If Red Hill Crisis Drags On, Hawaii May Not Renew Military Base Leases

TL;DR - The U.S. government fails to understand that the Navy’s shambolic, halting approach to Hawaii’s Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility crisis is not just a Navy affair, easily isolated in the hinterlands of the Navy’s facility management bureaucracy. The Navy’s unforced errors in responding to the Red Hill crisis complicates lease renewal talks at many key military bases.

Few realize that on the Hawaiian Islands, much of the Pentagon’s vast base network is backed by cheap, long-term leases. Most of the leases expire in seven years. If those leases are not renewed, the military may need to abruptly vacate some 73 square miles of Hawaiian territory that contain several key training areas, military reserves, satellite tracking stations and other facilities on the islands of Hawai’i, O’ahu, Kaua’i, Ni’ihau, and Maui.

January 31, 2022: If Red Hill Crisis Drags On, Hawaii May Not Renew Military Base Leases, Forbes