SUPPORT SB639: No Jet Fuel in Water

/

March 11 update

Your calls and emails worked! SB639 SD2 has been scheduled for a hearing in the House Energy & Environmental Protection Committee on Thursday, March 13, 9:45am in room 325 (watch online here). Take a moment now to protect our water from jet fuel and toxic landfill waste by submitting testimony in support of SB639 SD2. Sample testimony and instructions below!

SB639 SD2, the “no jet fuel in water bill,” seeks the timely and complete clean-up of jet fuel—including fuel additives and compounds formed by the breakdown of jet fuel over time—that is released into the environment from an underground storage tank facility (including but not limited to the US Navy Red Hill fuel facility).

Sample testimony for SB639 SD2

Aloha Chair Lowen, Vice Chair Perruso, and members of the House Energy & Environmental Protection Committee,

My name is [Your name] and I STRONGLY SUPPORT SB639 SD2, which makes clear that any jet fuel released from an underground storage tank system - such as the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility - must be completely cleaned up.

Well over three years after the last of many, many jet fuel releases from the Red Hill Facility - one that poisoned our sole source aquifer and thousands of residents - and nearly two years after the Red Hill Water Alliance Initiative called for the complete clean up of this contamination, there are still no clear remediation standards for jet fuel established by the Hawaiʻi Department of Health. 

This bill would finally establish a common sense legal standard that will also be binding on the federal government: there should be NO jet fuel in our precious and once-pure drinking water or in our environment, especially when it has been released by the reckless operation of a decrepit underground storage tank facility as in the case with Red Hill. 

I urge you to PASS SB639 SD2.

Sincerely,
[Your name]

Testimony instructions

  1. Register for a capitol website account if you haven’t yet (youʻll need to confirm your registration by responding to an automated email)

  2. Sign in to capitol.hawaii.gov with your registration information and click the "Submit Testimony" button.

  3. Enter "SB639" where it says "Enter Bill or Measure."

  4. Input your information and your written testimony, select your testimony option(s)—in-person + written, remotely + written, written only. Please consider providing verbal testimony (in-person or remotely) if you are able! 

    1. Note: Virtual testimony option may be disabled 24 hours before the hearing.

    If you are testifying via Zoom, be sure to review these instructions (page 4)

March 8 update

There is still time to save the “no jet fuel in water bill” - and protect our future generations’ water security. However, we need to make sure it does not fall through the cracks this coming week - please take a moment right now to call and email the House Energy & Environmental Protection Chair Representative Nicole Lowen, and ask that she schedule this bill by the Thursday “triple referral” deadline.   

SB639SB639 SD2SD1 would require full environmental remediation of jet fuel spills from underground storage tanks - including but not limited to the Red Hill Fuel Facility’s contamination of our ʻāina and wai. Thanks to your support, this bill made it past the halfway point to becoming law. It now needs to be scheduled for its first hearing in the House Energy & Environmental Protection Committee - with a deadline of this Thursday; Please take a moment now to call and email Committee Chair Lowen to urge her to schedule this critical bill for a hearing - doing both would take less than a minute, and could make all the difference in holding the Navy legal accountable to cleaning up its mess.

Sample message and contact information below. 

Mahalo nui!
Wayne

Call: Representative Lowen, 808-586-8400
Voice mail: Aloha Chair Lowen, my name is ___ and I am calling to ask that you schedule SB639, Relating to Underground Storage Tanks, by the Thursday hearing deadline. Thank you!

Email: replowen@capitol.hawaii.gov
Email subject: Please hear SB639 SD1

Aloha Chair Lowen, 

My name is ____. I am calling today to kindly urge you to hold a hearing for SB639 SD1, which ensures that any jet fuel released from an underground storage tank system—like Red Hill—must be completely cleaned up. Three years after the fuel spill poisoned thousands of people and Oʻahu’s main drinking water resources, there are still no clear remediation standards, and this bill would finally set a common-sense, legally binding standard to protect our water and health. Please schedule a hearing for SB639 SD1 by the Thursday triple referral deadline. Our water - and our future generations - are depending on you!

Sincerely,
[Your Name]

February 20 update

SB639 SD1 was passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee unamended! Mahalo nui to the more than 61 individuals and organizations who submitted testimony in support, and special thanks to Chair Rhoads and Vice Chair Gabbard for advancing this measure!

February 18 update

SB639 SD1, the “no jet fuel in water bill,”  is scheduled to be heard by the Senate Judiciary Committee this Thursday, February 20 at 10:01 in room 016 (watch online here). This bill seeks the timely and complete clean-up of jet fuel—including fuel additives and compounds formed by the breakdown of jet fuel over time—that is released into the environment from an underground storage tank facility (including but not limited to the US Navy Red Hill fuel facility). Scroll down to “bill background” to learn more about this bill.

Please take a moment to submit written testimony on this important bill! Sample testimony and instructions below. No verbal testimony will be accepted on this bill.

Sample testimony

Aloha Chair Rhoads, Vice Chair Gabbard, and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee,

My name is [Your name] and I STRONGLY SUPPORT SB639 SD1, which makes clear that any jet fuel released from an underground storage tank system - such as the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility - must be completely cleaned up.

Well over three years after the last of many, many jet fuel releases from the Red Hill Facility - one that poisoned our sole source aquifer and thousands of residents - and nearly two years after the Red Hill Water Alliance Initiative called for the complete clean up of this contamination, there are still no clear remediation standards for jet fuel established by the Hawaiʻi Department of Health. 

This bill would finally establish a common sense legal standard that will also be binding on the federal government: there should be NO jet fuel in our precious and once-pure drinking water or in our environment, especially when it has been released by the reckless operation of a decrepit underground storage tank facility as in the case with Red Hill. 

I urge you to PASS SB639 SD1.

Sincerely,
[Your name]

Testimony instructions

  1. Register for a capitol website account if you haven’t yet (youʻll need to confirm your registration by responding to an automated email)

  2. Sign in to capitol.hawaii.gov with your registration information and click the "Submit Testimony" button.

  3. Enter "SB639" where it says "Enter Bill or Measure."

  4. Input your information and your written testimony (no oral testimony will be accepted)

  5. Be sure to share this with your friends and networks!

February 3 update

SB639 was passed out of the Senate Health & Human Services and Agriculture & Environment committees. Mahalo nui to the more than 42 individuals and organizations who submitted testimony in support, and a special thanks to Chairs San Buenaventura and Gabbard for their leadership on this matter. 

SB639 Bill Background

What amount of jet fuel in water should be an acceptable amount? If you say zero, then this is the bill for you!

SB639 - the “No jet fuel in water” bill - will be heard by the Senate Health and Human Services and Agriculture and Environment Committees on Friday, January 31, at 1pm in Conference Room 225. The hearing can also be watched live here.

This measure makes clear that any jet fuel, jet fuel additives, or compounds resulting from the degradation of jet fuel must be completely and fully remediated in the event of a leak from an underground storage tank. This includes jet fuel that is released from federally owned and operated underground storage tank facilities - including the US Navy’s Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, which has released between 200,000 to 2 million gallons of fuel and contaminated Oʻahu’s primary drinking water aquifer.  

While this is a common sense proposal, it is likely to be opposed by the US Department of Defense, which holds considerable political influence in our islands. Accordingly, it is vital that this bill receives the community’s support!

Please take a moment to testify - sample testimony and testimony instructions are provided below - and please share this with your friends, neighbors, colleagues, and anyone you know who cares about clean drinking water, and the preciousness of our wai.

What the bill does

SB639 requires the complete clean-up of jet fuel - including fuel additives and compounds formed by the breakdown of jet fuel over time - that is released into the environment from an underground storage tank facility.

Why is this good

Four years after the horrifying contamination of Oʻahu’s ʻāina and wai - and the poisoning of thousands of residents - with jet fuel released from the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, there is still no clear enforceable standard for remediation from the Hawaiʻi Department of Health. This bill would make clear that we expect no less than the full cleanup of jet fuel that is released from underground storage tank facilities, including Red Hill, without waiting for the Department of Health to act.

Sample testimony

Aloha Chairs San Buenaventura and Gabbard, Vice-Chairs Aquino and Richards, and Members of the Committees on Health and Human Services and Agriculture and Environment, 

My name is [Your name] and I STRONGLY SUPPORT SB639, which makes clear that any jet fuel released from an underground storage tank system - such as the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility - must be completely cleaned up.

Well over three years after the last of many, many jet fuel releases from the Red Hill Facility - one that poisoned our sole source aquifer and thousands of residents - and nearly two years after the Red Hill Water Alliance Initiative called for the complete clean up of this contamination, there are still no clear remediation standards for jet fuel established by the Hawaiʻi Department of Health. 

This bill would finally establish a common sense legal standard that will also be binding on the federal government: there should be NO jet fuel in our precious and once-pure drinking water or in our environment, especially when it has been released by the reckless operation of a decrepit underground storage tank facility as in the case with Red Hill.

I urge you to PASS SB639.

Sincerely,
[Your name]

Testimony instructions

  1. Register for a capitol website account if you haven’t yet (youʻll need to confirm your registration by responding to an automated email)

  2. Sign in to capitol.hawaii.gov with your registration information and click the "Submit Testimony" button.

  3. Enter "SB639" where it says "Enter Bill or Measure."

  4. Input your information and your written testimony, select your testimony option(s)—in-person + written, remotely + written, written only. Please consider providing verbal testimony (in-person or remotely) if you are able! 

    1. Note: Virtual testimony option may be disabled 24 hours before the hearing.

  5. If you are testifying via Zoom, be sure to review these instructions (page 4)