[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6714 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 6714
To direct the Secretary of the Navy to close the Red Hill Bulk Fuel
Storage Facility in Hawaii, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 11, 2022
Mr. Kahele (for himself and Mr. Case) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
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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