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 testimonies 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 representative 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. against 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 be 
commensurate with the damages to the long term negative impact to the health and 

safety to the people of Hawaii. 

5. Please do 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 repair 

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 immediately 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 draining 

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.