Red Hill: Support the campaign and read notes from the field

by Wayne Tanaka, Chapter Director | Reading time: 8 minutes

Support the Red Hill Campaign!

This coming month will include several new ways for folks to support and spread the word about the Red Hill crisis!

First, mahalo nui to the hui of Moanalua kūpuna, who, in partnership with the Hawaiʻi Workers Center, Hawaiʻi Peoples Fund, and the Hawaiʻi Youth Climate Coalition, have launched a community “Walk for Water to Shut Down Red Hill,” to provide the entire Oʻahu community an opportunity to demonstrate their support of the effort to protect our sole source aquifer from irreversible and catastrophic contamination. Adult registrants for the April 23 event at Ala Moana Beach Park will receive a free T-shirt and a “Can Our Tears Clean the Aquifer” poster, with registration fees and donations going to support the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi’s Shut Down Red Hill Campaign. For more information and to register for the event, see redhillwalkforwater.com.

Second, the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi is deeply grateful to artist Makaiwa Kanui, who contributed her heartbreaking work, “Can Our Tears Clean the Aquifer?”, to the Red Hill Campaign. Mahalo nui to the many individuals who signed up to become new monthly donors in February, whose first month’s donations were matched by a generous donor and who will also receive a free copy of Makaiwa’s poster. Good news - even if you missed this opportunity, you can still get a copy of the poster! With matching funds still available, one-time donors of $25 or more can have their donations matched, and receive a free poster - simply make a qualifying donation by March 10 through this link here. Or, you can register as an adult for the Walk for Water to Shut Down Red Hill (see above), and a poster will be included with your registration.

Third, Hawai‘i Interfaith Power and Light has launched a letter-writing campaign for communities and organizations of faith to reach out to Commander-in-Chief Joe Biden and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Read about and take part in this campaign here.

Finally, on Friday, March 24, from 4:30 p.m. - 6 p.m., at the corner of Dole Street and University Avenue, join University of Hawaiʻi students and water protectors with another signwaving, with possible special guest(s)! Water donations will also be accepted to provide some relief to residents whose water lines may still be contaminated from the November 2021 spill.

Stay tuned! There are additional events likely to take place this month - be sure to follow @sierraclubhi, @oahuwaterprotectors, and @shutdownredhillmutualaid for announcements and updates.

*Would your business, sports team, church, community association, or other organization like a tailored presentation on the Red Hill crisis, and how it may impact any and every aspect of life as we know it? If so, please reach out to hawaii.chapter@sierraclub.org for more information.

Red Hill: Notes from the Field

February saw continued community action around the Red Hill crisis, as Hawai’i residents proved that we will not stand idly by while our water and future remain on the precipice of disaster.

Thanks to numerous calls to action, including from the Honolulu Board of Water Supply and the Sierra Club, over 1,700 public comments were submitted on the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed consent order, which threatens to repeat the mistakes of the 2015 Administrative Order on Consent. If the EPA and Department of Defense are truly “on our side,” as they claim, they should not object to the public’s demands for the inclusion of concrete and enforceable provisions that reflect the dire nature of our water crisis. However, whether they will substantially amend the consent order remains to be seen.

Also in February, the Sierra Club of Hawai‘i joined with the Hawai’i Commission on the Status of Women and over two dozen other organizations to hold a panel, “No Kānekuaʻana and Our Lifegivers,” featuring Kamāwaelualani’s Dr. Nikki Cristobal, Commission Executive Director Khara Jabola-Carolus, Board of Water Supply Chief Engineer Ernie Lau, Oʻahu Water Protectors organizer Healani Sonoda-Pale, and Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi Executive Director Wayne Tanaka, with Sierra Club organizer Sharde Freitas and Commission Chair Deja Ostrowski serving as moderators. Panelists discussed the latest updates with the Red Hill crisis and the recently released Missing and Murdered Native Hawaiian Women and Girls report, drawing connections between our islands’ environmental and social crises - particularly with respect to the role of the U.S. military - and highlighting the leadership of women in protecting our wai, our home, and our lives. Wisdom Circle Oceania’s Sierra Dew and Hawaiʻi Alliance for Progressive Action's Nanea Lo also held space for information and creative expression at the Ka Waiwai venue. A recording of the panel can be viewed here.

That same week, Japanese American Memorial Pilgrimages hosted a Red Hill Updates panel featuring Oʻahu Water Protector Dani Espiritu, poisoned military housing resident Amanda Zawieruszynski, and Wayne Tanaka. Hear Amanda share her story and Dani share her thoughts on actions that folks across the continent can take, by watching the panel recording here.

Finally, members of the public were invited to watch an Ola I Ka Wai workshop as part of a PDE3 continuing education course for educators, with Kaʻohewai’s Dr. Kalehua Krug, Board of Water Supply Chief Engineer Ernie Lau, Healani Sonoda-Pale, and Wayne Tanaka, organized by Dani Espiritu and her colleagues Dr. Summer Maunakea and Trevor Atkins. Panelists discussed the cultural, social, and systemic dimensions of the Red Hill crisis, and what communities and educators have done and can do to help protect water here and across the Pacific. Watch the workshop here, and also see and share this flier for more info on upcoming panels featuring water advocates and protectors from across ka pae ʻāina.

The Emerging Threat of PFAS “Forever Chemicals”

With the November 29, 2022 release of 1,300 gallons of aqueous fire-fighting foam (”AFFF”) concentrate from the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, and the subsequent revelation that prior AFFF leaks had not been disclosed by the Navy, the campaign to Shut Down Red Hill became a whole “new ballgame”: the per- and poly-fluoroalkyl “forever chemicals,” or PFAS, found in AFFF could now threaten generations yet unborn, adding to the urgency to defuel the Red Hill Facility before any additional AFFF leaks can occur.

In addition to these Red Hill spills, new information has come to light indicating that the contamination of our ‘āina and wai by these forever chemicals may be far more widespread than previously known.

The Hawaiʻi Army National Guard has informed residents in Waiawa that prior training with AFFF has appeared to contaminate groundwater in the region, and that testing will need to be done to determine if PFAS may be in their drinking water. Since it will take up to three months to get test results, residents will have to decide for themselves whether to continue drinking and cooking with potentially contaminated water, or to shoulder the burden of getting their water from another source. It is unclear whether and how frequently testing will continue in the months and years ahead, given the fact that these “forever chemicals” will not break down, and may migrate throughout the environment for centuries.

Wells serving the Kunia Village water system also showed levels of PFOA and PFOS, two of the most-studied types of “forever chemicals,” at thousands of times the EPA’s interim health advisory for these chemicals. Residents have been advised by the Department of Health to purchase water filters if they feel unsafe.

Unfortunately, more information about this additional threat has been exceedingly difficult to obtain. The Navy has failed to meet its own commitments to transparency as well as the EPA’s February 6 deadline to turn over information connected to the November spill.

It is also unclear what the branches of the Department of Defense other than the Army National Guard are doing to investigate potential and likely AFFF releases at military installations across the islands.

Fortunately, some light has been shed on the military’s response - or lack thereof - to “forever chemical” contamination in other places, notably Okinawa. The Shimanchu Wai Protectors, Hawaiʻi Okinawa Alliance (HOA), Center for Okinawan Studies, Church of the Crossroads, Environmental Justice Club at the University of Hawaiʻi, O‘ahu Water Protectors, Hawai‘i Peace and Justice, the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi, and numerous other organizations joined together with Okinawa Times investigative journalist and filmmaker Jon Mitchell to put on two screenings of Jon’s documentary, “Nuchi Nu Miji: Okinawa’s Water of Life” on February 23 and 25.

Panels following each screening also featured Red Hill campaign leaders Marti Townsend, Dani Espiritu, and the Board of Water Supply’s Erwin Kawata, along with HOA’s Chihiro Komine and Jon Mitchell himself.

Attendees learned about the parallels between PFAS “forever chemical” contamination of Okinawa’s lands, rivers, and groundwater, and Oʻahu’s water crisis, including: regulator and military collusion, the need to rely whistleblowers and Freedom of Information Act requests to counter military misinformation and denials, and the fact that citizens themselves must act as their own protectors. Watch the follow up panel to the Church of the Crossroads screening with Dani, Erwin, Chihiro, and Jon here.

The campaign to end the 80-year menace to our aquifer, and to tackle the emerging PFAS threat to our wai and ʻāina, is a marathon, not a sprint — so please join us as we do our part for our ʻāina, our communities, and our future generations. Take a moment to sign up for Red Hill email alerts, follow @sierraclubhi and @oahuwaterprotectors on Instagram for more upcoming actions and events, and please support the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi so that we can sustain and grow the fight to protect our water, our home, and our planet. Mahalo nui!