Hawaiʻi has detailed maps describing its roadways, coasts and volcanic hazards, however, it has poor knowledge of its resources below the ground. This gap limits our ability to make informed decisions about essential infrastructure and public safety.

In January 2014, up to 27,000 gallons of jet fuel leaked from Tank 5 at the Navy’s Red Hill fuel facility. Nine years later, state lawmakers wrote into a bill that the fuel’s location was still unknown. In November 2021, another fuel leak contaminated the Navy’s drinking water system. Approximately 93,000 people lost access to safe tap water.

Red Hill is a case study about the failure of critical infrastructure. It also demonstrates the importance of our underground resource knowledge, without which we are blind. After the fuel leak in 2014, the Navy’s consultant wrote that “a detailed geologic model of Red Hill is needed” to understand how fuel moves through the layered rock.

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The report flagged clinker, the rubbly rock between lava flows, as a highly permeable path. It also found that existing groundwater data did “not provide a basis for delineating the extent of contamination.” This type of knowledge is also critical whenever we drill for water, manage aquifers, or investigate contamination events.

There is a reason for our knowledge blind spot.

We are the only state in the U.S. without a geological survey. In 2021, the House acknowledged this when it adopted a resolution asking for a plan for the creation of one. Every other state has an agency that maps rock and subsurface resources. Without a geological survey, we cannot even tap into STATEMAP, the federal program that co-funds state geologic mapping.

The resolution also noted that Hawaiʻi is one of only two states that have never received federal funds for geological studies. Instead, we rely on what it called “an unorganized combination of federal, state, and county engineers and consultants.”

This gap is also slowing our progress towards energy independence. Governor Green’s 2025 executive order calls for 100% renewable electricity on the neighbor islands by 2035. Solar and batteries will carry most of that load, but firm power will also be required to ensure reliability and security.

Geothermal resources, signs of which have been found by University of Hawaiʻi researchers on every island, offer affordable firm power. For example, Puna Geothermal Venture is providing approximately 13% to 20% of Hawaiʻi Island’s electricity production. It sits on reliable hydrothermal heat but is at risk of lava inundation and is controversial due to its proximity to residential areas.

On Lānaʻi, a water well deepened to 3,500 feet showed temperature increases of about 23 degrees Fahrenheit for every 1,000 feet of depth. UH researchers found the result encouraging. No one knows how much hotter it gets farther down without additional research.

(For comparison, Puna’s first research well, drilled to 6,450 feet in 1976, found reservoir temperatures near 660 degrees Fahrenheit.)

Hawaiʻi still decides where to drill for water, how to plan its grid, and how to meet its climate mandates without the benefit of subsurface resource maps.

We face big decisions on energy and water security and infrastructure hardening. As the 2027 legislative session approaches, let’s ask our state legislators to close the gap, so we can stop guessing about what lies beneath us.

Start with one question: which state agency is responsible for mapping Hawaiʻi’s underground? Today, no single agency owns that job. Red Hill showed us what guessing costs.