Red Hill Fuel tanks leak again, warning of what's to come
HONOLULU, HAWAIʻI (Friday, May 7, 2021) -- More than two hundred gallons of fuel are reported to have leaked at the Navy’s Red Hill underground storage tank facility.
“It's not surprising that the Red Hill tanks leaked. They have a long history of leaking. And the Navy itself said there was a 27.6% chance of the tanks leaking up to 30,000 gallons of fuel every single year,” said David Kimo Frankel, attorney for the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi. “It’s only going to get worse from here. The tanks need to be drained.”
The last reported leak from the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility was in 2014, when the facility leaked over 27,000 gallons of fuel. Studies have detected petroleum contamination in the groundwater beneath the tanks. Since its construction in the 1940s, it is believed that the tanks have leaked more than 178,434 gallons of fuel.
"This latest leak proves, once again, that the 78-year old Red Hill fuel tanks are deteriorating and pose a serious threat to drinking water for hundreds of thousands of Oʻahu residents. It's time to retire the tanks," said Kyle Kajihiro, Hawaiʻi Peace and Justice.
Despite the facility’s leaky past and uncertain future, the Navy claims that the facility does not threaten Oʻahu’s primary drinking water aquifer.
In 2020, the Navy’s proposed plan to “upgrade” the facility was rejected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Hawaiʻi Department of Health. The Navy planned to make the least expensive, least protective “upgrades” to the Red Hill tanks, lining each tank with an epoxy coat to prevent further leaks.
The Department of Health is currently conducting a contested case hearing to determine whether the Navy should receive a required permit to operate the tanks.
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