Editorial: Progress at Red Hill

TL;DR - Good news came Tuesday, when Joint Task Force-Red Hill (JTF-RH) announced that the anxiously awaited defueling of its massive tanks would start much sooner than expected, and at a brisk pace that could have the tanks 99.85% emptied by Jan. 19. That accelerates completion by nearly a year over the original timeline — and if successful, would ease worries that the 104 million gallons of fuel stored in the facility could leak and further contaminate Oahu’s drinking water, as occurred disastrously in November 2021.

Still, the Department of Defense acknowledges that 100,000 to 400,000 gallons of fuel — a substantial amount — would remain at the very bottom of tanks after the mass defueling, residual amounts requiring more technical drainage to ensure total removal.

May 20, 2023: Editorial: Progress at Red Hill, Honolulu Star-Advertiser