Sierra Club of Hawai‘i Announces the Red Hill Pledge Initiative

MEDIA ADVISORY 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Wednesday, February 23, 2022 

HONOLULU, HAWAIʻI - The Sierra Club of Hawai‘i, in collaboration with the Ka‘ohewai  Coalition, the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, ‘Āina Aloha Economic Futures,  Kanaeokana, Wai Ola Alliance, and over 70 other community organizations and businesses has  launched the Red Hill Pledge, an initiative demonstrating to decisionmakers on the U.S.  continent that the people of Hawaiʻi are united in demanding that the Navy’s WWII-era Red Hill  Bulk Fuel Storage Facility be defueled and shut down without delay.  

“We’re closer than ever before to eliminating this 80-year-old menace to our water supply and  our way of life. Now more than ever, we need to make it clear key decisionmakers thousands of  miles away that the people of Hawai‘i will no longer tolerate this unacceptable threat to the  foundation our lives. We cannot let this crisis become a catastrophe that will plague our islands  for decades if not centuries to come,” said Wayne Chung Tanaka, Sierra Club of Hawai‘i  Executive Director.  

The Red Hill Pledge not only provides an opportunity for elected representatives, organizations,  and individuals to demonstrate Hawai‘i’s unity around Red Hill, but allows local businesses,  foundations and philanthropists to contribute funds to support a national media campaign targeted at key decisionmakers in the White House and the U.S. Congress. 

“We’re bringing our message to them,” added Dr. Kamana Beamer, of ʻĀina Aloha Economic  Futures. “With this initiative, we want to make it unequivocally clear to all in Washington, D.C.  that no matter what the Pentagon is telling them, Hawaiʻi is clear: Decommission the Red Hill  fuel tanks. No more fuel leaking into our islands’ most precious resource.” 

The Sierra Club of Hawai‘i is also launching a petition to former President and Hawai‘i-born  Barack Obama and current President and Commander-in-Chief Joseph Biden, urging their  immediate attention to and intervention in the situation.  

“President Obama grew up drinking water from the same groundwater aquifer that remains at  risk of catastrophic contamination. It nurtured him, it nurtured his family, and he can and must  act to protect this source of life for the island of his birth,” emphasized Tanaka.  

Both the pledge and petition can be found at www.redhillpledge.com.  

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