A diverse crowd of about 250 joined a “die-in ” on the grounds of the state Capitol Friday afternoon to protest the Navy’s handling of the water-contamination crisis at Red Hill, which has sickened thousands of military family members and possibly threatens a major source of drinking water for the broader community.
The protesters, who ranged in age from infants to older folks and included pet dogs, lay silently on the walkway surrounding the statue of Queen Lili ‘uokalani on the makai side of the Capitol as Jamaica Osorio softly sang “Aloha ‘Oe.”
The impassioned speeches that preceded the demonstration had a clear message: Shut down and decommission the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, which is believed to be the cause of the fuel contamination.
“The poisoning of our water is the type of terroristic act that the military is supposed to defend Hawaii from and here they are the cause of it, ” said Kamanamaikalani Beamer after leading the group in a Hawaiian ancestral chant that “describes the intimate and complex water cycle of our islands.”
“Oahu’s groundwater is no longer safe with the single-lined, corrosive 80-year-old underground storage tank holding as much as 250 million gallons of jet fuel 100 feet above Halawa’s aquifer, ” Beamer told the crowd.
He noted the Navy’s refusal to comply with Gov. David Ige’s order this week and the urging of nearly all of Hawaii’s leadership to remove the fuel from its tanks while the safety of the facility is investigated.
“Let’s be clear, the Navy cannot be trusted, ” said Beamer, a two-term member of the Hawaii Commission on Water Resource Management. “For eight years I asked questions and have heard the untruths and flip-flops many times before.”
He called on the Navy “to care for the affected families, decommission the fuel tanks and begin setting aside remediation and reparation funds for all the families and the damages to Hawaii’s aquifer and its people.”
Environmental and cultural activist Shelly Muneoka questioned whether there is “a safe amount of fuel that is safe to drink.” She called it reckless that there is still no plan in place to replace the Red Hill facility after a 27, 000-gallon jet fuel spill in 2014, and said she saw no reason not to start moving the fuel now since it may take up to six months to do so.
The 2014 spill resulted in an administrative consent order between the Navy and the Defense Logistics Agency in which the Environmental Protection Agency and state Department of Health were responsible for reviewing and issuing regulatory decisions on work to upgrade the tanks and on environmental remediation.
“We must do everything we can, ” Muneoka said, urging all of Oahu to conserve water and “to keep the pressure on the Navy.”
Melodie Aduja, co-chair of the Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser it was shocking to learn Friday that water samples taken from the Navy’s Red Hill drinking water shaft contained petroleum chemicals at 350 times above safe levels. She said the aging tanks have a long history of leaking.
“We don’t know how many gallons actually have spilled, ” she said.
Protesters held a variety of signs, but David Mulinix and Sherry Pollack of 350 Hawaii stood next to a life-size cardboard cutout of Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenager and environmental activist.
“If Greta was standing with me, this is what she’d say to the Navy, ” Pollack said, holding a sign that read “No more blah blah blah.”
“Stop poisoning our water ” was the message on the sign held by Stephen Palmer, who retired from the U.S. Army and has lived in Hawaii more than eight years.
“We don’t live in the area, but it affects everybody, ” he said.
A group of older Hawaii Okinawans belonging to the group Ukwanshin was also at the demonstration, saying they have been protesting the environmental damage done by U.S. military in Henoko, Okinawa, for years.
“They have the same tainted water issue, ” Janice Shiira said.
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