SUPPORT SB639: No Jet Fuel in Water

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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)

SUPPORT HB969: No Toxic Waste Over Our Water

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Last month, the Honolulu mayor proposed placing Oʻahu’s next landfill on prime agricultural land in Wahiawā—just 800 feet above a drinking water aquifer. Given that landfill liners are far from infallible and that all landfills eventually leak, contamination of this drinking water source with toxic landfill “leachate” is not a question of if, but when, if this proposal moves forward.

While we absolutely cannot continue to overburden West Oʻahu with our island’s waste, we also cannot afford to risk contaminating another aquifer—one that will be critical to our future water security.

A bill to protect drinking water aquifers from the potential contamination from landfills or other waste facilities has a hearing this Thursday, January 30 at 9am in the House Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection (room 325). Please take a moment to submit testimony in support of this bill to safeguard our drinking water future today and for generations. You can also watch the hearing live here.

What the bills do 

HB969 prohibits the construction, modification, or expansion of any waste or disposal facility on land that is near or above a significant aquifer as determined by the Department of Health.

Why is this bill is good 

In addition to the existing half-mile buffer zone for schools, neighborhoods, and hospitals, this bill will add protections to prevent landfills and other waste or disposal facilities from being constructed, modified, or expanded above an aquifer deemed as significant by the Hawaiʻi Department of Health. 

While guidelines exist—such as the Honolulu Board of Water Supply’s “no pass zone,” which advises against siting landfills in areas where porous volcanic rock could allow contaminants to seep into Oʻahu’s drinking water—there are currently no laws requiring decision-makers to follow these recommendations or legally preventing landfills from being placed in these high-risk areas.

Sample testimony

Aloha Chair Lowen, Vice-Chair Perruso, and members of the Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection, 

My name is [Your name] and I strongly support HB969 which would prohibit the construction, modification, or expansion of waste and disposal facilities on land above significant aquifers.

This bill is crucial for protecting our vital groundwater resources. Our aquifers are irreplaceable sources of freshwater that sustain our communities and ʻāina. Once contaminated, these water sources can be permanently damaged, putting public health and our environment at risk.

Protecting our water is about protecting our health, our environment, and the future of everyone who calls Hawaiʻi home. 

I urge you to PASS HB969.

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 "HB969" 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! 

    *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)