updates to the Navy poisoning one of O’ahu’s largest aquifers:
“We cannot wait any longer. The water resources, it’s precious. It’s irreplaceable. It’s pure. There is no substitute for pure water. And our lives depend upon it.”
x. Hawai’i Board of Water Supply Chief Engineer Ernest Lau
Records show a history of fuel leaks plaguing Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in the past decade, with the most recent leak occurring 11 days
an excerpt from the article:
“The military has offered all service members and civilian employees living near the base the opportunity to get alternative housing, and Converse said they are now covering the cost of hotel rooms for more than 700 people. Converse did not have a timeline for getting drinkable water back to the affected homes. ‘It will involve a series of flushes of not just the water distribution main, but of every home,’ he explained. The Navy added it has seen concerns from people in the affected neighborhoods who were exposed to the contaminated water and reported symptoms including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headaches and skin-related concerns. The Navy isolated the Red Hill well last Sunday and sent samples out for testing Monday, it said.”
while this incident is getting an unsurprising but still infuriating lack of coverage, it should be noted that the tone of all major media coverage is exactly like this: the emphasis for concern is placed entirely on the military&their families, who are receiving help, while the locals have their physical responses to literal poisoning noted.
Hawai’i has some of the cleanest drinking water in the world, &nā kānaka māoli have been being told to ration our water for both the military industrial complex&the tourism industry for decades as it is. due to the devastation of our land, the cost of living in the islands is astronomical as it is; food, &now water, is priced to accommodate needing everything shipped across an ocean to the most isolated&heavily populated island on the planet. native Hawaiians already starve in our homeland— currently, they’re being poisoned by our water, one of the only things we have left to call ours after having our resources stolen&continuously depleted.
while the lack of coverage is unsurprising as the military does their best to cover up the hundreds of millions of gallons of petrol they leaked into one of the largest aquifers in the state, the lack of outrage in 2021 is completely untenable— this is not the first fuel leak the Navy has dealt with in Hawai’i. this isn’t even the first fuel leak or containment issue they’ve dealt with this year. more excerpts from the article above:
“Another incident in May [2021] involved the release of more than 1,600 gallons of jet fuel from a pipeline inside the storage facility, according to the Navy.”
“In October [2021], the Hawaii Department of Health cited the Navy for violations related to operation and maintenance of the facility, records show. The fines and violations resulted from a routine inspection from September 28, 2020, through October 9, 2020, according to the health department.
the United States military, with a specific emphasis on their Navy, has done damage to our ‘āina that words cannot express, &damage to our people that nothing short of the return of our lands&waters will ever begin to absolve. this fuel leak— hundreds of thousands of gallons of it into one of the biggest aquifers on O’ahu— follows a minimum of eight years of the Board of Water Supply insisting this specific fuel containment set up at Red Hill needed to be either removed or double-walled. this is willful negligence, &the way that they have chosen to handle the fallout by exclusively focusing on those living on their base&in their military housing speaks volumes.
from Sierra Club of Hawai’i:
[ID1: a minimalist grey stone is cracked on a black background above tan sand&blue water. in white above the stone reads: “Shut Down Red Hill”. below this, written in black over the blue portion of the image, reads: “To Protect Our Water. To Protect The People.” /ID1]
[ID2: tan headline reads: “The Latest Update”. below this reads, “Governor Ige and the Department of Health have ordered the Navy to defuel the tanks at Red Hill. While we wish it didn’t take family and pets being poisoned to get Hawai’i’s leaders finally on board with shutting down Red Hill, this is a strong and much needed shift in action that should have happened years ago. The governor and department of health have legal authority to protect us from the Red Hill fuel tanks. But the Secretary of the Navy, Carlos Del Toro, plans to treat this lawful order as a ‘request’. And now, the Navy is requesting a contested case hearing to delay having to comply with the order.” /ID2]
[ID3: tan headline reads: “What You Can Do”. below this reads: “We need to make sure the Navy does not defy the law while contaminating our water and poisoning thousands of people. Here are 3 things you can do: 1. Write a letter to the secretary of defense Lloyd J. Austin III (Del Toro’s boss) demanding that the Navy comply with the emergency order and immediately shut down Red Hill to protect O’ahu’s water and public health. 2. Make some noise on Twitter! Tweet at Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@secdef) 3. Repost this on your Instagram and Facebook and tag Obama who was raised on Red Hill water and appointed Sec. Austin @barackobama, &a “Hawai’i celebrity” you want to see stand with us on this issue.” /ID3]
the Sierra Club has been working for decades to help with environmental restoration&protection, &is currently integral to keeping the news flowing about what’s happening at Red Hill:
We work to advance climate solutions, act for justice, get outdoors, and protect Hawai‘i’s lands, water, air, and wildlife. With 50 years an
Ola i ka wai a ka ʻōpua.
There is life in the water from the clouds.
Ka lepo ke kumu wai, e huaʻi ana ka lepo kai.
When the source of water is dirty, the dirt is carried to the sea.
what do we do when the dirt cannot be washed out, &when those who sully it refuse to stop? what choice do we have but to fight?
December 10th, 2021:
[ID1: orange slide from Sierra Club of Hawai'i reads: "Breaking News: Water samples from the Red Hill shaft contained diesel levels 350 TIMES the safe drinking limit" /ID1]
today, a die-in&sign-waving event was held on O'ahu by the O'ahu Water Protectors, demanding that the Red Hill fuel tanks be shut down. today the result of water testing was finally released to the public: diesel levels 350 times the safe drinking limit. any level of diesel in drinking water is poison. on an island, in the middle of an ocean of undrinkable water, this level of contamination can&will mean a death sentence for people if it is not addressed. to be specific: if bottled water becomes a requirement for the island of O'ahu, people-- largely homeless people, many of whom are nā kānaka māoli, homeless in their own homeland-- will die for lack of being able to afford it, &that is before people start dying of the effects of the literal poison that has been in their water. and, as of now, the Secretary of the Navy&all Navy leaders stationed on Hawai'i have yet to agree to the demands of both the public&the Hawai'i state government, insisting that the tanks be defueled&shut down.
the current call to action:
[ID2: slide from Sierra Club of Hawai'i reads: "Write to the Secretary of Defense Demanding The Navy Shut Down Red Hill" /ID2]
[ID3: caption by Sierra Club of Hawai'i reads: "Hawai'i's local Navy leaders have failed us. And so has the Secretary of the Navy. His apology doesn't bring back clean water. His apology doesn't ensure our water will be safe in the future. The only way we can move forward from this crisis is to shut down the tanks. We need you, your friends and your fam to write to the Secretary of Defense (Del Toro's boss) and demand the Navy comply with the emergency order and shut down the Red Hill tanks. There is no other option. There is no time left. We need action now." /ID3]
[ID4: screenshot from the Sierra Club of Hawai'i reads: "*Mail your notes by Wednesday, December 14th, 2021. We are aiming to collectively flood their mailboxes so it's better for us all to mail our letters around the same time. *Mailing Address: Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, 1000 Defense Pentagon, Washington DC 20301-1000" /ID4]
ola i ka wai--
water is life.
December 13, 2021:
photos from the die-in that happened on December 10th (via @oahuwaterprotectors on IG), &the dedication of the ko'a by Ka'ohewai at the front of the Navy's command headquarters (via @kanaeokana on IG). the ko'a will be left to sanctify the area for the purposes of prayer to nā akua for the purification of the 'āina&wai of Red Hill until the Navy does what's right&defuels their tanks.
currently, the contaminated aquifer has been shut down. this aquifer, which provides 20% of all fresh water on O'ahu, may never reopen. the Navy, as of now, has refused to defuel their tanks, despite the demands of both the public&the state government. the call to action is still to write to the Secretary of Defense&demand the removal of the Red Hill tanks.
kū'ē. ♡
