Another $150M in federal funding secured for Red Hill, Sen. Brian Schatz says
ASSOCIATED PRESS / FEB. 1
Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, seen here speaking at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee meeting on Capitol Hill last month, said today he has secured an additional $150 million in federal funding to defuel, permanently close and clean up the Navy’s Red Hill fuel facility.
U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz said today he has secured an additional $150 million in federal funding to defuel, permanently close and clean up the Navy’s Red Hill fuel facility.
The funding is in addition to $100 million that Schatz secured last month for draining the underground tanks that sit just mauka of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.
“This is new federal money to defuel and permanently shut down Red Hill,” Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat who is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a news release. “We still have more work to do to make sure Red Hill is closed safely, but we now have significant resources to drain the tanks and get this right.”
It’s not yet clear what the total price tag will be for shutting down Red Hill and cleaning up fuel contamination from the facility.
The Navy is still trying to clean up jet fuel in its Red Hill drinking water shaft.
In November, fuel from Red Hill leaked into the well and into the Navy’s drinking water system that serves about 93,000 residents.
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The Pentagon announced on Monday that it will permanently close the tank farm. The decision came amid a groundswell of opposition among political leaders, local regulators and the community to the Navy’s continued operation of the facility. Once a plan is finalized for shutting down the facility, which could come toward the end of May, the Pentagon says it will take about 12 months to drain the tanks.
