Red Hill Defueling Is Ahead Of Schedule, Task Force Says
TL;DR - The Red Hill fuel facility could be mostly drained as early as January based on a timeline shared publicly on Tuesday.
In a supplement to the defueling plan submitted to regulators, military officials said they can start draining the facility’s tanks of 104 million gallons of fuel as early as mid-October and remove most of the fuel by Jan. 19, 2024. That’s six months earlier than the previous goal to finish the job by the end of June 2024.
The advanced schedule would need approval from the Hawaii health department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Last year, the Department of Defense ordered the World War II-era facility to close amid unprecedented public pressure following the contamination of Oahu’s drinking water aquifer with fuel.
May 16, 2023: Red Hill Defueling Is Ahead Of Schedule, Task Force Says, Honolulu Civil Beat
May 16, 2023: Red Hill defueling to begin in October, KITV
May 17, 2023: Defueling Red Hill planned for October under latest timeline, Honolulu Star-Advertiser
May 17, 2023: Military moves up the schedule to start defueling Red Hill to October, Hawaiʻi Public Radio
May 17, 2023: Pentagon accelerates timeline to defuel Red Hill facilities, Navy Times
May 17, 2023: Military Aims for October to Begin Draining Hawaii Fuel Tanks That Poisoned Water, Military.com