A coalition of Hawaii activist groups led by the Sierra Club announced Wednesday it is launching a grassroots campaign aimed at persuading President Joe Biden and leaders at the Pentagon to shut down the Navy’s fuel storage facility at Red Hill.

The latest push comes as the Navy finds itself increasingly embattled over its handling of leaks from the decades-old facility and the emergence of leaked emails that show officials downplayed or kept concerns from the public.

“We’ve lost all faith in the local Navy command and we are launching a grassroots ground campaign to reach out to the president and the top brass at the Pentagon,” said Wayne Tanaka, the director of the Sierra Club’s Hawaii chapter, at a news conference Wednesday in front of the Honolulu Board of Water Supply. He was flanked by more than 25 fellow activists with signs calling for the closure of the facility.

The military built the Red Hill facility during World War II. The Navy placed the tanks beneath a mountain ridge to make them harder for Japanese military forces to strike. One of the largest fuel storage facilities in the country, it can store up to 250 million gallons of fuel and for its time was considered state of the art.

But the unique architecture that made it nearly impossible for enemy forces to find or strike also has led to maintenance challenges — it was built into the island’s underground aquifer.

“The Red Hill tanks are an environmental time bomb, threatening the drinking water of 400,000 Oahu residents,” said Rebekah Garrison of Hawaii Peace and Justice and the Oahu Water Protectors.

Ernest Lau, manager of the Board of Water Supply, said that much of the Navy’s activities at the facility remained classified during the Cold War and that it has only been since about 1995 that the public has gained insights into the facility.

“Until then, the information about the facility really wasn’t made available to the public,” he said, noting that regular testing didn’t begin until 2014.

“For years, the Sierra Club and community groups have been trying every other avenue,” Tanaka said. “The Navy in these proceedings withheld information, they lied under oath … and these proceedings have been extended for months (and) likely well into next year. This is unacceptable.”

Last month an investigation by Honolulu Civil Beat revealed that “political concerns” prompted Navy officials to withhold information from state officials about an active leak that began in the spring of 2020. During that time, the military sought an operating permit from the state.

This month, emails obtained by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser revealed that a top Navy officer had expressed concerns about multiple leaking valves at the facility.

On Oct. 27, the Hawaii Department of Health announced it had ordered the military to pay a $325,182 fine for violations it found during an inspection of Red Hill from Sept. 28 through Oct. 9, 2020. On Nov. 4 Hawaii’s congressional delegates requested that the Pentagon launch an investigation into whether the Navy “intentionally misled the Department of Health and/or the Red Hill operating permit hearing officer” by not disclosing the leak during the February permit hearing.

EVEN AS the Navy was navigating the political fallout, it announced over the weekend that it had detected another leak of over 14,000 gallons of fuel and water from a drain line that’s part of the facility’s fire suppression system. On Saturday, residents near Red Hill called 911 after several reported smelling fuel, prompting firefighters to respond.

Gina Hara, who attended the press conference, was one of those who smelled fuel over the weekend. She said she’s become increasingly concerned by the Navy’s approach to dealing with the public.

“The Navy is committed to preserving and protecting the environment while conducting safe operations at Red Hill,” said Navy Region Hawaii spokeswoman Lydia Robertson. “The Navy is investigating the Nov. 20 release, which was contained and transferred to an above-ground storage tank. We will closely monitor all aspects of the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility to ensure the safety of our operations.”

The Navy has developed plans in partnership with the University of Hawaii’s School of Engineering to upgrade the facility by creating a “tank-within-a-tank” system that would help prevent releases and leaks. But Hara points out that by the Navy’s own admission, human error and leaks from pipes rather than the tanks have been significant problems. “It’s not just the tank,” Hara said. “It’s the distribution system.”

“I was born and raised in Kalihi, which means that for my entire life I’ve received my drinking water from the aquifer that has been and continues to be threatened by the leaking tanks at Red Hill,” said Sam Ikehara, who spoke at the press conference. “Red Hill does not need to be improved as the Navy has said. Rather (the tanks) must be decommissioned and shut down immediately given the immense threat they pose to all life on Oahu.”

Lau said that testing of Oahu’s water supply hasn’t revealed serious contamination from Red Hill, but that the potential of contamination warrants concern.

“This isn’t rocket science. This isn’t something that I think people need to really dwell too hard on,” Lau said. “It’s understanding that you can’t live more than a few days without a clean supply of water. And this water for our island comes from these underground aquifers. Keeping them clean and pure is vitally important.”