The EPA recently amended the Administrative Consent Order that requires the Navy to regularly engage with water protectors – a move that limits the community’s ability to hold the military accountable for ongoing issues related to the 2021 fuel leak at Red Hill
More than three years after 19,000 gallons of fuel leaked from the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility at Kapūkakī in November 2021, dozens of local organizations have expressed deep concern about the U.S. Navy’s and Defense Logistics Agency’s (DLA’s) lack of transparency, accountability and willingness to communicate as promised.
The catastrophe contaminated Oʻahu’s primary source of drinking water, located just 100 feet below the underground facility, and impacted a Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam (JBPHH) well serving 93,000 residents. More than 6,000 consumers, including both civilian and military families, suffered a host of ailments, including skin, neurological and gastrointestinal problems. Some are still experiencing debilitating medical issues.
Completed in 1943, the Red Hill facility comprises 20 tanks 100 feet wide and 250 feet high, each able to hold 12.5 million gallons of fuel. For nearly 80 years, fuel was piped to Pearl Harbor, 2.5 miles away. In March 2022, after years of resistance, the Department of Defense (DoD) finally agreed to remove the estimated 104 million gallons of fuel stored in the facility and permanently close it.
In June 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized an Administrative Consent Order (ACO) with the Navy and DLA, outlining a scope of work for the defueling and closure of the facility, and for the safe operation of the JBPHH water system.
Within six months, most of the fuel was removed and relocated to storage facilities in California, the Philippines, Campbell Industrial Park in West Oʻahu, and an “upper tank farm” at JBPHH.
Decades of work still remain, however, including removing sludge and residual fuel, remediating environmental contamination, dismantling 10-plus miles of pipelines, and confirming that the Navy’s water system complies with safe drinking water standards.
Recognizing the need for ongoing community input and involvement, the ACO established a Community Representation Initiative (CRI) to ensure that 10 volunteer “watchdogs” would receive updates on the work; make certain it was being done in a safe, timely manner; and participate in meaningful exchanges with Navy, DLA and EPA representatives at twice-per-quarter (i.e., eight annual) meetings.
The importance of robust CRI and community engagement was underscored when the DoD’s Office of the Inspector General made public three reports in November 2024, citing the numerous Navy failures that contributed to the 2021 crisis as well as prior and subsequent releases of fire-suppression foam containing extremely toxic “forever chemicals.”
According to one report, risks to the environment and drinking water due to the proximity of the aquifer to the Red Hill facility had been well documented for years, but Navy officials ignored the warnings.
“DoD officials did not effectively manage and oversee the operations, maintenance, and safety of DFSP [Defense Fuel Support Point] JBPHH,” the report noted. Nor, it went on to say, were they adequately prepared to analyze, prevent or respond to a fuel incident.
Furthermore, officials “did not issue the required public notice to effectively communicate the drinking water contamination incident response in a timely manner to the affected community.”
Also in November 2024, the Navy, DLA and EPA announced an amendment to the ACO, which Sierra Club of Hawai‘i Director Wayne Tanaka described as “muzzling” the CRI. “The changes were imposed without public notice or comment,” he said. “The community must have a say when it comes to our water, our home, our future.”
Tanaka said that the amendment gives the Navy and DLA the power to dictate what the CRI can discuss at meetings; allows them to refuse to answer questions from the community that they deem irrelevant; reduces their attendance requirements from eight meetings a year to four; limits public testimony to just 30 minutes (total) at each meeting; and prevents the CRI from adding any item to the agenda within three weeks of a meeting.
“This means that if a new report, development or crisis happens in the weeks leading up to a meeting, it can’t be discussed,” Tanaka said. “Plus, there’s no process to review or appeal the Navy’s rejection of agenda items or questions.”
Adding insult to injury, Tanaka said, was the Navy’s and DLA’s failure to attend a December 12 CRI meeting, during which they had been expected to provide updates and answer questions about the Red Hill situation.
Flagrantly disregarding the terms of the AOC, the Navy and DLA attended only two meetings in 2024 (the last time was in March 2024, almost 10 months ago) – this despite being required, under the terms of the ACO at that time, to be present at a minimum of two meetings per quarter. Tanaka noted that the EPA has fined the Navy $5,000 for failing to show up at the December 12 CRI meeting – a penalty that amounts to little more than a slap on the hand.
At the meeting, youth organizers formally presented a letter signed by 57 community groups – including the Sierra Club, Papa Ola Lōkahi, Hawaiʻi Land Trust, Conservation Council for Hawaiʻi and the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs – to Navy, DLA and EPA officials urging them to rescind the amendment. As this issue of Ka Wai Ola went to press, neither the military nor the EPA had responded to the letter.
Tanaka views the CRI as a trusted champion of the public that isn’t afraid to raise questions and concerns about the Red Hill crisis no matter how inconvenient and uncomfortable government authorities might find them.
“The Navy and DLA strong-armed the EPA to get more control over the CRI, and the EPA capitulated,” he said. “Instead of silencing the voices of the CRI and concerned citizens, the Navy and DLA should be working with the CRI to fulfill their commitments and clean up their mess.”
Ka Wai Ola offers the Navy, DLA and EPA the opportunity to comment about the opinions and information in this story.
