Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday directed the Navy to permanently close a fuel storage facility in Hawaii that leaked petroleum into a drinking water system …
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday directed the Navy to permanently close a fuel storage facility in Hawaii that leaked petroleum into a drinking water system for 93,000 people late last year. “After close consultation with senior civilian and military leaders, I have decided to defuel and permanently close the Red Hill bulk fuel storage facility in Hawaii,” Austin said in a statement released Monday. Austin ordered Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro and U.S. Indo Pacific Command head Admiral John Aquilino “to take all steps necessary” to shutter the facility at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Honolulu, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby later told reporters. Austin said the effort will be a “multi-step process,” during which the Defense Department will work closely with the Hawaii Department of Health and with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The directive caps a somewhat contentious back and forth between defense officials and Hawaii’s government leaders after fuel leaked from tanks at the storage facility in November and contaminated Pearl Harbor’s drinking water, sickening nearly 6,000 people, most of whom lived in military housing. The aging tanks had been built during World War II and were used to store fuel for ships and aircraft to be refueled at Pearl Harbor. Hawaii officials quickly issued an emergency order for the Navy to drain the fuel tanks and not use them again until it can prove it can do so safely.
