SB 1634: RELATING TO WATER RESOURCES.

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO WATER RESOURCES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that protection of the environment and underground sources of drinking water is in the best interest of public health and safety and a requirement defined under section 7 of article XI of the Hawaii State Constitution.

     The Red Hill bulk fuel storage facility is a field‑constructed underground storage tank system on Oahu that is owned and operated by the United States Department of the Navy.  The facility consists of twenty systems that sit approximately one hundred feet above Oahu's sole-source groundwater aquifer, with the southern Oahu basal aquifer as the principal source of drinking water for the island.

     Twenty systems, as well as pipelines and other infrastructure, were constructed during the early 1940s and, since then, multiple contaminant releases have occurred, negatively impacting the environment and threatening public health.  The nature and extent of the reported release in January 2014 of approximately twenty-seven thousand gallons of fuel from one of the tanks into the rocks and groundwater beneath the facility is still unknown.  The May 2021 department of health hearings officer's decision found that approximately one thousand six hundred gallons of jet fuel from the supply piping was released into the environment.  According to the department of health's emergency order docket no. 22-UST-EA-01, a release and recovery of approximately fourteen thousand gallons of a fuel mixture occurred on November 20, 2021.  The fuel release flowed from the Red Hill facility to occupied structures, including the homes of residents through the water pipelines.  The release resulted in a humanitarian and environmental emergency and disaster.

     It is estimated that up to 1,500,000 gallons of fuel has been released from the facility during its eighty years of operation.  The underground storage tanks have been gravity defueled and are planned for closure, but remnant fuel and sludge remain.  Contaminants from the facility can migrate to the west and northwest directions, reaching various well sources managed by the Honolulu board of water supply and landmarks.

     Furthermore, the department of health's analysis on the amount of fuel contaminants at different points in time and different locations showed movement of the fuel through a total petroleum hydrocarbon.  The total petroleum hydrocarbon in the Red Hill monitoring wells exceed existing environmental action limits set by the department of health for gross contamination and drinking water toxicity.

     According to the November 8, 2024, Management Advisory: Concerns with the Navy’s Handling of Incidents Involving Aqueous Film-Forming Foam at Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam Office Report No. DODIG-2025-013, one thousand three hundred gallons of aqueous film-forming foam concentrate that contains per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) spilled from the facility on November 29, 2022.  The persistence of PFAS in the environment poses serious risks to the groundwater resources in Oahu and undesirable health effects.

     The legislature finds that more information is needed to inform and protect the people of Hawaii.  Additional wells that monitor the condition of the aquifer and alert the presence of an underground fuel plume and other contaminants from the Red Hill facility must be installed.  Also, the furtherance of a sentinel monitoring grid between the facility and water production wells, consisting of up to one hundred twenty-two monitoring wells over sixty-one sites, is critical to assess immediate and future risks and to inform trend and directional analyses necessary for remediation planning.  Past fuel releases from the Red Hill facility could migrate to and impact critical drinking water receptors.  Without the data derived from the sentinel monitoring grid, there can be no reliable predictions of where contamination may migrate in the subsurface.

     The purpose of this Act is to authorize the issuance of general obligation bonds for the Honolulu board of water supply to install up to six monitoring wells, including a sentinel monitoring grid, for the purpose of collecting important data to understand the condition of the groundwater aquifer underneath and surrounding the Red Hill facility and its implications and affect on the drinking water supply of Oahu.

     SECTION 2.  The director of finance is authorized to issue general obligation bonds in the sum of $20,000,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary and the same sum or so much thereof as may be necessary is appropriated for fiscal year 2025-2026 for the purpose of a capital improvement project to plan, design, and construct up to six groundwater aquifer monitoring wells, including the establishment of a sentinel monitoring grid.

     The sum appropriated shall be expended by the board of water supply of the city and county of Honolulu for the purposes of this Act.

     SECTION 3.  The appropriation made for the capital improvement project authorized by this Act shall not lapse at the end of the fiscal biennium for which the appropriation is made; provided that all moneys from the appropriation unencumbered as of June 30, 2028, shall lapse as of that date.

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect on May 13, 2040.

Report Title:

Department of Budget and Finance; Water Resources; Monitoring Wells; Honolulu BWS; GO Bonds; Appropriation

Description:

Authorizes the issuance of general obligation bonds to the City and County of Honolulu for the planning, design, and construction of up to six monitoring wells, including a sentinel monitoring grid.  Effective 5/13/2040.  (SD1)

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO WATER RESOURCES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that protection of the environment and underground sources of drinking water is in the best interest of public health and safety and a requirement defined under section 7 of Article XI of the state Constitution.

     The Red Hill bulk fuel storage facility is a field‑constructed underground storage tank system on Oahu that is owned and operated by the United States Department of the Navy.  The facility consists of twenty systems that sit approximately one hundred feet above Oahu’s sole-source groundwater aquifer, with the southern Oahu basal aquifer as the principal source of drinking water for the island.

     Twenty systems, as well as pipelines and other infrastructure, were constructed during the early 1940s and, since then, multiple contaminant releases have occurred, negatively impacting the environment and threatening public health.  The nature and extent of the reported release in January 2014 of approximately twenty-seven thousand gallons of fuel from one of the tanks into the rocks and groundwater beneath the facility is still unknown.  The May 2021 department of health hearings officer’s decision found that approximately one thousand six hundred gallons of jet fuel from the supply piping was released into the environment.  According to the department of health's Emergency Order Docket No. 22-UST-EA-01, a release and recovery of approximately fourteen thousand gallons of a fuel mixture occurred on November 20, 2021.  The fuel release flowed from the Red Hill facility to occupied structures, including the homes of residents through the water pipelines.  The release resulted in "a humanitarian and environmental emergency and disaster."

     It is estimated that up to 1,500,000 gallons of fuel has been released from the facility during its eighty years of operation.  The underground storage tanks have been gravity defueled and are planned for closure, but remnant fuel and sludge remain.  Contaminants from the facility can migrate to the west and northwest direction, reaching various well sources managed by the board of water supply and landmarks.

     Furthermore, the department of health's analysis on the amount of fuel contaminants at different points in time and different locations showed movement of the fuel through a total petroleum hydrocarbon.  The total petroleum hydrocarbon in the Red Hill monitoring wells exceed existing environmental action limits set by the department for gross contamination and drinking water toxicity.

     According to the November 8, 2024 Management Advisory: Concerns with the Navy’s Handling of Incidents Involving Aqueous Film-Forming Foam at Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam Office Report No. DODIG-2025-013, one thousand three hundred gallons of aqueous film-forming foam concentrate that contains per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances spilled from the facility on November 29, 2022.  The persistence of the substances in the environment poses serious risks to the groundwater resources in Oahu and undesirable health effects.

     The legislature finds that more information is needed to inform and protect the people of Hawaii.  Additional wells that monitor the condition of the aquifer and alert in the presence of an underground fuel plume and other contaminants from the Red Hill facility must be installed.  Also, the furtherance of a monitoring grid between the facility and water production wells, consisting of up to one hundred twenty-two monitoring wells over sixty-one sites, is critical to assess immediate and future risks and to inform trend and directional analyses necessary for remediation planning.  Past fuel releases from the facility could migrate to and impact critical drinking water receptors.  Without the data derived from the monitoring grid, there can be no reliable predictions of where contamination may migrate in the subsurface.

     The purpose of this Act is to authorize the issuance of general obligation bonds for the board of water supply to install two monitoring wells for the purpose of collecting important data to understand the condition of the groundwater aquifer underneath and surrounding the Red Hill facility and its implications to the drinking water supply in Oahu.

     SECTION 2.  The director of finance is authorized to issue general obligation bonds in the sum of $20,000,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary and the same sum or so much thereof as may be necessary is appropriated for fiscal year 2025-2026 for the purpose of a capital improvement project to plan, design, and construct two groundwater aquifer monitoring wells.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the board of water supply of the city and county of Honolulu for the purposes of this Act.

     SECTION 3.  The appropriation made for the capital improvement project authorized by this Act shall not lapse at the end of the fiscal biennium for which the appropriation is made; provided that all moneys from the appropriation unencumbered as of June 30, 2028, shall lapse as of that date.

     SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2025.

Report Title:

Water Resources; Monitoring Wells; BWS; GO Bonds; Appropriation

Description:

Appropriates general obligation bonds to the Board of Water Supply for the planning, design, and construction of two monitoring wells.

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 579

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1634

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 1634 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WATER RESOURCES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to authorize the issuance of $20,000,000 in general obligation bonds to the City and County of Honolulu for the planning, design, and construction of two groundwater aquifer monitoring wells.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Honolulu Board of Water Supply, Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi, and 350Hawaii.org.

     Your Committee finds that multiple recent releases of jet fuel and other chemicals from the United States Department of the Navy's Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility have negatively impacted the environment and the safety of drinking water in the City and County of Honolulu.  A Department of Health analysis showed that the fuel contamination could travel away from the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility toward different geological locations, including existing Honolulu Board of Water Supply wells.  This measure is necessary to address any threats to the public health and environment of the State by constructing monitoring wells to assess any immediate and future risks and to inform trend and directional analyses necessary for any remediation planning.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Amending the purpose of the general obligation bonds to fund the planning, design, and construction of up to six, rather than two, groundwater aquifer monitoring wells, including the establishment of a sentinel monitoring grid;

     (2)  Inserting an effective date of May 13, 2040, to encourage further discussion; and

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1634, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1634, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs,