Two Hawaiian House bills that would effectively shutter the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility at Joint Base Harbor-Hickam passed through the House Committee on Health, Human Services, and Homelessness and the Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection earlier this week. HB 2274 would bar the state from issuing permits for any underground fuel storage tanks that may be located within one half-mile of an aquifer, or about 264 times farther than where the Red Hill tanks and pipeline are located. Red Hill sits 100 feet above the Southern Oah’u Basal Aquifer. Were HB2274 to pass, it would take effect on July 1. HB 2514 builds on existing restrictions on storage tanks but would add a provision that bars tanks fro exceeding 100,000 gallons. It would take effect upon being signed into law. The Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility contains 20 tanks that hold around 12.5 million gallons of fuel each.
Already, the Department of Defense has vowed to appeal the state Health Department’s order to empty the tanks at Red Hill. The Justice Department has also appealed the emergency order in both state and federal court. The Hawaii Department of Health issued the order on Dec. 6 of last year in the wake of a Nov. fuel spill that sent 14,000 gallons of a fuel and water mixture spewing from a suppression drain line. Navy officials have yet to definitively pinpoint what caused the spill, which officials have previously chalked up to human error. Officials are investigating the possibility that jet fuel from another spill in May was what ultimately sent fuel into the suppression drain line, subsequently contaminating drinking water to the approximately 93,000 residents who rely on the Navy water system.
The crisis has prompted the EPA to plan a visit to the site the week beginning Feb. 28 and will conduct inspections of the underground storage tanks and spill prevention system. The crisis has already cost the Navy millions of dollars and the military appears poised to spend even more addressing it, though clearly the response does not extend to wanting to shutter the fuel tanks and facility that caused the issues in the first place. The Navy’s desire to keep the facility operating doesn’t sit well with residents. According to a recent poll of Hawaiian voters, 80% want the Red Hill fuel tanks to be completely defueled and never used again. Some military families even met with lawmakers in Washington D.C. on Tuesday to appeal to them for help. The families talked with nine Congress members privately about the matter. It’s unclear who all they met with, but at least two lawmakers are certainly listening and actively working to right this wrong.
U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz has already secured $100 million to defuel the tanks at Red Hill. The funds would be secured through a provision added to the federal spending bill that includes stringent oversight requirements prior to its use. Under the provision, a third-party contractor must assess Red Hill and the Senate and House appropriations committees must first be briefed by the Secretary of Defense about the third-party’s findings before work can proceed. Rep. Ed Case, meanwhile, secured $250 million to address water contamination stemming from the Red Hill crisis, $100 million for defueling efforts, and a further $53 million to address Red Hill. “This initiative to include desperately-needed Red Hill funding was led by Sen. Schatz.” Case said in a press release. “[He] negotiated the funding request with the executive branch and his Senate colleagues. I contributed to securing agreement within the U.S. House and our Appropriations Committee, where all federal appropriations must originate.”