### Testimony to the EPA – RED HILL STORAGE TANK LEAKAGE INTO WATER SUPPLY

June 20, 2015

Dear Sir/Madam:

As a longtime resident of and an attendee at the recently held community hearing at the Moanalua Middle School on June 18, 2015, I came away with the following understanding and suggestions

.

1. While I did not tally the degree to which each of the 34 testifiers were in support of or in opposition to the recommendations of your Task Force, it was quite apparent to me that the overwhelming direction of the feedback that you received were in grave disappointment of the recommendations to proceed with a 20

- year fix. I was most impressed with the technical understanding, no nonsense clarity and appropriate community

- based values of the testimon ies provided by Chief Engineer

Ernest Lau of the Board of Water Supply and Sen. Laura Thielen. Please listen to them.

2. As pointed out by several testifiers, I was disappointed that the Task Force did not include any representation from the Board of Water Supply in its work. Why
would this committee be only limited to the EPA, the Navy and the State Department
of Health? Please revise the Task Force membership and at a minimum, include the Board of Water Supply as a voting member.

3. The EPA representativ e pointed out that the Administrative Order that was prepared was a voluntarily negotiated plan between the parties. Why was the plan voluntarily negotiated? Understandably, the US Department of Defense (Navy) has a large mission to defend the U .S . agai nst all enemies

, foreign and domestic. However,
it seems to me that this threat to Hawaii that is clearly the responsibility of the Navy means that they should not allow them be participate in negotiating a fix . They are at fault and should not participate to threaten the lives of the people on Oahu. I strongly recommend that the Navy be asked to provide evidence but not be asked to voluntarily negotiate their obligations or determine their penalties. Let us not defend America while sickening our people.

4. Penalties were mentioned in passing without any reference to what they would be. Please clarify. I recommend that the penalties be substantial and becommensurate with the damages to the long term n egative impact to the health and safety to the people of Hawaii.

5. Please d o not use the euphemistic word “Release”. Instead replace it with the
word “Leak”. Better yet, “Continuous Leak”.

6. It did not occur to me that much more than the estimated 27 ,000 gallons of jet fuel has leaked from the storage tanks. I did not realize that there has been several other major incidences over the decades and even the present leak is continuing. Clearly, after over 75 years, metal and its supporting concrete barriers are expected to corrode. Even massive Navy ships are not expected to last that long. They are eventually mothballed. The recommendation to use the BAPT or Best Available Practical Technology approach based on a 2

- year study plan for a 20

- year repa ir
schedule is at best a stall. Those in the EPA, the DOH and the Navy who endorse such a plan will have long retired and may be living elsewhere by that time. Where is the accountability?

I recommend that work start imme diately within 6 months to begin draining the storage tanks and begin corrective action now. To implement the change expressed at the community hearing , it is necessary to develop a long term goal as expressed by

BWS , allocate funds and staffing and move. Will we get it right at every step? Of course not. However, once there is institutional momentum, there will be greater assurance that regardless of changes in personnel at the EPA, DOH, BWS and the Navy, the preferred future for Hawaii will be achievable

. Even after committing to d raining
the tanks , we will need to use the best available practical technologies to monitor contamination levels, the health consequences of polluted water and improved
methods of disaster preparedness

. We are in a threatened state and it is time to move quickly to protect Hawaii’s people.