Wayne’s Sierra Club World
By Wayne Tanaka | Reading time: 3 minutes
Aloha Sierra Club ‘Ohana!
Make no mistake: we, the people of Hawai‘i, have achieved something monumental, something historic. Together, we have raised our collective voices on an unprecedented scale, and spoken so loudly and stood so steadfastly that the leader of the planet’s most powerful military has recognized and, to some degree, conceded to our demands to #ShutDownRedHill.
How did we do it? How did we strike such a major blow against a supposedly “essential” national “security” facility that has threatened our island’s water, our precious wai, for the last 80 years?
The pain, suffering and outrage of the thousands of people who were finally poisoned by the Navy’s years of negligence and shallow assurances certainly did this decrepit facility no favors. But I do not believe that we could have achieved the mass mobilization and sustained activism that led to this recent development were it not for the unique and beautiful qualities that, despite our continued struggles and social challenges, the vast majority of people continue to possess here in Hawai‘i nei.
Our host culture, our island setting, the diverse communities now sharing this special place have cultivated in so many of us Hawai‘i people a deep sense of connection to each other, to the ‘āina, to our ancestors and our future generations. This understanding is what brought us all together — from politicians across the political spectrum to everyday residents from all walks of life — to stand up against the U.S. Navy and for each other, for our home, for the water that has provided for life on O’ahu since time immemorial. It was this unprecedented, unified and unyielding demand that ultimately carried the day.
And it is this special unity that we will need to continue to hold onto, because we are still in harm’s way, and this crisis is far, far from over. The contamination already in our aquifer means we simply will not be able to use the municipal wells that we’ve relied upon to sustain our homes, our communities, our economy for decades. This could have tremendous impacts on every aspect of life here on O‘ahu, potentially for years to come. And with well over 100 million gallons of fuel still perched just 100 feet above our groundwater aquifer, with no concrete timeline for defueling and shutting down the Red Hill Facility, there is a real and ongoing risk that this years-long crisis could turn into a lifelong catastrophe.
So we need to remember what brought us this far, and keep it close, because only together can we conserve enough water to avoid the worst consequences of this ongoing crisis, and only together can we continue to keep the pressure on the Navy and on our government leaders to get this poison away from our water supply, before it is too late.
It won’t be easy: already, Navy officials and certain commenters are sowing division and criticizing the Board of Water Supply for its precautionary measures, as if the contamination and effective destruction of our drinking water infrastructure — whether from the petroleum plume or saltwater intrusion from unsustainable well pumping — is somehow an acceptable risk. And the financial and social impacts of potentially depressed economic activity will be difficult to bear, for some community members more than others.
But we have already demonstrated that as Hawai‘i people, we can and will do what it takes to defend our home, and protect what we love. And so we will and must continue carrying on, together, and do our part to conserve our most precious resource, ensure that corporations and industries do their part too and hold the Navy accountable until this crisis is over and they’ve cleaned up their mess.
E ola i ka wai,
Wayne