Wayne’s Sierra Club World
by Wayne Tanaka, Chapter Director | Reading time: 3 minutes
On October 8, 2022, the O’ahu Water Protectors, Hawai‘i Peace and Justice, Faith Action for Community Equity, and the Sierra Club of Hawai‘i, joined by representatives and members of the Kaʻohewai Coalition, Kanaeokana, ʻĀina Aloha Economic Futures, Shimanchu Water Protectors, Our Revolution Hawaiʻi, 350Hawaii.org, Travel2Change, and other members of the Shut Down Red Hill Coalition, organized a “Lie-Aversary” event to reflect on the untruths, denials, and misrepresentations surrounding the Red Hill crisis, which threaten to tie the legacies of Puʻuloa and Kapūkakī to the destruction of our island’s source of life.
My opening remarks for the event were as follows:
October 8, 2021 - one year ago today - marked the day when the people of Hawaiʻi learned that a Navy Commander had, in legal hearings and under oath, failed to disclose the existence of a leaking pipeline from the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility.
In internal emails revealed by a Navy whistleblower, Captain Gordon Meyer had warned Navy officials that significant amounts of fuel were being released every day from a Red Hill defueling pipeline into Puʻuloa, or Pearl Harbor. Other emails by a Captain Trent Kalp noted “political concerns” if this leak happened to “become active” during our legal proceedings.
While the people of Hawai‘i were, as a result, kept in the dark, thousands of gallons of fuel over the better part of a year would eventually be released into the ocean not far from the U.S.S. Arizona, further despoiling the once abundant and cherished waters of Pu‘uloa, and soiling thegraveyard of the very sailors who, 80 years prior, had given their lives in service to the Navy.
This was not the first time that the legacy of Pu‘uloa would be tarnished by denials, untruths, and lies by Navy and military leaders.
In the aftermath of the Dec. 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor attack — which itself been exacerbated by leadership failures and complacency – factually baseless allegations by top military officials led to the forced internment of 120,000 residents of Japanese ancestry, the majority of whom were U.S. citizens.
Lies in that case tarnished the very legacy of those who had given their lives in defense of our “Freedom,” as the leaders of the country and military they fought and died for, would go on to violate the constitutional and human rights and upend the lives of an entire generation.
Sadly, Oct. 8 would also not be the last instance of Navy misrepresentations leading to and exacerbating harms to people, to ‘āina, to the legacies of history and of sacred places. For one year now we have endured a continual series of untruths, lies, and “implausible” denials – which have only exacerbated the harms caused by the Red Hill Facility, and which now threaten to tie the legacies of Puʻuloa and Kapūkakī to the loss of the water source of an entire Hawaiian island.
For one year, all we’ve been given, all we have are words and verbal assurances, none of which have kept us safe. And when these words turn out to be untruths, wishful thinking, and lies – lives are upended, our island is placed at the brink of destruction, and our historical and living legacies are soiled - potentially irreversibly so.
So on this day we recognize October 8 as a Red Hill Lie-Aversary, marking one year of implausible deniability on the part of the Navy, to remind ourselves that our people, our island, our future legacy requires true transparency, accountability, and demonstrated actions, not words.
And our demands today are the bare minimum steps toward these ends.
Check out this month’s Red Hill column to read more about the event and view a recording, put together by Oren Tsutsumi with ʻŌlelo TV, featuring event speakers including a “Top Ten Navy Lies” presentation by Oʻahu Water Protector organizer Bekah Garrison.
E ola i ka wai!