Column: Dangers lurk in Red Hill fuel tanks’ ‘reuse’ survey

Defueling of the Red Hill Facility, if it happens fully as promised, would not be the cure-all Band-Aid on the wound the Navy has inflicted on the past and next several generations of Oahu.

Hawaii politicians have been circulating a survey by the Nakupuna Cos. that asks how the Navy should “reuse” or “repurpose” the facility. This is a way to increase — at least in theory — democratic community input, but misses the clear conflict of interest: Nakupuna will deliver the survey information to the Navy, which has itself committed the crime of poisoning Oahu communities for decades at Kapukaki and beyond.

My graduate studies in sociology have helped me recognize that this kind of survey is misleading and dangerous. It refuses to respect information privacy, protect safety of participants, and explain the power relations involved. The end of the survey provides a field for entering ZIP code and email as contact info for the survey report to be shared to, but there are no legal guarantees to confidentiality that protect this information from being given to the U.S. Department of Defense.

As military representatives have already targeted specific neighborhood boards to further their public- relations campaigns, Nakupuna could easily provide them more insight to surveil and sweet-talk people who rightfully question the legitimacy of military governance.

The Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility itself is already an uncontrollable Frankenstein. As much as the Navy claims to mend, “mishaps” had continued to terrorize us one shoddy valve at a time. Do you want to devote attention and money to more modification while the island’s water becomes sludge? The Department of Defense is deflecting attention away from its refusal to pay for damages or create a response to what Gov. Josh Green stated on May 9: “We want to have a clear and comprehensive plan about the remediation of the water and the aquifer.”

Lloyd Austin, as U.S. secretary of defense, maintains the power to stop the defueling and reactivate the facility at any time, under a line slipped into the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. The longer the decrepit facility remains active, the longer the U.S. military branches and industries can continue to channel money through it to use Hawaii as a sacrifice zone.

The Navy should not be in control of exploring and deciding on options for environmental justice, especially while it’s actively polluting Oahu’s sole-source aquifer. The Shut Down Red Hill Coalition has created an open petition that opposes any reuse and repurposing of the entire Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility. If you wish to sign on and provide a public comment, please find the petition online (see 808ne.ws/Noredhillreuse).

Ola i ka wai.

Jason Mark Alexander, a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the University of Hawaii-Manoa, is a member of the Shut Down Red Hill Coalition.

May 30, 2023: Column: Dangers lurk in Red Hill fuel tanks’ ‘reuse’ survey, Honolulu Star-Advertiser