The Navy’s long-awaited price tag range for proposed upgrades at its Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility surfaced at a recent public information workshop. As expected, the task ahead is neither cheap ($500 million to $10 billion) nor easy. It is, however, a must-have for safeguarding public health and the environment.
The costs are now under review as part of an “administrative order on consent” entered into by the Navy, Defense Logistics Agency, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state Department of Health after 27,000 gallons of fuel spilled from a tank in 2014.
A low-end figure would pay for restoration of the facility’s 20 single-walled tanks constructed during the World War II era. A high-end option would cover installation of new double-walled tanks at a site other than Red Hill — where some 250 million gallons of petroleum is situated just 100 feet above Oahu’s primary aquifer. It supplies drinking water to more than 400,000 area residents.
Should the Navy and regulators want the facility to stay put, Ernest Lau, Honolulu Board of Water Supply’s manager and chief engineer, makes a compelling case for going with a “tank-within-a-tank” design ($2 billion to $5 billion) as the best bet for inspection and catching leaked fuel.
In written testimony supporting Senate Bill 2930, which would require the military to install a “secondary containment” system, such as double-walled tanks, Lau rightly noted: “The need to preserve and protect groundwater quality and quantity and protect our children now and into the future outweighs” argument for any shielding that’s less robust than secondary containment.
Caregivers need help, too
Last year, when state lawmakers established the Kupuna Caregivers Program — a first-in-the-nation effort to help family caregivers stay in the workforce — it was rightly hailed by senior-focused advocates, such as AARP, as an astute move. With the so-called “silver tsunami” rolling in, the need is apparent.
The program envisions providing eligible caregivers with up to $70 a day to apply to adult day care, assisted transportation and personal care as well as various homemaking services. Within weeks of launching a pilot, the state was hit with more than 500 sign-up requests. And that demand will surely upsurge, given that Hawaii’s population is aging more rapidly than the national average and our seniors live longer than peers in any other state.
Legislators now appear poised to support Senate Bill 2988, which would tag $3.4 million for implementation — enough funding to provide services and supports to an estimated 187 to 467 persons. That’s a good start for a program that expands the reach of already established respite-related services available through the state’s Executive Office on Aging.
Unfortunately, though, for many years to come, the supply of applicants meeting working-family eligibility requirements will likely far exceed availability of state funds. (AARP has estimated there are 154,000 unpaid caregivers in the islands, with the average caregiver being a 62-year-old woman caring for an elderly parent or husband while still working.) That’s why included in program guidelines now taking shape is a much-needed “caregiver burden assessment tool” to prioritize applicants and measure program effectiveness.
Crime victims deserve restitution
With all its shortcomings — overcrowded cells, inmates sent away to private prisons elsewhere — Hawaii’s criminal justice system is reaping praise for one of its standout achievements. The state is increasing collections of restitution payments from the convicts and distributing more to their victims.
The numbers are impressive: Collections between 2013 and 2016 rose by 70 percent, disbursements to victims by 40 percent. They impressed members of the National Association of Attorneys General, meeting at a conference that concluded Hawaii had set a new standard.
According to the nonprofit National Center for Victims of Crime, restitution comprises court-ordered payments to victims as part of the felons’ sentences. This is meant to cover a range of costs, including medical and therapy expenses, prescription charges and lost wages — typically charges that are easy to document, through the billing to the victims.
Even so, it can be hard to collect, limited by the inmate’s ability to pay. Nationally, many victims go years without any restitution, and ultimately get less than what’s owed.
Hawaii’s answer: Make paying a priority. The percentage of an inmate’s outside revenues, as well as work furlough revenues, that are earmarked for restitution bumped up from 10 to 25 percent. And parolees had to meet their payments to be allowed travel.
Even if the amounts are relatively small, they can mean everything to a victim: justice in the fullest measure possible.
