Red Hill WAI Act
Bill: H.R.6714 | Sponsor: Rep. Kahele, Kaiali'i (D-HI)
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
Red Hill Watershed and Aquifer Initiative Act or the Red Hill WAI Act
This bill requires the Department of the Navy to discontinue all fuel operations at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility in Hawaii and permanently close the facility in accordance with relevant Environmental Protection Agency regulations.
Among other responsibilities, the Navy must reimburse the Honolulu Board of Water Supply and the Hawaii State Departments of Health and Education for expenditures made in response to the threats posed by operations at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility.

To direct the Secretary of the Navy to close the Red Hill Bulk Fuel 
          Storage Facility in Hawaii, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Red Hill Watershed and Aquifer 
Initiative Act'' or the ``Red Hill WAI Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility (in this 
        section referred to as the ``Red Hill facility'' ) was 
        constructed in September 1943.
            (2) The Red Hill facility was constructed underground in 
        hollowed-out volcanic rock to allow for maximum protection of 
        the fuel supply.
            (3) The Red Hill facility's 20 steel tanks are encased by 
        2.5 to 4 feet of concrete and surrounded by basalt bedrock.
            (4) The Red Hill facility is the largest single Department 
        of Defense fuel storage facility in the Pacific theater.
            (5) The Red Hill facility can store approximately 
        250,000,000 gallons of fuel. The fuels stored are marine 
        diesel, F-76, and two types of jet fuel: JP-5 and JP-8.
            (6) The Red Hill facility is located approximately 100 feet 
        above the basal groundwater table and sits directly above the 
        island of Oahu's federally designated sole-source groundwater 
        aquifer, the Southern Oahu Basal Aquifer, which provides 
        approximately 77 percent of Oahu's drinking water.
            (7) Historic records compiled by the Navy in a 2008 
        groundwater protection plan indicate that the Red Hill facility 
        has had dozens of fuel leaks dating back to 1947.
            (8) The Red Hill facility's fuel leaks pose an existential 
        threat to Oahu's federally designated sole-source groundwater 
        aquifer.
            (9) The Navy and the Defense Logistics Agency are 
        responsible for protecting the public from unscheduled fuel 
        leaks that may pose a risk to the drinking water.
            (10) Until the mid-1980s most underground storage tanks (in 
        this section referred to as ``USTs'') were made of bare steel, 
        which is likely to corrode over time and allow UST contents to 
        leak into the environment. The greatest potential hazard from a 
        leaking UST is that its contents (petroleum or other hazardous 
        substances) can seep into the soil and contaminate groundwater, 
        the source of drinking water for nearly half of all Americans.
            (11) To address a nationwide problem of leaking USTs, 
        Congress passed a series of laws to protect human health and 
        the environment, including the Solid Waste Disposal Act, the 
        Superfund Amendments Reauthorization Act, the Energy Policy Act 
        of 2005, and the American Recovery And Reinvestment Act of 2009 
        (commonly referred to as the ``Recovery Act'').
            (12) The State of Hawaii obtained Environmental Protection 
        Agency State Program approval, effective on September 2, 2002, 
        for Hawaii's UST program to operate in lieu of the 
        Environmental Protection Agency UST program.
            (13) In January 2014, The Red Hill facility leaked 
        approximately 27,000 gallons of fuel.
            (14) In 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency and the 
        State of Hawaii Department of Health negotiated an enforceable 
        agreement, an Administrative Order on Consent, with the Navy 
        and the Defense Logistics Agency (EPA DKT NO. RCRA 7003-R9-
        2015-01/DOH DKT NO. 15-UST-EA-01).
            (15) The 2015 Administrative Order on Consent includes a 
        Statement of Work that lays out the specific tasks the Navy and 
        the Defense Logistics Agency must implement. The Statement of 
        Work consists of 8 sections on overall project management, as 
        follows:
                    (A) Tank inspection.
                    (B) Repair and maintenance.
                    (C) Tank upgrade alternatives.
                    (D) Release detection and tank tightness testing.
                    (E) Corrosion and metal fatigue practices.
                    (F) Investigation and remediation of releases.
                    (G) Groundwater protection and evaluation.
                    (H) Risk and vulnerability assessment.
            (16) On May 6, 2021, a burst pipeline in Red Hill spilled 
        fuel into the facility's lower access tunnel and the Navy 
        failed to recover the entirety of the leaked fuel. While the 
        Navy initially estimated that 1,618 gallons of fuel spilled, 
        with all but 38 gallons recovered, several months later, the 
        Navy's estimated amount of fuel spilled increased to 19,000 
        gallons, with most of the spilled fuel not recovered.
            (17) On November 20, 2021, the Navy announced a spill of 
        14,000 gallons of a water and fuel mixture from a fire 
        suppression drain line located 0.25 miles downhill of the fuel 
        tanks at Red Hill due to operator error.
            (18) On November 22, 2021, the Navy announced that the 
        water and fuel mixture was removed from the tunnel and put into 
        a storage tank above ground and that there were no signs that 
        the fuel had escaped into the environment. The Navy 
        communicated that the water was safe to drink.
            (19) On November 28, 2021, military families and civilians 
        living in the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam military housing 
        installation began reporting contaminated tap water.
            (20) Impacted families shared personal experiences of the 
        immediate and ongoing health impacts of exposure to the 
        contaminated water in their homes including chemical burns, 
        stomach and head pain, dizziness and nauseousness, rashes and 
        more.
            (21) Families reported noxious odors in impacted homes that 
        continued to make this housing unsuitable for many families.
            (22) After it was definitively confirmed that the Red Hill 
        well was contaminated with petroleum, the State of Hawaii 
        Department of Health issued an emergency order on December 6, 
        2021, to the United States Navy to suspend operations and 
        defuel the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility. That emergency 
        order was contested by the Navy in late December, and on 
        January 3, 2022, it was reaffirmed by the State of Hawaii, 
        Department of Health in its final decision and order.
            (23) The December 6, 2021, emergency order has had broad 
        support from the communities of Oahu, the Governor, the 
        Department of Health, State Commission on Water Resource 
        Management, the City and County Board of Water Supply, city 
        council members, and State legislators. In short, the whole-of-
        government in Hawaii believes that the Navy should comply with 
        the emergency order.
            (24) On December 7, 2021 the Navy announced that they will 
        contest the State of Hawaii's order to drain the fuel tanks.
            (25) On December 10, 2021, the Navy confirmed samples taken 
        from the Navy Red Hill Shaft contained fuel levels 350 times 
        more than the State of Hawaii's safe drinking limit.
            (26) On February 2, 2022, the Department of Justice filed 
        an appeal in both Federal and State court over the State of 
        Hawaii's order to defuel Red Hill.

SEC. 3. CLOSURE OF NAVY RED HILL BULK FUEL STORAGE FACILITY, HAWAII.

    (a) Closure Required.--The Secretary of the Navy shall--
            (1) discontinue all fuel operations at the Red Hill Bulk 
        Fuel Storage Facility in Hawaii;
            (2) defuel all bulk fuel storage tanks located at the 
        facility by not later than December 31, 2022; and
            (3) permanently close the facility in accordance with 
        relevant Environmental Protection Agency regulations.
    (b) Navy Responsibility.--
            (1) In general.--The Navy shall retain ownership and 
        possession of the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility and the 
        property on which such facility is located. Consistent with 
        existing Navy and legal requirements, the Secretary of the Navy 
        shall remain responsible for the environmental condition of the 
        property.
            (2) Cleanup costs.--The Navy shall be responsible for all 
        cleanup costs associated with--
                    (A) the fuel spill that occurred at the Red Hill 
                Bulk Fuel Storage Facility in November 2021; and
                    (B) each prior spill or leak that occurred at the 
                Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility since the opening 
                of the facility.
            (3) Reimbursement of certain state and local entities.--The 
        Secretary of the Navy shall reimburse the Honolulu Board of 
        Water Supply and the Hawaii State Departments of Health and 
        Education for expenditures made in response to the threats 
        posed by operations at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, 
        including expenditures made to drill new drinking water wells 
        and to install monitoring wells (both monitoring wells that 
        were previously installed and to be installed).
            (4) Research.--The Secretary of the Navy shall conduct 
        relevant near-to-mid term research, including on hydrology and 
        water monitoring.
    (c) Establishment of New Facilities.--The Secretary of the Navy, in 
coordination with the Director of the Office of Naval Research, shall 
establish, at the site of the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility--
            (1) a water treatment facility; and
            (2) a permanent water quality testing facility.
    (d) Monthly Reports.--Not later than 30 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, and every 30 days thereafter until all bulk fuel 
storage tanks located at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility have 
been defueled, the Secretary of Defense shall provide a report and 
briefing on the progress toward such defueling to--
            (1) the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on 
        Appropriations of the Senate; and
            (2) the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on 
        Appropriations of the House of Representatives.
    (e) Hawaii Department of Health Emergency Order.--The Navy shall 
comply with the emergency order of the Hawaii Department of Health 
issued on December 6, 2021, which directs the Navy to carry out the 
following:
            (1) Immediately suspend operations at the Red Hill Bulk 
        Fuel Storage Tanks, including fuel transfers. The Navy must 
        continue to maintain environmental and monitoring controls.
            (2) Take immediate steps to install drinking water 
        treatment system(s) at Red Hill Shaft to ensure distribution of 
        drinking water conforms to the standards prescribed by the 
        Federal Safe Drinking Water Act and applicable Federal and 
        State regulations. This action should also minimize movement of 
        the contaminant plume(s).
            (3) Submit a workplan and implementation schedule within 30 
        days, prepared by a qualified independent third party approved 
        by the State Department of Health, to assess the operations and 
        system integrity to safely defuel the Bulk Fuel Storage Tanks. 
        Upon the State Department of Health's approval of the 
        assessment, workplan and implementation schedule, the Navy must 
        make necessary corrective actions to address any deficiencies 
        as expeditiously as possible.
            (4) Within 30 days of completion of required corrective 
        actions, remove fuel from the Bulk Fuel Storage Tanks at the 
        Red Hill facility.
            (5) Within 30 days, submit a workplan and implementation 
        schedule, prepared by a qualified independent third party 
        approved by the State Department of Health, to assess 
        operations and system integrity of the Red Hill facility to 
        determine design and operational deficiencies that may impact 
        the environment and develop recommendations for corrective 
        action. Upon the Department's approval, the Navy must perform 
        work and implement corrective actions as expeditiously as 
        possible.
    (f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section such sums as may be necessary 
for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2028.
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