Editorial: Keep pressure on to close Red Hill

The drip, drip drip of fallout from the Red Hill fuel- in-water crisis is intensifying, and Hawaii leaders and residents cannot afford to reduce the pressure.

The goal, as has grown abundantly clear, is to speedily and safely defuel each of the 18 active, 12.5 million-gallon tanks and then decommission the facility — in order to protect Oahu’s drinking water from further contamination from the WWII-era underground fuel-storage system. This, after the Navy’s Red Hill well was forced to shut down in late November after at least 14,000 gallons of jet fuel spewed out, polluting the drinking water system of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam that serves about 93,000, throwing military families, area schools and area businesses into chaos.

A modicum of positive news came Wednesday, when the second of 19 contaminated zones was cleared for safe drinking water. The state Department of Health (DOH) lifted its water advisory for the Pearl City Peninsula neighborhood of 635 homes — a larger zone than the first cleared two weeks ago, the 135-home Red Hill housing. Clearly, though, skepticism remains, as a number of Red Hill housing returnees say they continue to use bottled water for drinking and cooking.

Among the many other pressure points that need sustained attention:

>> Public release of the U.S. Pacific Fleet Command’s report of the Nov. 20 and May 6 Red Hill fuel spills, which would provide crucial information about the true scope of damage and contamination. That report was completed in mid-January, but the military has yet to release it, as promised. Honolulu Board of Water Supply chief Ernie Lau last week rightly repeated the call for the report, saying it would offer important information to help gauge potential taint to Oahu’s civilian water supply.

>> The City Council on Wednesday backed Bill 48, which would require a city permit to operate an underground storage tank system holding more than 100,000 gallons of a regulated substance. This would be another local regulatory safeguard against military impunity — adding to the state DOH’s current legal authority to deny renewal, if warranted, of the military’s permit to safely operate the tanks, which sit just 100 feet above a groundwater aquifer.

>> Hawaii’s four-member congressional delegation should be united in pushing for federal bills, co-authored by U.S. Reps. Kai Kahele and Ed Case, and Sen. Brian Schatz, to defuel and decommission the Red Hill tanks. Inexplicably, Sen. Mazie Hirono has hesitated, preferring to instead let the DOH’s permit process be the hammer. But going at this serious problem via multiple means — at both federal and state levels — is what’s needed.

>> This crisis has brought to Hawaii the Environmental Protection Agency’s head, Michael Regan, and the EPA’s Pacific-Southwest regional chief, Martha Guzman. On Thursday here, Regan said the EPA is launching an investigation into the Navy’s Red Hill fuel facility, and will take a “strong, independent role” in upholding environmental laws and regulations. Those include the federal Safe Drinking Water Act and Clean Water Act, said Guzman, adding that the EPA intends to scrutinize the “totality” of the Red Hill operation, including pipelines and drinking water system. Let’s hope such high-powered promises will bring needed transparency and urgency in water-safety actions.

>> Guzman’s comments underscore that while the tanks are the primary concern, the aging pipe system transporting the fuel is also a major worry. According to Navy documents turned over to the state DOH this month, a comprehensive assessment of the pipeline system in 2015-16 found the need for some 350 repairs to address corrosion and dents, many of them urgent. Navy budgets suggest only about 50 of those repairs were completed by May 2018, and it remains alarmingly unclear how many other pipeline repairs identified as critical were done.

Everyone knows that relocating the military fuel from the Red Hill tanks will be an arduous task. But it must happen apace — as ordered by the DOH in its Dec. 6 emergency order — followed by decommissioning of the fuel facility. Leaders on all of Hawaii’s governmental levels — federal, state, county — must remain steadfast and united on this issue, for the good and future health of all of Hawaii’s people.