HWC & MY TESTIMONY ON SHUTTING DOWN RED HILL, 1-25-22
Dear Chair Keohokalole, Chair Gabbard, Vice Chair Baker, Vice Chair Nishihara, and members
of the Senate Health and Agriculture and Environment Committees,
I am testifying for myself and also for the Hawai’i Workers Center in SUPPORT of
SB2172. This Bill seeks to protect Oahu’s precious water from fuel contamination. We all have
a duty to defend and preserve our ‘aina and water for present and future generations. We must
not allow the Navy or any land owner or land occupier to undermine this necessity and threaten
our water resources. It is time the Red Hill tanks be drained and the facility shut down, with no
option of its recommissioning or repermitting.
We are in favor of amendments to the bill suggested by the Sierra Club, namely to: 1) remove
the reference to the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility in the preamble, to avoid potential
federal preemption challenges; 2) define “underground fuel storage tank” to apply to facilities
with field-constructed tanks, or with a capacity over 100,000 gallons; and 3) ensure that no
permit may be issued or renewed for an underground fuel storage tank, and that no underground
fuel storage tank may be operated after the end of this year, for a facility located mauka of the
underground injection control line.
Please PASS SB2172 with the above amendments.
Please also look into the U.S. military’s deleterious environmental impacts at other military
installations like Pearl Harbor, Hickam A.F. Base, Schoffield Barracks, Wheeler A.F.
Base, Pohakuloa, Kahuku, Barking Sands, and other military sites.
Mahalo nui!