senate, where we hope to push for an amendment to HB2274 that implements July 1, 2022 as the date after which no underground storage tank can be operated, except to defuel and decommission.
Two Senate bills are scheduled for their final committee hearings in the Ways and Means Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee on March 2! SB2600 SD1 and SB2172 SD1 would both prohibit large-capacity underground storage tanks like the Red Hill Facility from being permitted above our drinking water aquifers after July 1, 2022, except for their repair and removal, and would prohibit the operation of large-capacity underground storage tanks above our drinking water aquifers after January 1, 2023. Learn more about the bills and how to testify here.
Head to our CapitolWatch website for more updates and information on critical bills we are tracking this session!
WAI Act
On another note, public pressure on our congressional delegation has been working! Congressman Kai Kahele introduced the Red Hill WAI Act – short for Red Hill Watershed and Aquifer Initiative Act – with the goal of permanently decommissioning the Red Hill Facility. Here is a breakdown of what the WAI Act would do and authorize:
Directs Navy to defuel by the end of 2022, and permanently decommission Red Hill;
The facility will be permanently closed in accordance with “current practices recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency;”
Navy retains ownership and responsibility for environmental condition, and funding will be authorized for the cleanup of historic and most recent releases;
Require the Navy to reimburse the Board of Water Supply for costs of monitoring wells (new and existing) and new drinking water wells;
Require the Navy to conduct hydrology/water monitoring research;
Require the Navy to establish a water treatment and a water quality testing facility;
Require the Navy to comply with the Health Department’s emergency order;
Require the Navy to give monthly reports to Congress on the defueling process and progress;
Require the Navy to reimburse the state, Department of Health, Department of Education, and Board of Water Supply for costs related to the water contamination crisis.
A companion measure has also been introduced in the Senate by Senator Brian Schatz.
Biden signs off on $350 million to defuel the Red Hill fuel tanks
President Biden signed a short-term federal funding bill on February 18 that includes a provision – introduced by Sen. Brian Schatz – to push the Department of Defense to abide by the Department of Health’s emergency order to drain the Red Hill fuel tanks. The bill provides $100 million for the Navy to follow the defueling order and represents the first round of funding to drain the tanks, a process that requires sizable appropriations. The bill also includes $250 million for the Navy, Marine Corps, Army, and Air Force to cover the expenses of the contamination. We are expecting Congress to consider vast appropriations package in March.
Echoing the demands of community members, Congress is no longer beating around the bush like they have been for almost a decade. The facility should have never been built there in the first place, and the Navy could not conjure up a valid excuse to continue putting entire ways of life on Oʻahu at risk even if they tried. With the Navy now backed into a corner, we are holding every target accountable to their commitment to shutting down Red Hill once and for all. Join us by supporting the Red Hill pledge, signing petitions, and keeping up with organizers on the ground.