Rear Admiral John Korka, Commander, Naval Facility Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC), and Director of Civil Engineering, leads Navy and civilian water quality restoration experts through through the tunnels of the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, near Pearl Harbor, Hawaii last year.
Luke McCall / US Navy via AP
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Luke McCall / US Navy via AP
Rear Admiral John Korka, Commander, Naval Facility Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC), and Director of Civil Engineering, leads Navy and civilian water quality restoration experts through through the tunnels of the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, near Pearl Harbor, Hawaii last year.
Luke McCall / US Navy via AP
WASHINGTON – The Department of Defense will permanently close a massive Navy fuel storage facility in Hawaii that leaked gasoline into Pearl Harbor’s tap water and will remove all fuel, the Pentagon said today. Monday.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s decision was based on the Pentagon’s new assessment, but was also consistent with the Order from Hawaii Department of Health to discharge fuel from storage tanks at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility.
The tanks, built into the mountainside during World War II to protect them from enemy attack, leaked into a drinking water well and contaminated water at homes and offices in Pearl Harbor.
Nearly 6,000 people, mostly those living in military housing facilities at or near the Pearl Harbor-Hickam Joint Base, are sick, seeking treatment for nausea, headaches, rashes and other ailments. . And 4,000 military families have been forced to leave their homes and stay in hotels.
Austin spoke to Hawaiian government leaders on Monday to inform them of the decision, which he says will protect the people and the environment and will also lay the groundwork for a military fuel system. more safety.
“This is the right thing to do,” Austin said in a statement. “This massive, centrally located bulk fuel depot could make sense in 1943, when Red Hill was built. And Red Hill has served our armed forces well. for decades. But now it doesn’t make any sense.”
US Senator Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said she encouraged the Pentagon to make the decision to shut down for weeks.
“I’ve said from day one that ensuring the health and safety of Oahu residents is my top priority, and I share the community’s sigh of relief with this news,” said Hirono, member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The Pentagon has said it will move to a more distributed refueling system for military ships and aircraft in the Indo-Pacific. Based on the new assessment, the expanded system will be more cost-effective and provide greater security by fueling more widely in the area.
The new plan, outlined in recommendations made by a research group to Austin, would increase the fuel contracts the US has with other territories and countries in the Indo-Pacific, and at the same time adding a number of oil tankers built at sea. There are currently less than a dozen tankers, so a few more will have to be built.
A review team that has been working on how to make the tanks operate safely, will now determine how to close the tanks and dispose of the fuel in an environmentally safe way. The team must report back to Austin by the end of April with recommendations.
Once the facility is back up and running, the degreasing process will begin, and the process is expected to take about a year, meaning it should end next year. Austin has asked the Secretary of the Navy to plan a budget for all corrective actions required for any prior fuel discharges from the facility.
Austin said the department will also work with state, national and local leaders to clean up the pollution and consider other uses for the property after the fuel plant closes. And the military will also provide healthcare to affected families and workers.
US Representative Kaiali’i Kahele said the military must also make sure it cleans up the contaminated aquifer underneath the fuel tanks. The Navy water system and the Honolulu water company use that aquifer.
The Hawaii Democrat said in a statement: “At this time, the extent of pollution and environmental damage has not been determined. We know fuel continues to drip, as we say, from the blocks. kicking into our freshwater aquifer right now”.
These tanks can hold 250 million gallons (1.1 billion liters) of fuel and are currently less than half their capacity. Officials said 13 of the 20 tanks had fuel, two were permanently closed and five were being repaired.
The Navy has yet to determine how the oil got into the country. Officials are investigating the theory that jet fuel spilled from a pipe that burst last May and somehow got into the fire suppression system’s drainage pipe. They suspect fuel then leaked from a second pipeline on November 20, sending it into a drinking water well.
Weeks after the leak was discovered, Hawaii state officials and members of Congress began demanding the facility’s closure.
The Navy in early February appealed the state’s shutdown order, and at the time Undersecretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks said the appeal would give the military time “to make evidence-based and transparent decisions.” .”
Kirby on Monday said the department realized closing the fuel complex would not be a quick fix.
“We have work to do,” he said. “But we believe this decision by the Secretary today marks an important first step on the way forward.”
US Senator Brian Schatz, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said political leaders will need to get the military to stick to its plans.
“To carry out this decision, we will have to provide additional resources and keep (the Department of Defense) against the fire through congressional oversight,” he said.
