U.S. Representative Michael Waltz (R-FL), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Readiness, delivered the following opening remarks at a hearing on the Navy's maintenance of the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility and the Navy's investigation into and response to the November 2021 release of fuel from Red Hill facility impacting drinking water.
Rep. Waltz's remarks as prepared for delivery:
I want to thank the Chairman for having this important hearing on the recent fuels release into the military's drinking water system in Hawaii. I also understand that many of our witnesses are participating remotely from Hawaii. I want to particularly thank them for getting up so early and participating in this important event.
Red Hill fuels depot has been the center of our bulk fuel's logistics effort in INDOPACOM since World War II. It has also been the source of repeated fuels incidents and is lacking a secondary containment system. This is particularly problematic considering that it sits 100 feet over an aquifer that provides over 77% of the island of Oahu's drinking water. I believe the existing Red Hill fuels situation is unacceptable and a significant change to our bulk fuels laydown and overall management system in INDOPACOM needs to occur.
In response to the Red Hill disaster, I understand that the Hawaii delegation has asked the Secretary of the Navy to entirely defuel the Red Hill fuels depot. I am concerned that any long term effort to entirely defuel Red Hill will have severe national security consequences. But, I am supportive of initially defueling Red Hill to a level that supports our surge requirements. Additionally, defueling of this depot at a future point should be aggressively pursued when a better positioned fuels strategy can be developed and implemented that is better aligned with our overall combatant commander war plans.
Finally, I want to express my concern with the initial reporting associated with the Red Hill fuels spill. It is incredibly important to take care of our service members and our military families. While I think that the Navy recovered in providing some much-needed transparency, I think that initial responses to the ongoing tragedy need to be significantly more responsive and forthright as to the magnitude of the environmental disaster. We owe no less to the service members and their families who give our nation so much.
In closing, I want to thank the Chairman for this hearing. It is obvious that we have much work to do on this issue and I look forward to further discussions on this issue in the NDAA for fiscal year 2023. I yield back.
