Litigation Station: Red Hill

By Marti Townsend, Chapter Director | Reading time: 3.5 minutes

Our long awaited contested case hearing over the Navy’s permit application to operate its Red Hill fuel tanks is finally here and we are halfway through—and it's been enlightening (really: 😲) to say the least. A lot of new, solid information is now on the record. Don't forget, the outcome of this hearing will determine the fate of Oʻahu’s water.

We will be sharing a summary of the first three days tomorrow morning. Be sure to check our Facebook and/or sign up for email updates here.

You can still tune in on Thursday and Friday. Friday afternoon will be closing arguments.

You can also watch opening arguments from Monday here and the hearing on Tuesday here and this morning here in case you missed.

Here’s the scoops:

This five day hearing is happening as a result of a Sierra Club lawsuit that forced the Department of Health to amend its rules to require that the Navy obtain a permit to operate its tanks just like every other underground storage tank. After the Navy applied for its permit, the Sierra Club and the Board of Water Supply requested a contested case hearing. In their permit application, the Navy fails to demonstrate that its tanks will not leak and will not affect Oʻahu’s groundwater. The Navy also fails to demonstrate that there is not a feasible alternative -- like relocating the tanks.

Side note: The Navy is required to apply for a permit because of our lawsuit back in 2017 that removed an exemption for field constructed underground fuel storage tanks like those at Red Hill. Prior to this, these tanks were unregulated by the state. This is important because the permitting process brings these tanks into compliance with state law, providing the Department of Health with means to enforce regulations and ensure the Navy is doing everything it can to protect our water.

We are asking the Hawaiʻi Department of Health to stand by its constitutional responsibility to protect our drinking water and its own conclusion that “the storage of up to 187 million gallons of fuel, 100 feet above a drinking water resource, is inherently dangerous”. The Department should issue a much shorter permit that imposes stronger protections in the short term while the Navy takes the steps it needs to relocate the fuel in the long term. Read our prehearing memo here.

Outrageously, the Navy is arguing that “the mere possibility of a future release, or the existence of a past release, should not affect the (Health) Department’s permitting decision given that there is no evidence of significant groundwater impacts or reasonable likelihood of future impacts.” 😑

The Navy’s own studies have shown that the Red Hill tanks have a 27.6% chance of leaking between 1,000 and 30,000 gallons in the next year, 80.1% in the next five years, 96% in the next ten years, and a 99.8% chance in the next 20 years. Need I remind you that the administrative agreement to study, maintain and consider repairs to the Red Hill tanks lasts for another 18 years?

And oh yeah! The Red Hill tanks have been leaking since their construction in the 40s, including the 27,000 gallons released in 2014. Over the years, the Navy itself has reported that the groundwater has been contaminated by chemicals found in petroleum based fuels and that “past inadvertent releases have contaminated the fracture basalt, basal groundwater”.

The Red Hill tanks have threatened Oʻahu’s drinking water for far too long. The tanks should have never been built directly above the aquifer and should not be frankenstein-ed to operate any longer. The cost of relocating the fuel above ground to a location that does not threaten our environment or people might seem like a lot. But when you take into account the military’s long history of contaminating Hawaiʻi’s lands and waters, the costs of cleaning it up, and the absurd amount of land they have taken over while paying the state so little—it is a small price to pay. Military-operated field constructed underground storage tanks are being retired and the fuel relocated in top-of-the-line above ground tanks around the United States, it is time the Navy does the same for the Red Hill tanks. This contested case hearing could bring us a big step closer to that goal.