Hawaii congressional leaders deny supporting shutdown of Red Hill oversight panel

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii’s congressional leaders are disputing a statement made by an Environmental Protection Agency official who claimed the delegation supports eliminating a Red Hill community oversight group.

EPA regional enforcement chief Amy Miller made the comments in a Zoom meeting with the Red Hill Community Representation Initiative. The group, known as the CRI, was formed last year by a federal consent order between the EPA and the military after fuel from the Red Hill storage complex contaminated Pearl Harbor’s drinking water in 2021.

On Wednesday during a recorded virtual meeting, Miller told the group it would be disbanded because the military and CRI members were unable to agree on ground rules for how the meetings should be run. Asked whether Hawaii’s elected leaders in Congress supported the dissolution of the group, Miller said yes.

On Thursday, Sens. Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz and Reps. Ed Case and Jill Tokuda released a joint statement saying that is not true.

“Any suggestion that the delegation supports disbanding the CRI is baseless and completely inaccurate,” the delegation said.

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