Especially as a member of our U.S. House Appropriations Committee, responsible for all federal discretionary funding, I continue to fight for the resources necessary to clean up, defuel and close the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility and relocate its fuel elsewhere. I also continue working with the rest of our Hawai‘i Congressional delegation, military leaders, federal, state and county officials and community organizations to address the impacts of the drinking water crisis on Hawai‘i residents and support efforts to ensure long-term health and safety monitoring.
Closure Decision
On March 7, 2022, the Secretary of Defense announced that the military, which had already ceased fuel operations at Red Hill, would permanently defuel and close the facility. That decision came after I cosponsored legislation in the last Congress (2021-2023) to close Red Hill. The Secretary of Defense’s decision effectively achieves the goals of our legislation and my Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) amendment directing the military to conduct an assessment to plan for possible alternatives to Red Hill, including new fuel storage sites outside of Hawai‘i. In addition, I worked with my colleagues in the Hawai‘i Congressional delegation and as a member of the House Appropriation Committee to secure $2.2 billion in federal funding bills to ensure Red Hill’s continued remediation and closure and to address the health concerns related to the water contamination crisis.
On March 29, 2024, the DoD announced that defueling of more than 104 million gallons was complete. Upon completion of the defueling, the military transferred authority of the facility back to the Navy. In turn, the Navy established Navy Closure Task Force-Red Hill (NCTF-RH) under Navy Region Hawai‘i, responsible for permanently decommissioning the Red Hill facility. You can follow the efforts of NCTF-RH, review recent press releases and obtain points of contacts for inquiries here: https://www.navyclosuretaskforce.navy.mil/.
The Navy will continue to work closely with the State of Hawai‘i and other key stakeholders to ensure Red Hill’s closure is done in a safe, methodical and timely way. I have regularly engaged and will continue to engage with senior military and civilian leaders to ensure this happens. I will conduct the necessary oversight to ensure all of this is achieved and the community is engaged and consulted with throughout the process.
Federal Appropriations and Authorizations
In the Fiscal Year 2024 Defense Appropriations bill, which my Defense Appropriations Subcommittee drafted and helped enact into law, includes $106 million to continue work to close Red Hill and support remediation efforts. This funding is in addition to the over $2.1 billion the Hawai‘i Congressional delegation secured in Fiscal Year 2022 and 2023.
Of particular concern to me is the potential health risk to those who drank or were otherwise exposed to the polluted water. This is why the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) requires the military to conduct a long-term study on health impacts caused by the Red Hill incident and review the programs and services available to those exposed. I worked closely on this provision with Senator Brian Schatz and the rest of the Hawai‘i Congressional delegation.
In addition to the health monitoring provision in the NDAA, I signed a letter, along with the rest of the Hawai‘i Congressional delegation, to the Secretary of Defense outlining our concerns about the possible long-term health impacts of the Red Hill crisis. If, and as the ongoing studies and/or investigations indicate that even more federal funding is required to address health concerns, I will pursue such funding in Congress.
All this follows the important work put into the Fiscal Year 2023 NDAA where Congress directed the military to move forward with defueling the facility. The bill also:
1. Requires the military to issue a publicly available report every quarter on the status of the effort to close Red Hill.
2. Directs the DoD to determine the need, number and optimal locations of additional sentinel or monitoring wells to detect and track the movement of fuel that has leaked into the ground, in coordination with the United States Geological Survey.
3. Requires the DoD to conduct a hydrology study around Red Hill and assess how best to address the water needs on O‘ahu and mitigate water shortages, to include water treatment plants or the placement of a new drinking water shaft.
4. Directs the DoD to track the long-term health implications of fuel leaks from Red Hill for members of the armed forces and their dependents in conjunction with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Hawai‘i Department of Health.
Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF)
The November 2022 AFFF spill at Red Hill only highlights the need to close the facility as quickly and safely as possible. On May 5, 2023, Joint Task Force Red Hill released the results of the investigation into the AFFF leak at Red Hill. The investigation found that a maintenance contractor improperly installed an air vacuum valve on the AFFF system in April 2022. That same contractor failed to disable the AFFF concentrate pumps from automatically starting before conducting a fire suppression system test on November 29, 2022. These two occurrences, along with improper oversight of the contractor by the Navy, led to the discharge of approximately 1,300 gallons of AFFF concentrate. The results of the investigation have been forwarded to the Department of the Navy, which will review the results and determine liability and accountability for the incident. I will continue to monitor the military’s decisions regarding accountability and liability for the AFFF leak as part of my oversight of Red Hill.
On April 24, 2024, the Navy announced the removal of 32 55-gallon drums of AFFF from Red Hill, along with protective equipment used to clean up the spill. The material will be stored at an Environmental Protection Agency-permitted facility in Oregon.
Water Quality Concerns
On February 2, 2024, based on water quality concerns raised by those who utilize the Navy’s water system and recent detections of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH) in the water, the Navy established a “swarm team” to determine the cause. The “swarm team,” comprised of federal and state experts identified that the TPH detections did not correspond to the fuel released from Red Hill and were false positives caused by chemicals used during laboratory testing interacting with chlorine in the water samples. The Navy has since revised its testing methodology.
The Navy has also decided to extend the long term sampling of their water system for another year, which will now extend into 2025.
Ongoing Audits and Investigations
We must ensure that all investigations and studies related to Red Hill are expedited, thorough, objective and transparent once concluded, and that specific actions are taken and funded. In addition to various formal written requests to the military on a wide range of issues related to Red Hill, the Hawai‘i Congressional delegation has requested independent investigations by the Government Accountability Office and the DoD Inspector General into the more serious allegations (which have started). The Hawai‘i Congressional delegation has sent multiple letters and met and will continue to meet with senior military leaders, to include the Secretaries of Defense and the Navy, to emphasize our concerns with Red Hill, the Navy’s fuel operations in Hawai‘i and risks to our drinking water. We made it clear that the health and safety of the public and our environment is paramount.
In addition to various formal written requests to the military on a wide range of issues related to Red Hill, the Hawai‘i Congressional delegation has requested an independent investigation by the DoD Inspector General into the more serious allegations (which the Inspector General has undertaken). The Government Accountability Office recently completed one of its audits, which is available at https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-24-106812.
The Hawai‘i Congressional delegation has sent multiple letters and met and will continue to meet with senior military leaders, to include the Secretaries of Defense and the Navy, to emphasize our concerns with Red Hill, the Navy’s fuel operations in Hawai‘i and risks to our drinking water. We made it clear that the health and safety of the public and our environment is paramount.
Resources from the Navy and Army
If you reside in housing served by the Navy’s Pearl Harbor water system and are concerned that your water has been contaminated or your health has been affected as a result of the Red Hill leaks, please call the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam Information Line at 808-448-2570. For the latest water updates from the Navy, please visit https://www.cpf.navy.mil/JBPHH-Water-Updates/. For information about available resources and services offered by the Army, please visit https://home.army.mil/hawaii/index.php/water.
You can also call my Honolulu office at 808-650-6688 or email me ated.case@mail.house.gov at any time.
Especially as a member of our U.S. House Appropriations Committee, responsible for all federal discretionary funding, I continue to fight for the resources necessary to clean up, defuel and close the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility and relocate its fuel elsewhere. I also continue working with the rest of our Hawai‘i Congressional delegation, military leaders, federal, state and county officials and community organizations to address the impacts of the drinking water crisis on Hawai‘i residents and support efforts to ensure long-term health and safety monitoring.
