O‘ahu Water Protectors

08/27/2026

Extent of Red Hill fuel cleanup still undetermined
By Chloe Jones [email protected]

Today • Last updated 11:55 p.m.

U.S. NAVY / JUNE 1
A 9-foot section of pipe from the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility was removed by contractors from the Navy Closure Task Force-Red Hill.
U.S. NAVY / JUNE 1

A 9-foot section of pipe from the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility was removed by contractors from the Navy Closure Task Force-Red Hill.

With the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Facility on track to close in 2028, the Navy is shifting its focus toward environmental cleanup and remediation — though it still does not know exactly how much fuel it will have to clean up.

In a House Special Committee on Red Hill informational briefing Tuesday, the Navy Closure Task Force-Red Hill shared its progress in retiring the facility where a jet-fuel spill contaminated drinking water for about 93,000 Oahu residents in 2021.

Adm. Lester Ortiz, deputy commander for the task force, said 12 of 20 tanks have been degassed, six have been fully emptied and 99% of the 10-mile pipeline has been cleaned. The Navy is in the process of cutting and removing the pipeline before shipping it to the mainland to be recycled.

Ortiz said the efforts at the facility should conclude in 2028, at which time the task force will sunset and environmental monitoring and remediation efforts will be transferred to other branches within the Navy for a project manager to oversee.

The Navy’s Halawa Shaft water source has been shut down since the 2021 fuel spill, but the Navy has requested approval from the Hawaii Department of Health to reopen it, citing a lack of evidence that the shaft was affected by the spill.

The Navy also hopes to reopen the Red Hill Shaft for drinking water, and plans to install a temporary treatment system for it, said Commander Ben Dunn, environment and remediation deputy director for the task force. A permanent water treatment facility is planned but will take several years to complete, he added.

Ortiz said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also found the Joint-Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam drinking water system to be free of fuel contamination.

With the facility’s closure looming, the task force said it has ramped up environmental monitoring of the water system and its surrounding areas. The Navy expanded its groundwater monitoring well network, Dunn said, and has commissioned field and site investigative studies to determine where fuel exists and how much of it is in the environment, as well as some remediation studies to figure out how to clean it up.

The Navy does not know how much fuel remains in the environment, Dunn said, but it has not found evidence of fuel traveling outside of known affected areas.

The task force is using historical records of past releases and spills, and locations of certain infrastructure, to determine where to monitor and test for fuel, Dunn said. Those historical records include reports within the Navy and reports to regulators, like Hawaii DOH or the U.S. EPA.

Dunn assured Committee Chair Rep. Linda Ichiyama (D-Fort Shafter-Salt Lake-Pearl Harbor) the investigation would trace “basically the skeleton of the fuel infrastructure,” when she shared concerns over potential releases and spills that may not have been reported to regulators. Still, he added, “it’s not going to be conclusive. That’s why we’re going back through and looking. You start with what you know and then you move from there.”

Areas that were not sites of a known spill will only be tested depending on the historical activity or past infrastructure, he clarified. Both the Hawaii DOH and U.S. EPA will approve the test locations as the agencies must also approve the work plans, Dunn said.

For remediation, Dunn said, the Navy is studying whether soil v***r extraction could remove fuel from dry soil. Clean-up techniques for affected areas of the aquifer, like the groundwater directly underneath the tanks, is still being studied.

There is evidence of “natural breakdown processes” of fuel in some areas, he added.

Results from the investigative and remediation studies should be available for a briefing by next year, Dunn said.

PFAS is being studied and addressed separately from the task force under the Navy Environmental Restoration Program because its a national issue, unlike the Red Hill fuel spill, which was an isolated incident, Ortiz said.

Environmental monitoring and cleanup will go well beyond 2029, both Dunn and Ortiz said, adding that they will bring a tentative timeline with cleanup targets to the next briefing.

A major challenge the Navy faces is restoring community confidence in the Navy’s water system, Ortiz said. In February, the EPA no longer required Opens in a new tabthe Navy to meet with the Community Representation Initiative, or CRI. The group was a panel of 10 people tasked with engaging directly with the Navy about community concerns and was formed under a 2023 consent order.

Ortiz said open houses provide community members the opportunity to ask questions privately, and the Navy will continue to hold them for the foreseeable future. The Navy has an open house and town hall scheduled on Sept. 17 at the AmVets West Oahu Veterans Center in Ewa Beach from 5 to 7:30 p.m.

With the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Facility on track to close in 2028, the Navy is shifting its focus toward environmental cleanup and remediation — though it still does not know exactly how much fuel it will have to clean up.

08/15/2026

BLNR nixes long-term East Maui water license for Mahi Pono
Allison Schaefers
By Allison Schaefers

Today

The state Board of Land and Natural Resources on Friday blocked a proposed path toward a 30-year East Maui water license for Mahi Pono and voted to authorize the chair to secure a hearings officer for a court-ordered contested case hearing over the company’s stream diversion permits.

The decisions came after nearly eight hours of testimony during a meeting that ran from 9 a.m. to shortly after 5 p.m. and drew speakers ranging from children and kupuna, and included kalo farmers, Native Hawaiians, East Maui residents and elected officials.

Maui Mayor Richard Bissen, Office of Hawaiian Affairs Chair Kaiali‘i Kahele, Rep. Mahina Poepoe (D-Molokai, Lanai, Hana, Paia, Haiku) and state Sen. Brenton Awa (R-Kaneohe, Laie, Mokuleia), who is running for Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District seat, testified against the proposal. At issue was whether the state should pursue a long-term arrangement that could allow Mahi Pono to continue diverting East Maui stream water for decades.

Jonathan Scheuer, vice chair of the East Maui Regional Community Board, called the outcome “a huge victory that keeps this desire by 64% of Maui’s voters to manage the system. It keeps it alive.”

The vote marks the latest chapter in a decades-long battle over East Maui stream diversions and the former plantation-era irrigation system. Mahi Pono, backed by Canadian pension fund PSP Investments, became sole owner of East Maui Irrigation Co. last year after Alexander &Baldwin transferred its remaining interest. The company acquired the other half in 2018 as part of its purchase of 41,000 acres of former sugar plantation land in Central Maui.

The fight has spawned years of litigation over balancing agricultural needs, Native Hawaiian rights and environmental protections. In December, the Land Board approved a permit allowing Mahi Pono to divert 35.22 million gallons per day through 2026. In July, Senior Environmental Court Judge Lisa Cataldo reduced that amount to 31.5 million gallons per day pending a contested case hearing and final board decision.

Cataldo found the board violated the public trust doctrine when it approved the permit and violated the Sierra Club of Hawai‘i’s due process rights by denying the group a contested case hearing.

Against that backdrop, the board on Friday denied staff recommendations to auction a state water license, issue a direct water license to Maui County and authorize negotiations over operation and maintenance of the East Maui Irrigation System. However, the board approved delegating authority to its chairperson to appoint a hearing officer and issue procedural orders for a court-ordered contested case hearing over the East Maui water diversion permit. The Sierra Club and other opponents argued the staff recommendations could ultimately allow Mahi Pono to divert up to 88 million gallons of water a day under a 30-year arrangement.

After hours of testimony and discussion, Maui board member James “Jay” Carpio moved to reject the recommendations.

“Since March to now, I took this on and every day I spent time on it,” Carpio said. “So I see the 150 years of reckoning.”

He said one of the lessons that stood out most during his review of the issue was the role Native Hawaiians played in constructing the system’s early ditch network.

“The greatest thing that stood out for me was the 7,000 Kanaka (Hawaiians) and Pake (Chinese) that built the first 17 miles of this ditch and four-fifths of that was Kanaka,” Carpio said. “They didn’t have the hydraulics, they didn’t have the machines, the trucks and everything that we have today. They busted butt back then and they did it within two years because they believed in the kingdom back in that time.”

Carpio also noted that he had hoped representatives from PSP Investments would attend the meeting and testify before the board considered long-term decisions on East Maui water.

“I was really hoping to see somebody from PSP over here today. I think that would have been huge,” he said.

He then moved to “deny, reject and oppose” the recommendations and requested that any future meetings on the issue be held on Maui. The board ultimately approved his motion after considering two contested case requests.

One request came from a taro farmer who later withdrew it. Another, filed by Mahi Pono attorney Calvert Chipchase, failed on a tie vote. Chipchase did not immediately return a call from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

Scheuer said Mahi Pono may have grounds to appeal but will have to consider the overwhelming opposition voiced during the hearing.

“One of the things they will have to weigh is that, you know, 95% of eight hours of testimony were people who were vigorously opposed to this happening,” Scheuer said.

Written testimony was mixed. Support for Mahi Pono came from the Chamber of Commerce Hawai‘i and from James Kunane Tokioka of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, who wrote that the long-term license “advances several of the department’s core statutory missions at once” and provides certainty that is foundational to economic development priorities beyond agriculture.

Denise Hayashi Yamaguchi, executive director of the Hawai’i Agricultural Foundation, and Keith Hayashi, superintendent of the Department of Education, also submitted written testimony supporting a long-term license for Mahi Pono.

“Locally grown food is essential to the health and well-being of our public school students, and that work begins with ensuring farmers have a reliable, long-term water supply,” Haysashi said.

Sharon Hurd, chairperson of the Hawaii Department of Agriculture &Biosecurity, testified during the hearing that “we welcome all farmers who will increase food production for the state,” and noted challenges after the recent Kona-low storms.

However, nearly all oral speakers who appeared before the board favored public control of East Maui water.

Elena Bryant, an attorney for Earthjustice, said it was “legally indefensible and frankly alarming” that DLNR “would consider committing East Maui‘s waters for an entire generation” before conducting the review that Cataldo‘s ruling had required.

“This isn‘t just putting the cart before the horse, it‘s sending the cart off a cliff and hoping the horse somehow catches up.”

Bissen urged the board to reject Agenda Item D-7, arguing East Maui water should remain under public stewardship. He noted that 64% of Maui voters approved the creation of the East Maui Water Authority in 2022.

“This is a public trust resource,” Bissen said. “The recommendation before you today moves us away from that path, contradicts the will of our community and moves us toward a structure that could determine the management and allocation of this resource for the next 30 years.”

Bissen also told board members Maui County formally requested a state set-aside in April covering its interest in the East Maui Irrigation System and East Maui surface water resources.

“I’m deeply disappointed that the option of a set-aside to the county has been summarily denied without the benefit of a full and fair hearing,” he said.

After the hearing, Bissen emphasized that the county’s position was not anti-­agriculture.

“We are not opposed to Mahi Pono,” he told the Star-Advertiser. “We are in alignment with food security, with using ag lands for agricultural, and not having it be fallow.

“We’ve seen what happened in Lahaina when you leave lands unchecked, so we want these lands to be productive. We want there to be produce and agriculture on our island. We want them to be successful,” he said. “We think we can do that and also provide water to our Upcountry residents and to taro farmers. We can do that. We are capable of operating the system.”

The state Board of Land and Natural Resources on Friday blocked a proposed path toward a 30-year East Maui water license for Mahi Pono and voted to authorize the chair to secure a hearings officer for a court-ordered contested case hearing over the company’s stream diversion permits.

08/14/2026

When will enough be enough? Coming off the third anniversary of the Maui Fires (where over 100 people died) which was the result of stream diversions, poor land and resource management and poor planning by private corporations and State government we are still having to testify in the importance of stream flow and the harms of diversions to the Maui communities, to our ‘āina and to our Kanaka Maoli people and traditional practices and customs. For all you need to know about this issue, where to watch it, and how to testify go to bit.ly/MAUIWAI which will take you to the Sierra Club of Hawai’i page on East Maui streams.

08/12/2026

This Friday!

08/11/2026

September 8, 2026 - Catalyzing Conversation - Water is Life, Land is Life: Women Leading Indigenous Sovereignty in Guam and Hawai’i
Date: Tuesday, September 8
Time: 6:30 pm ET and 12:30 pm HST
Location: Zoom

The familiar story of America’s war for independence masks a sobering reality: the freedom we sought was denied to those we colonized. Claimed or purchased for their military or economic value, residents of US territories are denied the full rights of citizenship and subject to the lasting environmental impacts of militarism. Even a state like Hawai’i was created through the overthrow of its Native kingdom, a fact acknowledged by the US government in 1993.

Against this backdrop, Indigenous leaders continue to fight for their lands, waters, cultural practices, and sovereignty. Join Rachel’s Network to hear from two Catalyst Award recipients leading these efforts in Guam and Hawai’i respectively: Maria Hernandez-May, co-executive director of the Micronesia Climate Alliance and Healani Sonoda-Pale, lead organizer of Ka Lahui Hawai’i and O’ahu Water Protectors. They’ll talk about the legacy of imperialism and environmental harm on their islands, how they’re building power in their communities, and what we can do to support their work.

Registration is free and open to the public.

bit.ly/landislife

07/19/2026

Coming up in August at the next Community Representation Initiative Meeting - Special Guest Dr. Eva Davis to discuss thermal remediation as a possibility to address the plume in Oʼahuʼs sole source aquifer.

07/16/2026

Water Protectors and the Red Hill Community Representation Initiative has been asking for a purposeful reuse of the filtered Red Hill water for years. We have never seen that report that the Navy did till Christine Jedra shared it in her article. Great read mahalo Civil-Beat.

07/07/2026

There is no American Indepence day on Stolen Indigenous Land.

06/24/2026

DOJ says $17M in Red Hill fuel spill settlements paid to 629 plaintiffs ⬇️

06/24/2026

More discussion and on the reopening of the poisoned Red Hill well. Ola i ka wai - water is life.