Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. CASE. Madam Speaker, as a proud member of the Appropriations Committee, I rise in strong support of this measure.
I especially highlight section 165, directing $403 million in emergency funding to the Department of Defense's urgent response to contamination of the city of Honolulu's drinking water from fuel leaks from our military's Red Hill bulk fuel storage facility at Pearl Harbor.
Red Hill is a 250-million-gallon, World War II-era facility located only 100 feet directly above the major aquifer providing drinking water to some 500,000 residents, of which some 100,000 are military families served by the Navy's water system and are drawing from this aquifer.
Obviously, contamination of this aquifer from Red Hill fuel leaks would be catastrophic, most directly to general public health, but also to fundamental military readiness. And yet, that is exactly what happened last November when likely tens of thousands of gallons of fuel did leak from Red Hill into the aquifer and then through the Navy water system to thousands of homes, businesses, and military operations. People got sick, pets died, lives were disrupted, schools and businesses closed, and some 3,500, mainly military, families remain displaced. Overall public confidence in our military remains shattered.
Since then, our military, with their partners in State and Federal Government, has focused immediately on remediating contamination, restoring safe drinking water, and returning families to their homes. Our military has expended hundreds of millions on these efforts to date, with hundreds of millions more imminent and billions eventually required to implement Red Hill alternatives.
This measure's $403 million of emergency funding is critical to sustain the immediate effort to stabilize and defuel Red Hill, return our families to their homes, and restore public confidence in safe drinking water.
I deeply appreciate the commitment of my chair and committee; our Senate counterparts; the administration; and my Hawaii colleague, Senator Schatz, to the inclusion of this critical emergency funding.
Mahalo.
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