II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3647 

To direct the Secretary of the Navy to close the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage 

Facility in Hawaii, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 14, 2022 

Mr. SCHATZ introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of the Navy to close the Red Hill 

Bulk Fuel Storage Facility in Hawaii, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Red Hill Watershed 

5 and Aquifer Initiative Act’’ or the ‘‘Red Hill WAI Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) The Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility (in 

9 this section referred to as the ‘‘Red Hill facility’’) 

10 was constructed in September 1943. 


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1 (2) The Red Hill facility was constructed un2 derground in hollowed-out volcanic rock to allow for 

3 maximum protection of the fuel supply. 

4 (3) The 20 steel tanks of the Red Hill facility 

5 are encased by 2.5 to 4 feet of concrete and sur6 rounded by basalt bedrock. 

7 (4) The Red Hill facility is the largest single 

8 fuel storage facility of the Department of Defense in 

9 the Pacific theater. 

10 (5) The Red Hill facility can store approxi11 mately 250,000,000 gallons of fuel. The fuels stored 

12 are marine diesel, F–76, and two types of jet fuel, 

13 JP–5 and JP–8. 

14 (6) The Red Hill facility is located approxi15 mately 100 feet above the basal groundwater table 

16 and sits directly above the federally designated sole17 source groundwater aquifer of the island of Oahu, 

18 the Southern Oahu Basal Aquifer, which provides 

19 approximately 77 percent of the drinking water of 

20 Oahu. 

21 (7) Historic records compiled by the Navy in a 

22 2008 groundwater protection plan indicate that the 

23 Red Hill facility has had dozens of fuel leaks dating 

24 back to 1947. 


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1 (8) Fuel leaks from the Red Hill facility pose 

2 an existential threat to the federally designated sole3 source groundwater aquifer of Oahu. 

4 (9) The Navy and the Defense Logistics Agency 

5 are responsible for protecting the public from un6 scheduled fuel leaks that may pose a risk to drinking 

7 water. 

8 (10) Until the mid-1980s, most underground 

9 storage tanks (in this section referred to as 

10 ‘‘USTs’’) were made of bare steel, which is likely to 

11 corrode over time and allow contents of USTs to 

12 leak into the environment. The greatest potential 

13 hazard from a leaking UST is that its contents (pe14 troleum or other hazardous substances) can seep 

15 into the soil and contaminate groundwater, the 

16 source of drinking water for nearly half of all people 

17 in the United States. 

18 (11) To address a nationwide problem of leak19 ing USTs, Congress passed a series of laws to pro20 tect human health and the environment, including 

21 the Solid Waste Disposal Act (Public Law 89–272), 

22 the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization 

23 Act of 1986 (Public Law 99–499), the Energy Pol24 icy Act of 2005 (Public Law 109–58), and the 

25 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 


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1 (Public Law 111–5) (commonly referred to as the 

2 ‘‘Recovery Act’’). 

3 (12) The State of Hawaii obtained Environ4 mental Protection Agency State Program approval, 

5 effective on September 2, 2002, for the UST pro6 gram of Hawaii to operate in lieu of the UST pro7 gram of the Environmental Protection Agency. 

8 (13) In January 2014, The Red Hill facility 

9 leaked approximately 27,000 gallons of fuel. 

10 (14) In 2015, the Environmental Protection 

11 Agency and the State of Hawaii Department of 

12 Health negotiated an enforceable agreement, an Ad13 ministrative Order on Consent, with the Navy and 

14 the Defense Logistics Agency (EPA DKT NO. 

15 RCRA 7003–R9–2015–01/DOH DKT NO. 15– 

16 UST–EA–01). 

17 (15) The 2015 Administrative Order on Con18 sent includes a Statement of Work that lays out the 

19 specific tasks the Navy and the Defense Logistics 

20 Agency must implement. The Statement of Work 

21 consists of eight sections on overall project manage22 ment as follows: 

23 (A) Tank inspection. 

24 (B) Repair and maintenance. 

25 (C) Tank upgrade alternatives. 


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1 (D) Release detection and tank tightness 

2 testing. 

3 (E) Corrosion and metal fatigue practices. 

4 (F) Investigation and remediation of re5 leases. 

6 (G) Groundwater protection and evalua7 tion. 

8 (H) Risk and vulnerability assessment. 

9 (16) On May 6, 2021, a burst pipeline in Red 

10 Hill spilled fuel into the lower access tunnel of the 

11 facility and the Navy failed to recover the entirety 

12 of the leaked fuel. Although the Navy initially esti13 mated that 1,618 gallons of fuel spilled, with all but 

14 38 gallons recovered, several months later, the 

15 amount of fuel spilled estimated by the Navy in16 creased to 19,000 gallons, with most of the spilled 

17 fuel not recovered. 

18 (17) On November 20, 2021, the Navy an19 nounced a spill of 14,000 gallons of a water and fuel 

20 mixture from a fire suppression drain line located 

21 0.25 miles downhill of the fuel tanks at Red Hill due 

22 to operator error. 

23 (18) On November 22, 2021, the Navy an24 nounced that the water and fuel mixture was re25 moved from the tunnel and put into a storage tank 


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1 above ground and that there were no signs that the 

2 fuel had escaped into the environment. The Navy 

3 communicated that the water was safe to drink. 

4 (19) On November 28, 2021, military families 

5 and civilians living in the Joint Base Pearl Harbor6 Hickam military housing installation began report7 ing contaminated tap water. 

8 (20) Impacted families shared personal experi9 ences of the immediate and ongoing health impacts 

10 of exposure to the contaminated water in their 

11 homes including chemical burns, stomach and head 

12 pain, dizziness and nauseousness, rashes, and more. 

13 (21) Families reported noxious odors in im14 pacted homes that continued to make that housing 

15 unsuitable for many families. 

16 (22) After it was definitively confirmed that the 

17 Red Hill well was contaminated with petroleum, the 

18 State of Hawaii Department of Health issued an 

19 emergency order on December 6, 2021, to the Navy 

20 to suspend operations and defuel the Red Hill Facil21 ity. That emergency order was contested by the 

22 Navy in late December, and on January 3, 2022, it 

23 was reaffirmed by the State of Hawaii Department 

24 of Health in its final decision and order. 


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1 (23) The December 6, 2021, emergency order 

2 has had broad support from the communities of 

3 Oahu, the Governor of Hawaii, the Department of 

4 Health of Hawaii, State Commission on Water Re5 source Management, the City and County Board of 

6 Water Supply, city council members, and State legis7 lators. In short, the whole-of-government in Hawaii 

8 believes that the Navy should comply with the emer9 gency order. 

10 (24) On December 7, 2021, the Navy an11 nounced that they will contest the order of the State 

12 of Hawaii to drain the fuel tanks. 

13 (25) On December 10, 2021, the Navy con14 firmed samples taken from the Navy Red Hill Shaft 

15 contained fuel levels 350 times more than the safe 

16 drinking limit in the State of Hawaii. 

17 (26) On February 2, 2022, the Department of 

18 Justice filed an appeal in both Federal and State 

19 court regarding the order of the State of Hawaii to 

20 defuel the Red Hill Facility. 

21 SEC. 3. CLOSURE OF NAVY RED HILL BULK FUEL STORAGE 

22 FACILITY, HAWAII. 

23 (a) CLOSURE REQUIRED.—The Secretary of the 

24 Navy shall— 


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1 (1) discontinue all fuel operations at the Red 

2 Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility in Hawaii; 

3 (2) defuel all bulk fuel storage tanks located at 

4 the facility by not later than December 31, 2022; 

5 and 

6 (3) permanently close the facility in accordance 

7 with relevant regulations prescribed by the Adminis8 trator of the Environmental Protection Agency. 

9 (b) NAVY RESPONSIBILITY.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Navy shall retain own11 ership and possession of the Red Hill Bulk Fuel 

12 Storage Facility and the property on which such fa13 cility is located. 

14 (2) CLEANUP.—Consistent with existing Navy 

15 and legal requirements, the Secretary of the Navy 

16 shall remain responsible for the environmental condi17 tion of the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility. 

18 (3) CLEANUP COSTS.—The Navy shall be re19 sponsible for all cleanup costs associated with— 

20 (A) the fuel spill that occurred at the Red 

21 Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility in November 

22 2021; and 

23 (B) each spill or leak that occurred at the 

24 facility since the opening of the facility until 

25 November 2021. 


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1 (4) REIMBURSEMENT OF CERTAIN STATE AND

2 LOCAL ENTITIES.—The Secretary of the Navy shall 

3 reimburse the Honolulu Board of Water Supply and 

4 the Hawaii State Departments of Health and Edu5 cation for expenditures made in response to the 

6 threats posed by operations at the Red Hill Bulk 

7 Fuel Storage Facility, including expenditures made 

8 to drill new drinking water wells and to install moni9 toring wells (both monitoring wells that were pre10 viously installed and to be installed). 

11 (5) RESEARCH.—The Secretary of the Navy 

12 shall conduct relevant near-to-mid term research re13 lating to the environmental condition of the Red Hill 

14 Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, including relating to hy15 drology and water monitoring. 

16 (c) ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW FACILITIES.—The Sec17 retary of the Navy, in coordination with the Director of 

18 the Office of Naval Research, shall establish, at the site 

19 of the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility— 

20 (1) a water treatment facility; and 

21 (2) a permanent water quality testing facility. 

22 (d) MONTHLY REPORTS.—Not later than 30 days 

23 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and every 30 

24 days thereafter until all bulk fuel storage tanks located 

25 at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility have been 


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1 defueled, the Secretary of Defense shall provide a report 

2 and briefing on the progress toward such defueling to— 

3 (1) the Committee on Armed Services and the 

4 Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and 

5 (2) the Committee on Armed Services and the 

6 Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep7 resentatives. 

8 (e) HAWAII DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH EMERGENCY

9 ORDER.—The Navy shall comply with the emergency 

10 order of the Hawaii Department of Health issued on De11 cember 6, 2021, which directs the Navy to carry out the 

12 following: 

13 (1) Immediately suspend operations at the bulk 

14 fuel storage tanks at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Stor15 age Facility, including fuel transfers, and continue 

16 to maintain environmental and monitoring controls. 

17 (2) Take immediate steps to install a drinking 

18 water treatment system or systems at Red Hill 

19 Shaft to ensure distribution of drinking water con20 forms to the standards prescribed by the Safe 

21 Drinking Water Act and applicable Federal and 

22 State regulations. Those steps should also minimize 

23 movement of the contaminant plume or plumes. 

24 (3) Submit a workplan and implementation 

25 schedule prepared by a qualified independent third 


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1 party approved by the State of Hawaii Department 

2 of Health, to assess the operations and system integ3 rity to safely defuel the bulk fuel storage tanks at 

4 the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility. 

5 (4) Upon approval by the State of Hawaii De6 partment of Health of the assessment, workplan, 

7 and implementation schedule under paragraph (3), 

8 make necessary corrective actions to address any de9 ficiencies as expeditiously as possible. 

10 (5) Not later than 30 days after completion of 

11 required corrective actions under paragraph (4), re12 move fuel from the bulk fuel storage tanks at the 

13 Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility. 

14 (6) Submit a workplan and implementation 

15 schedule prepared by a qualified independent third 

16 party approved by the State of Hawaii Department 

17 of Health, to assess operations and system integrity 

18 of the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility to deter19 mine design and operational deficiencies that may 

20 impact the environment and develop recommenda21 tions for corrective action. 

22 (7) Upon approval by the State of Hawaii De23 partment of Health of the assessment, workplan, 

24 and implementation schedule under paragraph (6), 


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1 perform work and implement corrective actions as 

2 expeditiously as possible. 

3 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

4 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

5 such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 

6 2023 through 2028. 

Æ 


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