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RED HILL BULK FUEL STORAGE FACILITY PUBLIC MEETING

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Commencing at 7:49 p.m.

Moanalua Middle School Cafeteria

1289 Mahiole Street

Pearl City, Hawaii

Reported by: Laura Savo, CSR No. 347
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I N D E X

PAGE

Introduction by Tom Huetteman 4 

PUBLIC TESTIMONY:

Ernest Lau 8

Philip Wong 12

Carroll Cox 12

Donald Au 14

Steven Onoue 16

Patricia Beekman 17

Francis Gora 18

Alison Bhattacharyya 21

Senator Mike Gabbard 22

Paul Paaaina 24

David Hinchay 26

Bea Sakai 26

Christine Chee-Ruiter 27

Dean Fukuchi 30

Senator Laura Thielen 31

Philip Souza 34

Robin Johnston 35

Mahealani Cypher 36

Leialoha "Rocky" Kaluhiwa 40

Dante Keala Carpenter 41
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I N D E X (Cont'd)

PUBLIC TESTIMONY: PAGE

Will Tungol 46

Council Member Carole Fukunaga 48

Shelley Muneoka 49

Marsha Joyner 52

Ashly Gutierrez 54

Koreen Yogi 56

Aulani Kaaihue 57

Kapua Keliikoa-Kamai 58

Karen Murray 62
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PEARL CITY, HAWAII JUNE 18, 2015, 7:49 P.M.

* * *

MR. HUETTEMAN: There's an introduction I 

need to do before we start the public comment 

period. It just kind of sets the stage for the 

public comment period and gives us some information

about just how this will proceed. So -- and we 

have a reporter here who's recording this part of 

the meeting. 

So, again, welcome and good evening. We 

appreciate the enthusiasm and interest here this 

evening. The public comment period is now in 

session. My name is Tom Huetteman. I'm the 

assistant director of the Land Division for the 

USEPA Southwest Regional Office, also known as 

Region 9. With me tonight is Stuart Yamada, 

Environmental Management Division Chief, 

representing the Hawaii Department of Health or 

DOH. 

EPA and DOH are tonight taking public 

comments on the proposed Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage

Facility Administrative Order on Consent. This 

proposed order sets forth requirements on the Navy 

and Defense Logistics Agency, or DLA, to address 

fuel releases from the Red Hill facility and to 
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reduce the risk of future releases. The order was 

negotiated between the EPA, DOH, the Navy and DLA 

over the past year. The proposed order has already

been signed by the Navy and DLA, but EPA and DOH 

have not yet signed the order. 

Public comments received tonight and in 

writing will be used to help EPA and DOH decide -- 

decide whether to sign the Administrative Order on 

Consent as per proposed or whether to reopen 

negotiations with the Navy and DLA in order to 

change the agreement. EPA or DOH can also elect 

not to sign the agreement. The agreement is not 

binding on the Navy and DLA until it is signed by 

all parties. 

EPA and DOH will make all comments 

received available to the public and will provide a

summary of the comments received and how these 

comments were considered. There will not be a 

response prepared to each individual comment. A 

certified court reporter will transcribe all 

comments received during tonight's oral comment 

period. If you wish to provide oral comments and 

have not yet had a chance to sign in at the sign-in

table, you may do so now as well. We will call up 

speakers in the order that they signed up. 
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Before making your comments, please state 

your name for the record. Your name will appear as

part of the public record and will be included in 

the official transcript that will be posted to the 

EPA and DOH websites. 

So we have 30 -- 31 -- 32 people 

identified who want to make comments. So we're 

trying to give everybody a chance to speak, but not

keep you here too late. So in order to allow time 

for everyone who wants to make a comment a chance 

to speak, we're asking that you try and limit your 

comments to approximately two minutes. We'll hold 

up a card when there's 30 seconds left and another 

card when the two minutes is up. And we will 

appreciate it if you try and keep that time limit. 

You are not required to speak tonight in 

order to provide comments to EPA and DOH on this 

proposed order. Written comments of any length can

be submitted to EPA and DOH either by email or U.S.

Postal Service. The email address and postal 

address are provided in the handout that we had at 

the sign-in table, and you can also find this 

information on our websites. 

You can also -- if you make public 

comment tonight, you can also supplement that 
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ALI'I COURT REPORTING

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comment with additional written comments. So the 

deadline for written comments is currently July 

1st, 2015. However, we have received two requests 

for an extension to this deadline and will make the

decision about that extension early next week. If 

the deadline is extended, we will post the new 

deadline on our websites. 

EPA and DOH have also compiled an 

administrative record for this proposed agreement. 

The administrative record represents the documents 

we relied on in developing the proposed order. The

administrative record may be viewed at the offices 

of EPA and DOH in Honolulu, and we'll also be 

making it available on our website beginning 

tomorrow. Details on the administrative record are

also in the handout. 

So now we're going to begin to call up 

the speakers. So you'll see that just so you can 

get ready and we can move smoothly, we have the 

order up on the screen. And before -- Stuart is 

going to help me, and we want to make sure our 

microphones are working. They should be working. 

MR. YAMADA: Can we ask a favor that 

you can queue up by sitting on that table? 

So Ernest -- we'll call Ernest Lau, 
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No. 1, and Philip Wong, please stand by. And 

Mr. Cox.

MR. LAU: Thanks. I'm a little short 

here. Thanks. Good evening, everybody. My name 

is Ernest Lau. I'm the managing chief engineer of 

the Honolulu Board of Water Supply. I really want 

to take -- say mahalo to everybody, especially to 

our customers here of the Board of Water Supply for

taking the time away from your families and coming 

out tonight to learn more about this very important

issue to our future. 

I also want to introduce my staff, my 

deputy here, Mrs. Ellen Kitamura. If you could 

wave or stand up. 

I also have the head of our Water Quality 

Division, Mr. Erwin Kawata, and I have the head of 

our communications office, Shawn Nakamoto, along 

with her staff, Tracy and Keoni, in the room, and 

Mr. Paul Kikuchi, our chief financial officer, and 

Mr. Barry Usagawa there, standing on the side by 

the red board, heads our Water Resources Division. 

So feel free -- I know we're not part of the 

program officially, but if you have questions, feel

free to come up to any one of us. 

The Board of Water Supply does not 
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support the proposed Red Hill AOC and SOW as 

written. The documents lack public transparency, 

corrective action specificity, and the immediate 

implementation of improvements that will protect 

our groundwater and environment. 

The BWS appreciates the long and hard 

work of the EPA, DOH, Navy and DLA to develop the 

proposed AOC and SOW. Unfortunately, the contents 

do not adequately address our concerns about the 

facility storing 187 million gallons of fuel 

located just 100 feet above a state designated 

drinking water aquifer. It also doesn't mitigate 

fuel contaminants already in the groundwater 

underneath the facility, and arrest the corroding 

condition of the tanks' thin, quarter-inch, steel 

wall and their fortification to minimize the risk 

of a large fuel release contaminating the aquifer. 

The aquifer is the only one of its kind, 

and there are no cost effective alternatives that 

can replace it. BWS does not want the wells that 

presently, our wells, show no contamination to 

become contaminated in the future. At what point 

do the studies, required by the AOC and SOW to 

determine the best practical available technology, 

become actions for implementation? Studies could 
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ALI'I COURT REPORTING

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potentially continue for years in the name of 

practicality while the existing situation remains 

unchanged. The Tank 5 leak, which occurred even 

after completing a multi-year, clean-inspect-repair

and modernization process, does not demonstrate 

that the status quo approach is protective of the 

environment and our drinking water. 

The AOC needs to require cleanup of the 

contamination that is presently in the groundwater 

and the rocks underneath the tanks to reduce the 

amount available for migration to those parts of 

the aquifer that are still uncontaminated. The 

absence of free product does not preclude the 

finding of petroleum constituents already dissolved

in the water. 

Also, the AOC and SOW need to include 

stakeholders and the public in an open process that

requires immediate installation of improvements 

that will protect the groundwater and the 

environment. The AOC administrative record 

indicates past studies identified potential -- that

identify potential improvements that interestingly 

not enough -- have not yet been acted upon. 

Further delays in taking action places our drinking

water and environment at risk and defers 
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improvement opportunities vital to the protection 

and future sustainability of our underground 

sources of drinking water.

The BWS will be submitting formal written 

comments on the proposed AOC and SOW by the July 

1st deadline, which will be made available on our 

website. And we will also post this and read 

testimony on our website. That's at 

BoardofWaterSupply.com. BoardofWaterSupply.com. 

We are also requesting an extension of 

the July 1st comment deadline that Tom mentioned to

allow us to review documents that cannot be copied 

and disseminated because of copyright laws that 

were listed in the administrative record and not 

available until now, midway through the comment 

period. The extension will give us the full 30-day

review period originally established on the first 

day of the AOC and SOW when they were announced, 

which was June 1st. 

I know the EPA mentioned -- Department of 

Health about posting information on-line for the 

public to do that. We already have that on-line 

for you, and it's a key word searchable. All the 

documents that we were able to obtain from the 

administrative records, it's located at -- this is 
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the url: Http://data.Hawaiiopendata.org/ -- 

data.hawaiiopendata.org. 

Thank you for the opportunity to testify 

this evening and share our perspective on this very

important matter. 

(Speaking Hawaiian.)

Life is in freshwater. We must care for 

this water. That is our responsibility. Thank 

you. 

(Applause.)

MR. WONG: My name's Philip Wong. I've 

lived in Moanalua pretty much all my life, and 

that's why I'm here. When I saw it on the news 

last night, the wells on the news, it's right at 

the end of Mahiole Street.

I'll make this short because I'm not too 

familiar with the AOC, and I cannot comment at this

time. I pretty much just heard about it. So I'll 

turn in written testimony at a later date. Thank 

you very much.

MR. COX: Aloha, and thank you. My name 

is Carroll Cox. I'm just a citizen here. I'm with

no one. Just interested in my drinking water and 

your drinking water and good government and 

transparent government. 
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ALI'I COURT REPORTING

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But first of all, Mr. Lau, thank you. 

Thank you. 

I must tell you that having the 

government background and what have you, it was 

painful to sit through this process. It was a bit 

overdone because we want to know what the people 

say, and, yes, we're going to have a 30-day period,

but you've already pretty much formalized it. So 

that tells me the fix is on, and I hate to say 

that. If it's taken personal, no problem, but we 

cannot accept that. 

(Applause.)

So I ask that you, EPA and the DOH, 

reject this and return to the tables of regulating 

rather than participating and inoculating the Navy 

from their violations. There are spills that have 

occurred, millions of gallons, and you know it. In

1998, for example, where was the vigor then? Why 

didn't we have those resources brought to us then? 

Why didn't you act on these tank issues? Why? 

So all of a sudden, there's this new 

found interest in doing what's right and cleaning 

up the environment when you've had nano chances. 

And by the way, we know that, in fact, that the 

Navy reports to the state and those records were 
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not produced properly. We know that EALs were 

lifted and raised by the state. So if the EALs 

detected chemicals in the -- if chemicals were 

detected in the water, then EALs were assigned. 

They exceeded the EALs. So the state went back and

changed them. So that's the gist right there. If 

there's chemicals and they're needing to -- and 

exceeding the EALs, you already know that they're 

there. Where was the vigor in doing that? Where 

was this meeting? Why didn't you notify the 

public? It's RCRA. You are obligated by law to 

tell us and participate. 

So I ask that you reject this 

immediately, and I am dumbfounded as to why 

Mr. Lau, though he's not a regulatory body, is not 

put in this up-front. He has our best interest at 

hand and I have lots more to say, but the time is 

important. But, again, please reject this. You 

know that there are more chemicals in the water 

than you're letting out, and you're playing with 

words, and I ask that you declare this a bad deal 

and reject it completely.

(Applause.) 

MR. AU: Aloha, my name is Donald Au. 

I'm a self-made resident. Some of the wording in 
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the OAA (sic) needs to be reviewed. I'm going to 

post some few items. First one is -- it says, 

"Chronic exposure to these constituents can be 

harmful to human health." The other one is, "EPA 

has determined that Navy and DLA's handling, 

storage, treatment, transportation or disposal of 

solid waste may present an imminent and substantial

endangerment to health or environment." And the 

last one is probably the worst, "that actions 

required by this OAC may be necessary to protect 

health and environment." 

The other item I want to cover quickly is 

the funding. According to this agreement, there 

are penalties that will be applied. The funding 

process will be in the normal budgeting process 

that the Navy uses, and according -- 

I think that this project is a major 

contract. It comes under that category, which 

is -- comes under the MilCon project program, and 

this program pits this project against all other 

projects in the military. So funding is very 

important. Without funding, you won't be able to 

do anything. It takes a lot of work on the 

congressional delegations to obtain funding, and I 

don't think there is anyone in any position at 
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present to do that. Thank you. 

(Applause.)

MR. ONOUE: Hi, good evening. My name is 

Steven Onoue, a long-time Moanalua Valley resident,

and tonight I will speak on behalf of Moanalua 

Valley Community Association, but I speak as a 

private citizen. 

I sat on the board for this Red Hill Task 

Force for many months. Lots of this was discussed. 

Lots of the issues were discussed and negotiated. 

Now, the issue here is that we have an order on 

consent to go ahead and consider, and I ask you 

this one question. Do you stand by -- 

Even though this document is not, quote 

unquote, perfect, but it is at least a starting 

point to get things going. It is better to go 

ahead and continue to move forward than it is to go

ahead and stop and say, "Well, we need to negotiate

everything that's already been pretty much agreed 

upon." When you do that, it's going to take 

months, if not years. Then nothing will start and 

nothing will be done at that time. If you say no, 

then everything is canceled out and you start all 

over again and nothing gets done. Meanwhile, the 

ticking time bomb, it sits up there on Red Hill, 
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and, granted, it may not be perfect, the situation,

but at least we're moving forward in the right 

direction. Okay? So I urge you to consider that. 

Thank you. 

(Applause.)

MS. BEEKMAN: Hi. I'm Patricia Beekman, 

and I'm a concerned citizen. I'm concerned about 

the Hawaii I love and the possible ruin of the our 

water, which when I was going to school in Hawaii, 

I was always told that it's one of the best in the 

world. 

I was hoping that I would be able to ask 

some questions rather than just make comments, but 

it doesn't look like we're set up. If we have 

another meeting, I hope that people will be able to

ask questions of the main players in this 

situation. For example, I keep hearing about this 

contractor who messed up on the construction of the

tank, and I never hear this contractor's name. Who

is this contractor, and what does this contractor 

have to say about turning in a tank that releases 

fuel? What's his story? 

And another question I'd like to ask is 

why did the Navy award this particular contractor 

the contract for Fuel Tank 5 if he turned in -- if 
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this contractor turned in such shoddy work? What 

made the Navy think the contractor was competent 

for such work and it turned out that they weren't? 

And I read that, if I recall correctly, 

the fuel release from Tank No. 5 was because there 

were three pinholes in the tank. Three pinholes 

released 27,000 gallons? I would like to know what

the diameter of those pinholes were and where 

exactly were they. How can 27,000 gallons of fuel 

escape without being noticed? How do we know that 

this was an accurate figure or is this just a 

guesstimate? The people have to know how that 

figure was arrived at. 

If you haven't seen it, you might be 

really interested in seeing the documentary 

"Semper Fi: Always -- Always Faithful." It's 

about the water pollution at Camp Lejeune in North 

Carolina, and the military's behavior in that does 

not give me a lot of confidence in what's going on 

now. Thank you. 

MR. GORA: Aloha. (Speaking Hawaiian.) 

When the Heavens speak, the Earth grows.

I understand some of what was going on, 

but I don't understand how long is the life of a 

tank? It's been there 77 years. Okay? What would
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have to happen to shut it down? Earthquakes? You 

see a small little --

(Applause.) 

Because all of you have to be concerned 

about is the children of your children and their 

children. It takes about a hundred years for the 

water to percolate down in the Ko'olaus, a hundred 

years. These tanks are only a hundred feet above 

the aquifer. 

Next thing, the timeline and the 

arguments, the reports are too complex. The 

Hawaiians, they simple. We're not complex. Things

gotta be taken care of. They gotta malama things. 

It's not rocket science to say, "Is it that much of

a need that we need this facility here? Is it that

much of a need that the Navy needs this here or put

it someplace else?" 

(Applause.) 

Because the water is so precious. They 

call that wai wai nui. If you have water, you had 

taro batches. If you had taro patches, you had 

bananas on the site there. If you had bananas, you

have coconuts in there. Without the water, you 

don't survive. 

Are we guessing? They don't know where 
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the water (sic) went? Donald Au told me 27,000 

gallons they cannot account for. That's like three

tractor-trailer trucks. Three tractor-trailer 

trucks. You don't know where it stay? We're 

missing something. Thank you. 

I'm almost there. In 2007, this is the 

report from the Department of Navy, Commander of 

Naval Facilities, Engineering Command Pacific. 

Okay? They told Tank No. 1 and Tank No. 19 

permanently out of use. Permanently. What does 

that tell you? Something is broken in there. If 

your car got eight cylinders and two cylinders 

don't work, your car don't work. It's not going to

work. It's not going to move. 

And, you know what, I looked at it and 

all of us here, we pay of lot of taxes out here in 

Moanalua. I live in the valley. I seen my taxes 

go up and up. Never go down. Because the last 

part here on the financial responsibility when it 

comes to the federal government, they're exempt. 

Exempt. They don't need to pay, but you're going 

to pay. Mahalo. 

(Applause.) 

MR. YAMADA: Speakers, please state your 

name for the court reporter. Thank you.
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MS. BHATTACHARYYA: Aloha. 

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Aloha.

MS. BHATTACHARYYA: Aloha. My name is 

Alison Bhattacharyya. I am an 18-month cancer 

survivor. I came down with a very rare form of 

non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. About 1,800 people in the 

United States are lucky enough to get this disease,

and I'm lucky enough to survive it. Imagine my 

surprise when I found my neighbor two doors down 

had this exact same kind of lymphoma. 

I was absolutely furious when I got this 

letter from the Board of Water Supply saying that 

jet fuel has been leaking into our groundwater. 

The Department of Health says that it's safe, but 

we have no epidemiology studies to show that it 

hasn't caused an increase in cancer or learning 

disabilities or all of the other things. Autism, 

Alzheimer's, all of these diseases, where do they 

come from? Well, maybe it comes from drinking jet 

fuel in your water. 

I tried to read the Statement of Work. I 

couldn't get past the first page because it said 

it's going to take 20 years to fix this problem. 

It seems to me that we should be immediately taking

these fuel tanks offline. We should be cleaning up
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the groundwater that's already leaked -- the fuel 

has leaked into it. And as far as I know, a 

20-year project is an extremely unrealistic way to 

approach anything. Take it offline. Fix one tank 

at a time and figure it out as you go along. I 

don't think that this plan is the best approach. 

It's not fast enough. Thank you. 

SENATOR GABBARD: Aloha kakou. 

AUDIENCE: Aloha.

SENATOR GABBARD: My name is Senator Mike 

Gabbard, and as a member of the Red Hill Fuel 

Storage Facility Task Force and the current chair 

of the Senate's Water, Land and Agriculture 

Committee, I'd like to offer the following comments

on the recently assigned AOC. 

I also want to mention before I get into 

my remarks that the Senate and House, we passed a 

concurrent resolution that extends the task force, 

and also now the task force includes the 

congressional delegation, which is a good thing 

because, after all, that's what we're really 

talking about here; right? 

And, secondly, which is something I found 

out in one of the task force meetings is that in 

addition to these 20 tanks, there is another 26 
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tanks; that when I asked at one of the meetings, I 

said, "What's the status of these tanks? They're 

also over 70 years old," no one really had an 

answer. So we are also looking at those additional

26 tanks. 

So given that there were delays in 

reaching an agreement, it was a positive step that 

the EPA, the DOH, Navy and DLA tentatively agreed 

to the AOC. This document does require that the 

Navy and the DLA make improvements to the tanks 

which must be approved by the EPA and DOH to better

protect our water supply. 

I note that during the 22-year timeline 

for the AOC, the Navy has agreed to shut down any 

tank that doesn't meet, quote, "best available 

practical technology," unquote. This agreement -- 

this agreement also allows the Navy and DLA to 

initiate pilot programs which incorporate the 

latest advanced technologies. So these are 

important actions. However, one thing that I and 

maybe even the public are feeling is that there is 

a lack of urgency in moving forward with these 

needed improvements. And based on the fact that 

these 20 tanks, which should each hold 12 and a 

half million gallons of fuel, are just 100 feet 
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above 25 percent of the island's drinking water is 

an enormous concern for our future. With this in 

mind, I suggest that in addition to the initial 

two-year study put forth by the AOC, the Navy and 

the DLA move as quickly as possible to upgrade the 

fuel release prevention and detection at the 

facility. This is urgently needed to calm public 

fears and to show good faith that the Navy and the 

DLA are serious about being good stewards of our 

precious environment. Without an additional 

commitment, it is unlikely that the AOC will gain 

widespread community support. Mahalo for 

considering this. 

(Applause.)

MR. PAAINA: Aloha, my name is Paul 

Paaina. I'm from Nanakuli, and as a Hawaiian, I 

feel I have the right to speak up against people 

that come to our islands and pollute and abuse our 

islands and our people in their quest for world 

domination. 

I'm glad I came tonight, and I now 

realize as a taxpayer, I'm actually contributing to

more possible pollution in the future to our 

groundwater and the environment. 

My other concerns about the tanks are 
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that they're hazardous and can explode. What I'm 

hearing tonight is that the military has polluted 

our groundwater, and some of you are actually here 

to help them continue to jeopardize our health and 

safety and our island and its people.

I'll be honest with you guys. I do have 

issues and concerns with the military of the United

States, and they are valid concerns, starting from 

the overthrowing of our kingdom to the damages and 

danger they are putting us in. I personally want 

them to leave. It's like a damned-if-you-do and 

damned-if-don't situation. They're supposed to be 

here to protect us from the dangers of the other 

countries, but because they occupy our islands, 

they're actually putting the big moves on our 

islands from their enemies. 

It is a fact that the military is 

polluting our islands and they are not cleaning it 

up or doing anything about it. They did it to 

Kaho'olawe. They did it to Makua Valley. They're 

bombing Schofield, and they're just -- I mean, they

have a past history of doing this and they're not 

cleaning it up. 

You know, and -- excuse me. It's a fact 

that the military will continue to do what they 
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like, and there's nothing we can do tonight that's 

going to change that. I'm totally against giving 

something to the military or anyone that has 

polluted our island and wants to continue to 

pollute it. Thank you.

(Applause.)

MR. HINCHAY: Hello, my name is David 

Hinchay. I'll pass since we're running so late.

MR. HUETTEMAN: Can you come to the mike, 

though?

MR. HINCHAY: You want me to come up 

there? It's not an easy task. 

MR. HUETTEMAN: We can bring the mike to 

you. We can bring the mike to you. We can bring 

the mike to you. We can bring the mike. You can 

stay there. 

MR. HINCHAY: Yes. My name is David 

Hinchay, and I will not give testimony because it's

already 8:25, and this meeting was supposed to end 

at 8:30. So I'll just pass and let other people 

have the opportunity to speak. Okay.

MS. SAKAI: I'm Bea Sakai. I live in the 

Salt Lake area and near the high school. We were 

about the first residents in this area. 

The -- we're worried about the 
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contamination of the jet fuel from the tanks. The 

Board of Water Supply has never told us what the 

health effects could be, and that was the question 

that I had. We're worried about contamination. 

What are the health effects? I have had cancer for

10 years. My next door neighbor on one side, his 

father died. His son has cancer. On the other 

side, the woman died of cancer. Up the block, 

another woman died. And I'm told since I'm still 

under chemotherapy, that even low levels of 

contaminant could affect my health. Does that mean

I have to go to bottled water from now on? I will 

be on chemotherapy until I die. 

The health department has not told us any 

of the health effects of even low-level 

contamination. The AOC talks about many things, 

but it seems to me that the tanks are old and 

they're going to start leaking. If they aren't 

going to start leaking, is it possible to put 

another coat or layer and then close that so that 

they do not have a leak or slow leak? Thank you. 

(Applause.)

MS. CHEE-RUITER: My name is Christine 

Chee-Ruiter, and I'm a Moanalua resident. As a 

member of the public, I want to say I was very 
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impressed and appreciate the work of the task force

members because those guys put in a lot of work to 

get where we are today with the AOC. That being 

said, I have some respect for comments on the 

document, and the first was I wanted to reiterate 

Senator Gabbard's comment that there doesn't seem 

to be a sense of urgency, especially when it's been

established that there have been multiple releases 

of contaminants into the groundwater. So I think 

for the AOC, if it's possible, we could really use 

a lot more detail in the document. 

So along with the sense of urgency, I 

think the first order of business would be to 

install more monitoring wells in appropriate 

locations around the facility and to immediately 

start monitoring for petroleum, especially since no

one agrees which direction the groundwater is 

flowing. Because I'd like to say, you know, 

according to the AOC, the deliverables are a report

based on the data. Well, you can do work with not 

very good data, or you can do the work with 

complete data. So I think we should get good data 

and then do the work. 

Okay. So a second point is there does 

not seem to be an emergency response plan in place 
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for a leak in the facility. Neither the Navy's 

Groundwater Protection Plan nor the AOC document 

itself references an emergency response plan 

specifically for that facility. Particularly, the 

AOC says that the Navy and the DLA shall take all 

appropriate actions to prevent or minimize the 

threat and then notify the regulatory agencies. So

to me, that sounds like quick, do something, but 

there's no plan. So I'd like to see the AOC 

specify the development of an emergency response 

plan. 

Okay. Next, there does not seem to be 

any short-term plan for recovery or remediation for

existing contamination that may be detected in the 

groundwater as monitoring continues. And by the 

way, Section 6 of the AOC or Statement of Work, it 

mentions remediation. I thought it was remediation

of the contamination. It's actually remediation of

the tanks. So I'd like to know how they're going 

to address any ambiguities in the document. 

Finally, I'd like to ask that they 

include something about the control of possible, 

galvanic current in the tanks that are not 

scheduled for upgrade for the next 15 years. Thank

you. 
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(Applause.)

MR. FUKUCHI: My name is Dean Fukuchi. I 

have a couple comments on the AOC. One of them is 

the tightness testing. You identified it. I wish 

that you use the EPA's certified tightness methods 

or standards. 

The other one that I want you to consider 

is raising the penalty. By raising the penalty to 

$1 million a day, that would change the 

cost-to-benefit ratio and will make it more urgent 

for the Navy to take some kind of action for 

remediation. 

The next item that I'd like you guys to 

consider is also to change the funding source. 

There is no MilCon. There's a moratorium right 

now. So there needs to be other appropriations 

where other funding sources can be used or 

utilized. DLA has funds that they can use and have

been. O & M funds can be utilized as well. So I'm

going to ask you guys to consider that. 

The last thing that I'd like you guys to 

consider is solving or constructing a new tank 

within the old tank so that it can be comparable to

the current EPA ASC standards as well as UFC 

standards. That's all I have.
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(Applause.)

SENATOR THIELEN: Aloha, good evening. 

My name is Laura Thielen. I'm a state senator for 

Kailua, Waimanalo and Hawaii Kai. I'm here tonight

because I understand the aquifer that these tanks 

sit above provides a quarter of the drinking water 

for the urban Honolulu area, which includes from 

Moanalua to Hawaii Kai. But I'm also here as a 

windward resident because if that aquifer is 

contaminated, the Board of Water Supply is not 

going to have any option but to start to draw from 

other aquifers around the island. That's going to 

overpump and impact the aquifers on every area of 

our island. It's also going to impact our streams 

because some users are going to be forced onto 

stream waters. And so many of the battles that 

were fought to return waters from the streams to 

our near-shore waters to restore and repair the 

environments in the near-shore ocean hiuwais are 

going to be impacted as well. 

I'm here tonight to ask you to reject the 

proposed AOC and to go back to the table and 

renegotiate it. The reason is this. These tanks 

are already 72 to 75 years old. If you're going to

spend the next 25 years upgrading them, that means 
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you plan to continue using them beyond that. The 

tanks will be 100 years old at the end of the time 

period of this AOC. 

Now, according to the Navy documents, and 

this was presented to the legislature in the task 

force report, and the Navy is a member of the task 

force, these tanks have been leaking since 1947. 

The Department of Health was not made aware of that

until 1998. The Navy is unable to quantify the 

amount of fuel that was released into the 

environment prior to that period. 

In 1998, they did core samples and found 

that there's petroleum leaks under 20 -- 19 of the 

20 tanks in the basalt rock, and they found that 

the groundwater monitoring wells that are near 

Tanks 5 and 6 have petroleum in 12 to 20 times the 

rate of the DOH acceptable level. 

Now, the Navy has said, "Don't worry 

because what we're going to do is we're going to 

adopt the highest standard for tank inspections and

repairs and maintenance." Well, guess what? Tank 

5 had just finished that highest standard of tank 

repairs and maintenance and inspections that was 

supposed to ensure it was operable for the next 20 

years, and when they refilled it, it didn't last 20
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days. It released 27,000 gallons of fuel into the 

environment. 

These tanks are beyond their life 

expectancy. Over three periods in the last 40 

years, work was done to extend the life expectancy 

of these tanks, and we're at the end of it now. So

I'm asking the Department of Health on behalf of 

the state to please renegotiate this AOC to require

the tanks be replaced or upgraded to modern 

standards. And there is nothing -- the people who 

are worried about the fact that we're going to be 

standing still, there is nothing that will prevent 

the Navy from being a good neighbor to start to 

implement immediately the groundwater monitoring 

and testing work that needs to be done. 

Thank you for your time. 

(Applause.) 

I'm sorry. I forgot one last comment. 

But when we're talking about the cost analysis and 

feasibility studies, the only thing that's 

mentioned in the AOC is the cost to the Navy of 

replacement. I'm also asking that the State 

Department of Health and EPA require the Navy and 

itself to do a cost analysis of what's the cost to 

the taxpayers of Oahu (inaudible due to applause).
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MR. SOUZA: Aloha kakou. I am -- for the 

record, I am Philip Souza. I am a Hawaiian 

national, born and raised here 78 years ago. I've 

seen a lot of things like some of you have. I 

don't understand this at all. I wish that my 

father-in-law was here with me because at 17 years 

of age, he was one of the welders that put this 

thing together. He graduated from St. Louis, and 

St. Louis was known for having the accounting. 

They knew math. They knew geometry. He was never 

a welder. They worked on that hill for 24/7, 

double shifts. They didn't even have to go home. 

They had everything they needed there. The steel 

was there. The concrete batching plants was there. 

The whole mountainside was under construction. 

The skies, while they enticed Japan to 

bomb Pearl Harbor -- 

I look at this as being --

You know, we have a lot of South Pacific 

nationals that are now walking around the streets 

of Hawaii. They are here because their islands 

have been contaminated by military science. That's

why they're here. They cannot even live on the 

island anymore. Is this what we want? This is 

another rail. It will never stop. I say terminate
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your research and take out the fuel tanks 

completely.

(Applause.)

MR. YAMADA: Is Henry Cho present? 

Henry? Going once, going twice. 

Robin Johnston?

MR. JOHNSTON: Aloha. I'm Robin Johnston 

from Aina Haina. I just heard a couple things that

made me really think tonight. One of them was that

the AOC is not supported by the Board of Water 

Supply for a list of good reasons, which I'm 

anxious to hear more about. 

Also, you know, when I spent some time in 

the mountains up in Kahuku, I noticed a lot of 

trash from the military. When they're doing their 

exercises, they leave their trash everywhere, their

food trash. It's supposed to be come and picked 

up, but, obviously, someone's slacking. 

And it's an interesting point to hear 

about the other Pacific Island people that have had

to be shipped here because their reefs are 

polluted. They can't eat there and it's just 

dangerous. 

A statistic I just looked at that makes 

me sad about another thing about the military is 
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the 42,000 innocent beings or people that are still

being killed or have been since 1975 by undetonated

land mines that still exist today. 

I just have to wonder if we really need 

to sit around to wait to see that it's a 

coincidence that neighbors upon neighbors upon 

neighbors have these cancers. And, you know, if it

takes 20 years to redo these archaic leaking 

storage tanks, then shouldn't we just weigh out the

fact that it is probably just a couple weeks to 

drain them? Thank you.

MR. YAMADA: Amelia Gora? Mahealani 

Cypher? 

MS. CYPHER: Aloha mai kakou. My name is 

Mahealani Cypher. I'm here to offer testimony and 

comments regarding your proposed Administrative 

Order of Consent regarding the continuing problems 

of leaking fuel from your Red Hill Bulk Fuel 

Storage Facility. I'm here to speak on behalf of 

the Oahu Council of the Association of Hawaiian 

Civic Clubs of which there are 27 clubs throughout 

the island of Oahu. 

As Native Hawaiians and leaders in our 

communities, we are deeply concerned about what we 

consider to be a significant and serious threat to 
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our island's freshwater supply. We wish to bring 

to your attention the Department of Defense's 

recently approved policy for consultation with 

Native Hawaiians and ask that our council be 

immediately included in any further discussions or 

actions relating to this problem which can affect 

all of us on Oahu, Native Hawaiians and 

non-Hawaiians alike. 

I will speak briefly about the cultural 

and religious significance of our island's 

freshwater supply to the Hawaiian people. In 

centuries past, when the islands were first 

inhabited by our people, we were able to sustain 

ourselves and survive despite being the most remote

group of islands in the world. E malama i ka wai, 

"care for the water," was among our most important 

cultural values, containing within these words the 

kuleana, the responsibility of our people to 

protect this resource so critical to our survival. 

To be wealthy was to be waiwai, to have an 

abundance of water resources. The kanawai became 

the law of the land for our people, and water 

resources were strictly safeguarded by our kupuna 

kahiko.

Our water resources also had religious 
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significance, and to hiuwai was to engage in a 

freshwater cleansing, among the many ceremonies in 

which water played a key part. From ancient times 

even until today, Hawaiian ceremonies, blessings 

and practices utilize our island's freshwater in 

our religious practices. 

So to consider the freshwater resources 

underlying the moku of Ewa and Kona, Oahu, for the 

purpose of commenting on this draft document, we 

wish to inform you that the waters beneath the Red 

Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility are, indeed, 

important to Native Hawaiians for cultural, 

religious and practical purposes. We cannot 

survive, we cannot live without good quality, fresh

drinking water. 

These fuel tanks -- these fuel tank leaks 

pose constant and immediate threats to our island's

largest aquifer, and, in our view, should be 

considered a Homeland Security matter rather than 

addressed merely by an Administrative Order of 

Consent. 

That's urgency. It is an urgency. 

Nonetheless, we begin by offering our 

mahalo to those of you who have advocated for 

protection of our precious water resources and for 
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swift and permanent corrective action to deal with 

these chronic fuel leaks into the aquifer.

I'm almost done. Sorry. I'm just going 

to give you the six -- the priorities that we have 

from the Oahu Council.

Okay. We request that the Administrative 

Order of Consent be amended to address comments 

offered in our seven-page testimony with our 

priorities as follows: 

No. 1, consultation with Native 

Hawaiians, including the Oahu Council, in future 

consultations regarding this matter.

No. 2, the Navy and DLA should 

acknowledge that they are responsible for the 

problem of the leaking tanks and will be 

responsible for correcting the problem. In the 

released AOC, they deny (inaudible due to 

applause.) 

No. 3, the Navy/DLA should begin an 

incremental program of relocating, replacing or 

rehabilitating each of the currently active fuel 

tanks, at least two per year, until all 20 tanks 

have been corrected, with a time period of no more 

than 10 years for these actions to be performed. 

You need to give them a limit -- a time limit. 
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The Navy and DLA should begin a program 

to remove the contaminated soil wherever possible. 

No. 5, fuel tanks that are not currently 

in service should be removed or eliminated from 

active use. 

All costs associated with monitoring, 

testing, treating contaminated soils or water 

should be borne by the Navy and DLA, which should 

also reimburse state and county agencies that are 

affected by the Red Hill fuel leak problem. So we 

shouldn't have to pay for their mistakes. 

Okay. No. 7, all information relating to 

this problem, including updated information on 

results of soil or water monitoring, testing, 

progress of work and minutes of meetings, should be

included on a new website dedicated to the 

corrective action at Red Hill and should be 

accessible to all consumers.

We appreciate the time and attention 

given to this matter by all parties, and we hope 

you to take to heart the recommendations we have 

offered and readily agree to make the changes we 

have offered. Mahalo.

(Applause.)

MS. KALUHIWA: Aloha mai kakou. My name 
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is Rocky Kaluhiwa, I am the Oahu representative of 

the Aha Moku Committee, a committee comprised of 

other Hawaiian practitioners. I wish to inform you

that we practitioners are deeply concerned that 

this proposed Administrative Order of Consent may 

go forward unamended. I wish to offer our 

agreement with Mahealani Cypher and the Oahu 

Council of Hawaiian Civic Club's testimony as our 

own. Mahalo.

(Applause.)

MR. YAMADA: We'll now call Dante 

Carpenter. Michael Dau has left. 

MR. CARPENTER: Aloha to Mr. Tom 

Huetteman and to Mr. Stuart Yamada, members of the 

team. I, certainly, want to introduce myself. My 

name's Dante Keala Carpenter, a concerned citizen 

born in Hawaii whose residence is in the Salt Lake 

area here in Honolulu. 

I've occupied elected positions as a 

former state senator, trustee and administrator at 

the Office of Hawaiian Affairs as well as 

councilman and mayor of the Big Island of Hawaii. 

Further, I am a consulting engineer, a retired 

naval officer and recent past chairman of the 

Democratic Party of Hawaii. 
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Additionally, for the last 18 years, I've 

been president of the Country Club Village, Phase 2

Homeowners Association, which has some 469 units in

two 20-story buildings just down the road. I've 

also represented as its president the Country Club 

Village Complex Community Facilities Maintenance 

Association with a total of 942 units, including 

the 469 that was mentioned. That represents 

roughly between 1,200 and 1,500 residents who 

consume freshwater daily from these aquifers. 

I want to thank Ernie Lau and the Board 

of Water Supply officials for bringing this matter 

of the Red Hill tank leaking problem and continued 

concerns for contamination of our community's 

drinking water supply.

Thanks too to the EPA and State 

Department of Health and U.S. Navy officials for 

engaging in the Administrative Order on Consent and

inviting public comment. 

Now, it was earlier in -- and I think it 

was a humorous turn, the reference to the AOC was 

an infamous order. The more I think about it, the 

more I believe that that may be absolutely true. 

But I grew up in a place called Damon 

Tract just down the road in the proximity of Pearl 
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Harbor. I witnessed with my older brother several 

attacking aircraft at what was the beginning of 

World War II. My father, then a retired Navy 

airman and Honolulu policeman, was familiar with 

the construction of the Red Hill storage tanks at 

its onset. To my recollection, there were at least

a dozen people killed in the construction and many,

many hurt in that same construction and 

development. 

In the Merchant Marine Academy, many 

years later after graduating, I was completing my 

active duty in the Navy as well and assigned to 

several Pacific Fleet and destroyers and other 

facilities at Pearl Harbor for many Reserve 

activities and training. This gave me a thorough 

understanding of various storage methodologies and 

transportation methods you need to marine fuels, 

including viscous, bunkering, diesel and kerosene, 

which was the original quantities and qualities 

used in the facility and using gravity to fuel the 

ships during World War II. 

I did have the occasion, as a Reserve 

active duty officer, to actually go into a storage 

tank farm and actually went inside one of the tanks

undergoing cleaning and testing. I gotta tell you,
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it's an awesome sight, and, certainly, the feeling 

inside that tank -- it was nearly a football field 

long. Height of that was 35 yards in diameter from

roughly the end of that back wall over there. 

These tanks are huge, and it's certainly an awesome

sight and an awesome feeling.

They, obviously, need scaffolding and 

rigging, and workers' safety factor is required. 

It's quite extensive just to clean it up and not to

mention the actual quality of repairs required to 

ensure no leakage. 

Let me just try and finish it up as fast 

as I can. 

But I did note in the Federal Register, 

Volume 76, No. 223, dated Friday, November 11, 

2011, 40 CFR, parts 280 and 281, a revision of the 

existing underground storage tank regulations which

discuss leaking underground storage tanks, also 

known as LUST, L-U-S-T, and contains 88 pages of 

proposed rules which appear to be necessary for the

AOC to become effective. 

Further, as I guess I think I need to ask 

you, has that LUST proposal, which was offered in 

2011, been adopted as of this date? Because if it 

hasn't, then that's that much more time it will 
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take before you can even begin your process. 

Finally, 2016 is the approaching 75th 

year of the Red Hill fuel storage tank 

installation. Evaluations under the AOC are 

expected to take a minimum of two years, assuming 

expedited decisions are in the works. Thereafter, 

construction contracts adapted, bids awarded, that 

may be well beyond 2020. At that point in time, 

these tanks will be almost 80 years old and beyond 

with all of that -- what that entails. 

Going forward, I think the people of the 

state of Hawaii and communities therein need your 

protection to properly address this long-standing 

issue. I certainly look forward to continue 

working with you to make this effort a reality, and

if there is a need for congressional delegations of

state government officials' support, I want to 

offer my assistance. I noticed Senator Gabbard 

earlier, and, certainly, I know he has Washington 

D.C. influence as well. But I think we are all -- 

this is an all-hands evolution, and I think you 

cannot only depend upon your inherent minimum sized

committee. This is something that affects 

three-fourths of the population of the island of 

Oahu, which exceeds 1.5 million people. 
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So thank you very much. I appreciate 

your attendance, and thank you very much for 

holding this public hearing. 

(Applause.) 

MR. TUNGOL: Aloha. My name is Will 

Tungol. Ua mau ke ea O ka aina I ka pono. The 

life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness. 

And I want to thank Ernie Lau and his 

staff at Board of Water Supply for giving notice to

all of us because I wasn't aware of this meeting 

until the letter came out. 

I live in Pearl City, but as Senator 

Laura Thielen indicated earlier, everyone will be 

affected in the event that there's a disastrous 

leak because the aquifers on our island will be 

drawn by the east Oahu side and other parts of the 

island. 

Now, think about this. This is our home. 

This is our island. A mile from here, we have a 

stadium called Aloha Stadium built in the '70s, 

about 35 years later than the jet fuels. When they

built it, they said, "This stadium is rustproof." 

Remember that? Low and behold, you know, not even 

25 years later, we spent millions of dollars. 

Okay? We have representatives here to verify that. 
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And that's with the technology, supposedly. 

Now, these tanks were built 75 years ago. 

I don't know what kind of steel was available back 

then, but they did pour concrete. Now, those of 

you who have chain-link fences, all right, what do 

you use for the posts? Steel. Galvanized steel 

buried in what? In concrete. Okay. And I have 

one in my house. I lived in my house 30 years, and

I noticed that it starts rusting at the bottom. So

the concern is there. Okay? You got old steel 

buried underground that may leak and leak dangerous

chemicals that's prohibited by the BWS, Board of 

Water Supply, in terms of contaminants that's not 

supposed to go into the aquifer. 

Finally, one last comment on the AOC. 

I'm a lawyer by training. And so I looked at 

what's -- you know, what's the administrative 

process. It will take you, before you can even go 

to court, over 180 days for the parties. To first 

resolve the dispute, you had to go through this 

process. Okay? It goes all the way from the 

parties, all the way to the Secretary of the Navy. 

I think Assistant Secretary of the Navy. It goes 

all the way through the EPA, and then Secretary of 

the Navy, and then I believe also the Secretary of 
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Defense. I'm not sure, but all the way up there. 

My point is this. You can't just run to 

court with this disagreement among the parties and 

ask for an injunction. Post -- I mean, 

"injunction" is one word. A party will say, 

"There's an imminent harm coming. We want you to 

stop the Navy or the DLA from using these tanks," 

and the court will review it and will issue and 

give you an injunction. Well, under this AOC, the 

parties can't do that. They gotta wait at least 

180 days. My calculation is 195 days for the 

process to run before they can then go to court. 

So that's a concern. So thank you very much.

(Applause.)

MR. YAMADA: We now call Council Member 

Carole Fukunaga. Kilikina Kekumano has left.

COUNCIL MEMBER FUKUNAGA: Good evening 

and Aloha. I'm Carole Fukunaga, city council 

member representing the Aiea and Moanalua area, and

I also chair the city council's Public Works 

Infrastructure and Sustainability Committee. 

I wanted to advise the EPA and Department 

of Health that the Honolulu City Council is in 

strong support of Board of Water Supply's position,

and that we have adopted a resolution calling 
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for -- calling for the U.S. Navy to immediately 

fortify containment of the 20 tanks at Red Hill and

clean up the existing groundwater contamination 

under the facility to protect Oahu's groundwater. 

We also urge the Navy to consider 

additional protective measures and tank integrity 

improvements to reinforce the Red Hill Fuel Storage

Facility as needed. We also urge Board of Water 

Supply, Department of Health, EPA and the U.S. Navy

to install additional groundwater monitoring wells 

and to increase the frequency of all monitoring and

sampling activities in the Red Hill Fuel Storage 

Facility to enhance petroleum detection in the 

monitoring wells. 

We very much appreciate all of the 

participants who have come here tonight, and thank 

you for this opportunity to provide comment.

(Applause.)

MS. MUNEOKA: Aloha mai kakou. My name 

is Shelley Muneoka. I'm from the ALE and Governors

at Oahu, and thank you to this community for 

hosting us on this AOC thing. 

Today in the presentation, Mr. Yamada 

from Department of Health said that he thinks we 

can all agree that protecting our drinking water is
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No. 1, but it is quite clearly not. It was clear 

that the main objective of the AOC is to keep the 

tanks operational, to keep the war machine running. 

The presentations tonight spoke so 

lightly of the huge holes cut with dynamite and 

filled with concrete. I want to ask in the future 

for some sensitivity for the sacrifices and the 

risks imposed on this community. 

We've heard in this presentation that 

sheer size is a constraint in terms of time and 

cost, but that is the responsibility of the Navy 

when they decided to build these tanks. If they 

weren't able to take care of them, they shouldn't 

have built them. That responsibility only became 

heavy day by day as they enjoyed the use and 

benefits of these tanks while the residents carried

the risks. 

It was mentioned that fines will be 

levied if action is not taken in a timely fashion, 

but it's been over 70 years. We know that there's 

been leaks as far back as 1947. 2002, we heard 

tanks -- 19 of the 20 tanks leaking. I believe 

that qualifies as not timely action being taken. 

So the question is have there been any 

fines or consequences at all? I don't think there 
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have been. Besides, all the actors are publicly 

funded. So we're paying no matter what. You 

haven't left us with any good options, but of the 

three, I would advocate to reopen negotiations and 

drain the tanks in the meantime. 

One suggestion was made that they 

double-line the tanks, and the Navy has said that 

they have reservations because of the costs and 

because of the reduction in tank capacity. I find 

that so offensive when you're talking about the 

health and quality of water, and they're concerned 

that their 12-million-gallon tank will be able to 

carry a little bit less. 

(Applause.) 

To me, that tells me that their main 

concern is for themselves and not for our water. 

It sounds clear that the Board of Water 

Supply has concrete recommendations that haven't 

been taken into account and haven't been 

incorporated into the AOC. I think that would be a

logical place to start.

Two tanks have been taken offline of the 

original 20, and the others can be too, and that 

would be what I would want. 

In closing, one of the stories that were 
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presented earlier said, "Heaven forbid that the AOC

be reopened to the public comment." I found that 

really hurtful in this setting where all these 

people came out to offer their public comment, and 

I ask that that hurtful statement not be made. And

I also wanted to be very, very sure for the record 

that almost every single person who talked has 

asked that this be reopened and not to be approved 

as is. That's all. Mahalo.

(Applause.)

MR. YAMADA: We now call Marsha Joyner. 

David Crest has left this evening.

MS. JOYNER: Aloha mai kakou. Oh, come 

on. Wake up. 

AUDIENCE: Aloha.

MS. JOYNER: I didn't say that. I said, 

"Aloha kakou." 

AUDIENCE: Aloha.

MS. JOYNER: Oh, boy. Okay. All right. 

I am opposed to the AOC, and I have lots 

of reasons, most of which have already been stated. 

But in this statement, it says, "The DOH, EPA and 

the Navy working on the Administrative Order of 

Consent." Nowhere -- nowhere did you include the 

Board of Water Supply. For us, the people that 
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drink this water, that use the water, that use this

land, they are us. They are the ones that 

represent us, and you didn't include them. Why is 

that not -- why are they not included in the 

negotiations? Is there a reason for that? I mean,

that really disturbs me, and I find it really 

offensive that they were left out. And, in fact, 

if the Board of Water Supply had not sent this 

letter to every customer, none of us would have 

known that you were having this hearing. You 

didn't send us anything. We did not get one word 

from the Navy, which we're used to them not 

informing us. I mean, we've been down that road. 

Okay. 

And let me tell you one second ago, one 

person talked about them not cleaning up. One day 

in April 1984, I was doing a documentary up at 

Waikane, up in the mountains of Waikane, and I took

a step back and stepped on a World War II bomb. So

I know firsthand that they don't clean up. And 

then they say it was too expensive to clean it up. 

So what is this whole thing? And they drink the 

same water. As long as they're on this island, 

they're drinking the same water we are, and how the

hell can they say, "Oh, well, we'll get around to 
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it"? I am totally offended by this whole thing, 

and, yes, I am -- want us to relook at this thing. 

The one last thing that no one talked 

about, when it is absorbed into the ground, people 

grow vegetables. We need the farmland. Did 

anybody talk about that? Where do you suppose the 

cancer comes from? Not just drinking water, but 

you eat the vegetables. You lay in the grass. 

Your children run and play. Did anybody talk about

that? No. 

So, again, thank you and thank you for 

your time.

(Applause.) 

MS. GUTIERREZ: Aloha. My name is Ashly 

Gutierrez, and I'd like to say that I'm speaking on

behalf of all the people that, you know, graduated 

from here within the past five years, and I'm glad 

to say that I'm finally waking up to realize what's

going on. 

I have a few important questions that I'd 

like to be addressed. First of all, I lived in 

Moanalua Valley for five years. After -- on my 

sixth birthday, my father died with cancer. What a

surprise. Alison spoke about that and that got to 

me. If that doesn't get 20 of you here, I 
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understand why you guys haven't acted quickly 

because you don't understand. It's not only the 

money that you play with here, but the children, 

their future. And I'm standing here 22 years 

later, and I've lived on the mainland, cursed this 

state, but I'm back and I'm not leaving. And I 

want to make sure that the Navy understands that --

the military understands that we're here. We've 

been here. Where have you guys come from? Why 

would this even bother you? It bothers us most. 

And the other lady clearly made a statement. They 

did not once consult the people that live there. 

How will they compensate those who are affected by 

the spill? Can we have a copy of the risk 

management and safety policy published for review 

by the community? 

They say Navy cannot fix for a minimum of 

two years. Remember, I'm 22 years old. My father 

died, when I was six years old, of cancer. What 

is -- you know, the evidence is all laid out right 

in front of our eyes. 

Do they have other tanks that have 

potential leaks on our other islands? Is there any

way they could possibly operate the tanks on ships 

or other places? And don't you guys think that you
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should figure out the flow pattern before you even 

decide to dig up the aina? 

That's all I have to say tonight. Thank 

you. 

(Applause.)

MR. YAMADA: Koreen Yogi? Koreen has 

left. 

Kaaihue 4 Mayor?

Who do we have? 

MS. YOGI: Hello. My name is Koreen 

Yogi, and I'm a resident of Moanalua Valley. Our 

family was one of the first to live in that valley. 

So when we were living there, we would see geese 

walk up and down the roads, the owls fly at night. 

You don't see that anymore. 

What's disturbing about what I found out 

tonight is that the information provided didn't 

allay my fears. It heightened it. I've heard 

about the contamination, but didn't know how bad it

was. It disturbs me that the U.S. Navy could not 

account for this leakage; that that much fuel was 

not accounted for in their inventory. And so it 

got me more scared because what else don't they 

know? 

And I heard things mentioned about 
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draining the tanks, and if you look at that picture

there, you see how centralized the tanks are. And 

I've heard that within the time frame that they 

will fix or attempt to fix the tanks, it will be 20

years. The tanks will be almost 100 years old. 

What other problems will arise? The tanks are so 

close to our aquifers. I heard no mention of 

emergency contingency plans that if a major 

catastrophe happens, where will we get the water 

from. How will it affect not just our island, but 

the whole state because everyone is affected by one

community? We are not that large a community; that

what we feel here will affect Lihue; it will affect

Hilo. 

So I just want more answers. I don't 

want you to sign off on it, commit us to this, and 

then we find out later that we need more addressing

to problems we didn't know was there. So thank 

you, everyone. 

(Applause.)

MS. KAAIHUE: Aloha. My name is Aulani 

Kaaihue, Kaaihue4mayor.com. 

I would think the density of the two 

different layers of jet fuel being lighter than 

freshwater would help identify it and keep the two 
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layers separated. My question of concern is the 

possibility or potential of radionuclides and 

chemical contaminants which would affect our 

drinking water as it's doing in Japan's 

groundwater, and if there is any monitoring of 

radionuclides, which is cesium or strontium, from 

the ongoing nuclear reactors from Fukushima. 

Instead of storage of jet fuel, could the 

tanks be converted to filtration tanks and used to 

purify our drinking water if we need to? And if 

so, are the tanks big enough to sustain and filter 

all chemical contaminants and radionuclides from 

our entire -- for our entire island's water supply 

for safe drinking water consumption? 

And, finally, is our precious water being 

exported outside to other states or to foreign 

countries, and if so, how would this affect and 

impact our safe drinking water supply for the 

people of Hawaii, for the Nation of Hawaii and for 

the United States of America? 

Thank you. Mahalo.

(Applause.) 

MR. YAMADA: David Gomes. David? 

Kapua Keliikoa-Kamai? 

MS. KELIIKOA-KAMAI: Aloha. 
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(Speaking Hawaiian.) 

Thank you for this meeting. I don't even 

know that you folks really wanted it because you 

didn't tell us about it. So like the other lady 

stated, thank you to the Board of Water Supply for 

informing us. Thank you to this community for 

coming. 

It is a travesty when the people who we 

expect to take care of us fail in full disclosure. 

It's a travesty when they take years to write up a 

report to have all of these -- I call you folks 

alphabets, all you educated people -- to have all 

of these educated people make determinations on 

what will and will not affect us, what is and is 

not acceptable to us. I'm very concerned about 

this lack of transparency, lack of disclosure, lack

of sharing. 

You know, it was brought up earlier -- I 

submitted written testimony earlier. I did not 

anticipate to speak tonight, but, you know, when 

you go to a community meeting, you hear so much 

more than what you anticipated. So that's the 

beauty and the benefit of having community 

meetings. And so in my written response, I'm 

asking for the Waianae local meeting. So we will 
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be inviting you. I don't know whatever is that 

process, but I do expect the Navy, the EPA, the 

Department of Health, and we will also bring the 

Board of Water Supply to the table. 

(Applause.)

So, Mr. Yamada, thank you so much. I 

don't know what the process is to make that happen,

but this is something that all of our communities 

need to do. They came from Ko'olaupoko, 

Ko'olauloa. They came from Pearl City. So it's 

not just the Moanalua/Hawaii Kai folks, because 

like the latest -- previous folks have stated, this

is going to affect all of us. This is a small 

picture of our aquifers, and this is how it affects

us. This is how the water moves. And so they've 

only identified these wells have affected Moanalua 

to Hawaii Kai. If we don't fix this in a timely 

manner, it's going to affect all of us in one way 

or another. 

So we need to all invite them to our 

communities because it's years of discovery 

undisclosed. It's years that -- they have taken 

two years to write this report, this proposed 

Administrative Order of Consent, but they give us 

one meeting, two hours, two minutes. 
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(Applause.) 

We're talking about our babies -- our 

babies and our babies' babies. Maybe EPA doesn't 

live here. Maybe DLA doesn't live here. Our state

folks, you folks live here. You're part of us. 

Your kuleana is us, us as a community, us as a 

whole regardless of our po'e. You know, so we are 

a community. Na po'e O Hawaii. 

So, so much has already come out that I 

support all of it, especially all of the detailed 

information that you folks shared. I really thank 

you for that detailed information because I'm one 

that comes to meetings to glean, and then when I 

glean so much, I get upset because that's not what 

was shared. That's not what was presented. So, of

course, everything looks good. Look, two of the 

guys are already signed off, halfway there. But 

the one guy that really takes care of us, not even 

at the table. 

So I'm so glad that you folks took a 

position, and it is alarming. And I'm so grateful 

to our council for their position of support, to 

our Board of Water Supply, because it takes a lot 

for government to oppose government, especially 

when it's the little guy against the big guys. 
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We're all going to pay for it one way or 

another. It won't be us. It will be our 

mo'opunas, mo'opuna. Although, I do feel for those

communities, for those people who have suffered of 

cancer, that are living with this cancer. Where is

the reports that show that there's -- our health 

has not been impacted? So we need more study time;

otherwise, just shut it down. Because, you know 

what, our life is worth way more than the millions 

that it's going to cost. (Inaudible due to 

applause.)

Shut it down. 

(Applause.)

MS. MURRAY: Hi, my name's Karen Murray, 

and I'm from town side. And, originally, I was 

just going to come up and say something because 

Kilikina Kekumano could not be here, and then the 

person she passed off --

She always comes with like tons and tons 

of documentation and I love her. And then she had 

to go home, and she passed it to somebody and they 

couldn't stay. So before she left, she said, "Just

remember, in 1953, Tank 7 had to be drained, and in

2002, Tank 6 had to be drained." 

Those things just -- those two things 
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alone should have given -- given us an indication 

that these were improper, not only deteriorating. 

They need to be taken out and alternative 

things/measures should have been taken. Other 

plans should have been made. 

The other thing -- but then as I was 

thinking about it, my own ideas being a long-time 

anti-war activist, I started thinking of things 

like there's a huge disconnect. We drink the 

waters. Their crews drink the waters. Times are 

changing with technology. Our Facebook friends are

everywhere. Okay? We bomb our Facebook friends. 

Do we really need this larger war machine that's so

large to be so life threatening just to maintain? 

The Hawaiian culture has so much to offer 

the world, to teach us, teach us alternative 

priorities and methods of problem solving. 

There's also -- I also wanted to note 

there's, I think, two different ideas in the room 

that there's only one aquifer being affected, but I

think that another large aquifer is also being in 

danger, which is Pearl Harbor aquifer. I think 

someone said -- I think I read somewhere where it's

coming within a mile. Creep is -- slow creep is or

maybe not-so-slow creep is happening within a mile 
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of our Halawa aquifer, which is a smaller part of 

our Pearl Harbor aquifer. Is that correct? No? 

Yes? No? 

Okay. So, anyway, that's what I heard. 

And so I just think that the world is changing with

our technology. There's got to be better ways, and

maybe we don't need this. My thing is I think we 

should shut those down. 

(Applause.)

All right. Thank you very much, and 

thank you for your thoughts tonight.

(Applause.)

MR. YAMADA: Thank you, everyone. That 

concludes the formal comment period. We appreciate

your coming out. Have a good evening and drive 

home safely. 

(Meeting adjourned at 9:17 p.m.) 
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ALI'I COURT REPORTING

(808) 394-ALII

65

 C E R T I F I C A T E

STATE OF HAWAII )

) ss.

CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU )

I, LAURA SAVO, a Certified Shorthand 

Reporter in and for the State of Hawaii, do hereby 

certify: 

That the foregoing proceedings were taken 

down by me in machine shorthand at the time and 

place herein stated, and was thereafter reduced to 

typewriting under my supervision;

That the foregoing is a full, true

and correct transcript of said proceedings;

I further certify that I am not of 

counsel or attorney for any of the parties to this 

case, nor in any way interested in the outcome 

hereof, and that I am not related to any of the 

parties hereto.

Dated this 22nd day of June, 2015, in 

Honolulu, Hawaii. 

____________________________

LAURA SAVO, RPR, CSR NO. 347