Gubernatorial hopefuls Josh Green and James “Duke” Aiona both say that if elected in November, Red Hill will be a top priority and they will push the Navy to move faster to permanently shut it down. But when it comes to the military’s prospects for renewing a plethora of leases that are set to expire in the coming years, Green, the Democratic nominee, is taking a harder line, saying that the military needs to renew trust with the community in light of the Red Hill disaster in order to guarantee that those land contracts will continue.
“Our relationship, the sense of ohana, is dependent on how we treat each other, and I was very clear with the Department of Defense leadership, in a respectful way, that as they proceed with requests for lease extensions, for instance at Pohakuloa, that in order to have a positive relationship we have to live up to our promises,” Green said.
More than a dozen military leases on lands throughout the state are set to expire in 2029 and 2030. The major military holdings span the Army, Navy and Air Force and the military has said that retaining the Army’s Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii island, the Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai and the Air Force’s Kaena Point station on Oahu are particularly critical to its strategic and training needs. Hawaii’s next governor is expected to wield considerable power over whether these leases will be extended.
Green said the military needs to make good on its promises to clean up Red Hill and assist with other problems facing Hawaii as a result of fuel contamination from the underground Navy facility. That potentially includes restraints on the development of new housing as a result of a reduction in the available civilian water supply.
“I was very direct,” Green said of a recent meeting with military leaders. “I said to be a member of the ohana in Hawaii, you have to take on the other challenges with us, and I am directly connecting the future relationships with the military with how well they work with us in this coming two-year period.”
Green said that it’s not a threat. “That is just the reality of working with people,” he said.
Aiona, by contrast, was less equivocal. He said the state, under his leadership, would continue to have a positive relationship with the military despite the Red Hill crisis. Aiona, the Republican nominee for governor, previously served as the lieutenant governor from 2002 to 2010 under former Gov. Linda Lingle.
“When we were in office, we had a tremendous relationship with the military because we see the value that they bring to Hawaii and the benefits that we have as a result of their presence here. I think the relationship with the military has gotten a lot better with the people of Hawaii, in particular the Native Hawaiians,” he said. “I want to maintain that relationship that we have built up over time and I don’t want to use (Red Hill) as a means or as a reason to in any way have a fractured relationship.”
Aiona called Red Hill, which has a high risk of future leaks, an “imminent peril,” and said if elected he would push to speed up the Navy’s current timeline for shutting it down. But he said that he wouldn’t use the lease renewals as a bargaining chip.
“Some people say, well you can leverage in regards to these other leases that we have coming up with the military,” said Aiona. “I’m not into doing that. I’m not into using that as leverage to accomplish something like this.”
In March, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered Red Hill, which includes 20 massive underground fuel tanks, to be drained and permanently shut down after fuel leaks at the facility last year contaminated the Navy’s drinking water system and sickened hundreds of military families.
Under the Navy’s current plan, more than 100 million gallons stored in the tanks would be drained by the end of 2024. A contractor’s report issued earlier this year found that the fuel facility needs to undergo extensive repairs before the fuel can be drained safely and to reduce the risk of a major fuel release that could further pollute the groundwater.
Green, like Aiona, said that the Navy needed to speed up the closure. “Two years is too long,” he said.
Protecting Oahu’s water supply
The Navy’s fuel releases last year only affected its drinking water system, which serves about 93,000 people in and around Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. But the 2021 leaks, as well as decades of past leaks from the facility, also have put at risk the municipal water supply maintained by the Honolulu Board of Water Supply.
Aiona and Green differ in their views of how they would safeguard Oahu’s water supply. Last week Aiona held a news conference along with state Rep. Bob McDermott and called for installing water treatment systems at all of the Board of Water Supply’s nearby wells as a protective measure. Even though the wells have not shown any indication of fuel pollution, Aiona said more needs to be done to safeguard the water supply.
“We can’t wait any longer. As governor, I will declare an immediate state of emergency to get construction started on preventive water treatment facilities/systems that the BWS deems necessary,” said Aiona in a news release.
Aiona specifically called out Green, in his current position as lieutenant governor, for not doing enough.
The BWS said following the news conference that it hasn’t been briefed on the plans. Aiona and McDermott didn’t specify a technology, but estimated the costs could be $28 million per shaft.
Green criticized the plan.
“I am utterly confused about what they were trying to say,” he said. “It was not based on current technologies or anything that I’ve read about, so I don’t consider that a plan.”
Green said that as governor he would approach the Red Hill situation similar to the COVID-19 response, with a unified command that would include top leaders from various departments, including the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, Board of Water Supply, Hawaii Department of Health and Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources. He pledged to brief the public regularly on Red Hill.
Green also said that he would explore desalination, technology that would make ocean water drinkable, as a means of ensuring an adequate water supply for Oahu.
Leadership
Despite differences, Aiona and Green both said they would take a hands-on, visible role on the Red Hill issue if elected, which would mark a contrast to the style of Gov. David Ige, who has largely deferred to the Hawaii Department of Health.
“I intend to have weekly press conferences and I would expect that this would be on the agenda for the first year,” said Green. “I would be surprised if we weren’t giving people an update every week.”
Aiona said that if elected he would personally and thoroughly review every report relevant to the current Red Hill situation and that decisions wouldn’t be relegated to state agencies.
“It is not going to be just a top-down decision where it is the sole decision on my part,” said Aiona. “But I will be leading it.”
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