STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1351

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.C.R. No. 174

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Energy and Environment, Health, and Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 174 entitled:

 

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, HONOLULU BOARD OF WATER SUPPLY, AND NAVY TO EXPEDITIOUSLY IMPLEMENT THE RECOMMENDATIONS SUBMITTED TO THE LEGISLATURE BY THE RED HILL FUEL STORAGE FACILITY TASK FORCE,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Request the Department of Health, Environmental Protection Agency, Honolulu Board of Water Supply, and Navy to expeditiously implement the recommendations submitted to the Legislature by the Red Hill Fuel Storage Facility Task Force;

 

     (2)  Urge the Navy to install double-lining at the Red Hill Fuel Storage Facility;

 

     (3)  Urge the Department of Health, Environmental Protection Agency, Honolulu Board of Water Supply, and Navy to install additional groundwater monitoring wells and increase the frequency of all monitoring and sampling activities at the Red Hill Fuel Storage Facility; and

 

     (4)  Urge the Department of Health, Environmental Protection Agency, and Navy to finalize a negotiated agreement for the Red Hill Fuel Storage Facility that protects drinking water resources, appropriately reports the release of petroleum, and minimizes the threat of potential future releases.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, Board of Water Supply of the City and County of Honolulu, and United States Navy Region Hawaii Program.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

 

     Your Committees find that in 2014, the Legislature established a task force in response to a fuel tank leak at the Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility, the site of twenty tanks that are only one hundred feet above a major groundwater aquifer.   The Red Hill Fuel Storage Facility Task Force made various recommendations in its report to the Legislature, including double-lining the large and aging tanks to prevent future leaks capable of contaminating a major underground aquifer.  The prompt implementation of the Red Hill Fuel Storage Facility Task Force's recommendations will provide better assurance that the State's water sources are protected.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by clarifying that twenty tanks, rather than two tanks, located in the Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility are only one hundred feet above a major groundwater aquifer.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Energy and Environment, Health, and Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 174, as amended herein, and recommend its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 174, S.D. 1.

 


Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Energy and Environment, Health, and Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

 

________________________________

JOSH GREEN, Chair

 

________________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair

 

 

________________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair