House Asks Health Dept. to Study Red Hill Fuel Leaks to Prevent ‘Huge Catastrophe’
Hawaii’s House of Representatives has passed a asking the state health department to convene a task force to study the effects of the January 2014 fuel tank leak at the Navy’s Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility.
Some 27,000 gallons of jet fuel is believed to have been released from one of the tanks.
Documents also show that there have been at least 30 leaks at the facility over the years that have contaminated the groundwater and threaten drinking water sources. The Navy estimates that about 1.2 million gallons of fuel has leaked over the years.
The House also asks the task force to look into the implications of shutting down the fuel storage facility, which supplies the Pacific fleet, as well as ways to remediate contaminated soil and groundwater.
“We are asking for a much more deliberative approach to this situation,” said Rep. Mark Takai, chairman of the Veterans, Military and International Affairs Committee, in a press release. “The Navy, State, Board of Water Supply and all involved need to take aggressive mitigating action and to work together to prevent a huge catastrophe from happening.”
Photo: Gates leading to Red Hill (PF Bentley/ Civil Beat)
— Sophie Cocke
