‘There will be no surprises.”
A senior Department of Defense official spoke to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s editorial board on Monday on behalf of his boss, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who had just popped off a pretty big surprise: The massive underground fuel tanks at Red Hill will be shut down. Millions of gallons of jet fuel parked just 100 feet above a critical freshwater aquifer will be removed.
Never mind what the Navy had been saying for years — that fuel storage in that place, in this time, in that huge amount, is critical to national security. That moving it will cost billions and take decades. That the World War II-era tank farm could quite possibly be made secure, despite a leak last year that sickened hundreds of military residents and forced them from their homes — just the latest of numerous leaks over the years.
Austin, who came in with the Biden administration, cannot speak for what the Navy has said and done in years past, the official said, but the secretary promises that from here on, the military will move “in lockstep with the people in Hawaii,” making decisions cooperatively, sharing all information.
“He is very aware of the trust deficit there in Hawaii. And he understands it.”
So — no more surprises. And we do want to believe. But this is not our first rodeo.
Just this January, a rear admiral told the U.S. House Armed Services Committee that the Navy would comply with a state emergency order to drain the Red Hill tanks. He was speaking on behalf of Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Samuel Paparo — yet barely a month later, the U.S. Department of Justice went to court to contest the emergency order, saying the state had no authority to order the tank farm shut down.
The Navy has not yet withdrawn that legal challenge, or its request for a state permit to continue operating at Red Hill, two actions necessary to prove good faith. Nor has it released the results of its investigation into what caused the severe November leak and an earlier one in May. Again, such good faith is sorely needed.
Austin’s Monday announcement on the Red Hill tanks’ permanent shutdown was greeted with due caution. An appropriate amount of appreciation was expressed, but it was tempered. “We will be vigilant,” said Gov. David Ige. “Our work is not done,” said Kathleen Ho, the state’s deputy director for environmental health.
The timeline is now of highest issue. Austin has called for an action plan, due May 31, listing milestones toward the goal of a closure. The draining of the tanks is to begin “as soon as practicable after the facility is deemed safe for defueling,” with a target of completion in 12 months.
The skeptical find the timeline squishy. “As soon as practicable” allows for many interpretations, depending on what the action plan requires. State Sen. Glenn Wakai, who represents the Pearl Harbor-Hickam area, said he fears the Navy will “slow-play” the process. “Their track record of actually achieving some of their goals is a little bit spotty.”
Of course the Navy can’t just turn on a bunch of spigots and carry its jet fuel away in buckets. The process will be complicated, with perils we as outsiders can’t even imagine. We understand all that. But in endangering Oahu’s water safety, the Navy has strained our trust over many months, to the point that state and city officials, our congressional delegation, public opinion … all those interests have coalesced, with the Navy on the other side. Such unity is rare.
Beyond defueling is the question of what will happen to the property afterward. Austin has promised that the Department of Defense will take responsibility for any contamination, now and future, and to consult with “our partners” in Hawaii before deciding what to do with the land.
He is indeed using all the appropriate language. “This is the right thing to do,” he stated right up front.
Yes it is. And we will hold you to it. Our eyes are on you, and we’re not blinking — the Navy taught us that.
