Buenas yan håfa adai todu hamyo,

Thanks to all of your testimonies and advocacy efforts by our community, Res 55-36 PASSED with 10 votes in favor and 5 against.

Senators who voted against this critical legislation in protection of our aquifer include Tony Ada, Joanne Brown, Chris Duenas, Frank Blas, James Moylan

Unfortunately, those who emailed Ada and were assured of his vote in favor of the resolution were lied to.

At the end of the day, our human rights should not have a political agenda. Sustainable access to safe drinking water should not be an issue split between party lines or a topic of debate on Session floor. It should be a given. Yet today we have learned which senators believe water is simply a commodity, and which senators understand that safe and clean water has everything to do with public health, the safety of our community and our basic human dignity. Remember the names of those leaders who consistently prioritize our health and safety come Election Day. We also need to pay attention to who supports and develops important environmental policies. For the benefit of our island community, we must vote for environmental and cultural protectors.

We must also remember that the construction of a firing range complex over our sole source aquifer has continued without our free, prior and informed consent.

Our sole source aquifer provides our island with 80-90% of our drinking water and is at risk of contamination due to development, including the construction of a massive U.S. Marine Live Fire Training Range Complex (five firing ranges in total) above our main water source. 6.7 million rounds of ammunition would be expended annually, and lead and other heavy metals are known to accumulate in soils at training ranges, thus adversely affecting the health of our aquifer. Important to note is that limestone, a porous rock, is what sits over our island's primary aquifer. 

The military’s Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) has indicated that the over extraction of water from the aquifer can result in salt water intrusion that can irreparably harm our aquifer, yet their plans for the buildup include an increased annual withdrawal of groundwater of 1.7 million gallons each day. The SEIS also indicated an increase in the rate of sewage spills impacting groundwater quality from potential exposure to additional raw sewage, and higher levels of chloride concentrations in the aquifer.

Put fabot - take a few minutes to write emails saying thank you to all the senators who took a strong stand in support of our human right to clean drinking water.

Un dangkulo’ na si Yu’os Ma’åse’ todu hamyo for your continued efforts to protect our environmental and cultural resources. It truly take a village to do this work and we must do everything in our power to ensure our home and our region are protected.

Si Yu’os Ma’åse’ @vivalaczeska for this amazing graphic. Sen agradesi hao!

Kon Respetu,
Prutehi Litekyan: Save Ritidian (PLSR)