Sierra Club of Hawaii

A U.S. military watchdog says Navy officials lacked sufficient understanding of the risks of maintaining massive fuel storage tanks on top of a drinking water well at Pearl Harbor where spilled jet fuel poisoned more than 6,000 people.

Gov. Green’s office said that the biosecurity bill, which would allocate $20 million to the DOA, is on the veto list primarily as a cost-cutting measure. He’s currently planning on splitting the funding to the department by half.

The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court says the state attorney general's office must pay attorney fees for using last year's Maui wildfire tragedy to file a petition in “bad faith” that blamed a state court judge for a lack of water for firefighting.

The Board of Land and Natural Resources’ ongoing practice of issuing temporary permits to divert water from East Maui streams was upheld in a decision by the Hawaiʻi appeals court. HPR's Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi reports.

The newly stood-up Navy Closure Task Force-Red Hill appears to be off to a rough start. A community group maintains the Navy is trying to strong-arm a process agreed to under a work order issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Navy said it would look to meetings in February and March, indicating it wants to restructure the gatherings to make them more productive.

To mark a decade since 27,000 gallons of jet fuel leaked from an underground tank in the Navy's Red Hill facility, The Conversation's Catherine Cruz spoke to representatives from the Honolulu Board of Water Supply and the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi. BWS Manager Ernest Lau said he doesn't want to take any chances with Honolulu's drinking water.

Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi held a press conference with the Los Angeles-based advocacy group COMMUNITYx to support civilian families affected by Red Hill crisis. HPR's Sabrina Bodon spoke to residents who continue to feel the effects after the contamination.

The Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi has taken the military to task over its handling of fuel spills at the Red Hill underground fuel storage facility over several decades. Executive Director Wayne Tanaka joined The Conversation to discuss the latest findings into a leak of aqueous film forming foam.

Marti Townsend, the former head of the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi and now with Earthjustice, recently attended a local screening of a documentary about PFAS contamination on Okinawa. She said there are parallels between Okinawa and Red Hill on Oʻahu.

The Conversation spoke to Sierra Club Director Wayne Tanaka to reflect on what the community has gained and lost during this water crisis and the recent spill of toxic firefighting foam concentrate.