Above photo: People wave signs in front of the Hawaii state Capitol during a rally calling for the closure of the Navy’s Red Hill underground fuel storage facility near Pearl Harbor, Friday, Feb. 11, 2022 in Honolulu. AP Photo/Caleb Jones.
Honolulu, Hawaiʻi — After more than two years of steadfast community advocacy and legislative effort, the Water Alliance Initiative Act—addressing long term clean up and remediation of Oahu’s water and land and protecting the water source for over 400,000 residents—was signed into law on Friday, June 6, 2025, and is now officially Act 197 (Gov. Msg. No. 1297).
This landmark law creates a WAI Policy Coordinator under the Department of Land and Natural Resources and establishes a Red Hill Remediation Special Fund to support long-term cleanup, monitoring, public education, and restoration of Oʻahu’s primary aquifer in the wake of the 2021 Red Hill fuel contamination crisis.
“It took over two years of determined community organizing and relentless testimony to push this bill through the Hawaiʻi State Legislature,” said Healani Sonoda-Pale of Ka Lāhui Hawaiʻi. “Act 197 is more than a policy win—it’s a testament to the people’s power. We know that restoring our aquifer and holding the federal government accountable will be a marathon, not a sprint.”
According to the Red Hill Water Alliance Initiative’s 2023 report, an estimated 644,000 to 1.94 million gallons of fuel may have leaked into the ground over 80 years from the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility—located just 100 feet above a vital underground aquifer—posing what the report calls an “existential challenge” for Oʻahu’s water security.
Act 197 will:
● Appoint a WAI Policy Coordinator to lead cross-agency coordination on remediation and recovery;
● Launch a 36-month public education campaign and a transparent testing results dashboard;
● Support environmental and public health research through the University of Hawaiʻi;
● Establish the Red Hill Remediation Special Fund to finance long-term efforts, while holding the federal government financially responsible for full cleanup.
“Wai is life” said Red Hill CRI Member Mialisa Otis. “The US Navy poisoned our aquifer and now the WAI Bill gives us an outline of a plan for the long term remediation and clean required to protect our collective future.”
Ka Lāhui Hawaiʻi and the Red Hill Community Representation Initiative (CRI) commend the passage of this law and urge state agencies and federal partners to act with transparency, urgency, and hold the US Military accountable.