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The Environmental Protection Agency, state Department of Health, the Navy and the Defense Logistics Agency are holding an “open house” tonight to update the public on the status of the Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility.
The meeting is from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Moanalua Middle School.
In January 2014, one of the 20 World War II-era Red Hill storage tanks leaked about 27,000 gallons of jet fuel, raising concerns that groundwater below it may have been contaminated.
Testing on drinking water samples since the incident have been largely within acceptable federal and state levels, but city officials, the Sierra Club of Hawaii and others have voiced concerns about the continued use of the tanks — each the size of Aloha Tower, holding up to 12.5 million gallons and only 100 feet above the aquifer that supplies about 25 percent of urban Honolulu’s drinking water.
The Navy, EPA, Health Department and Defense Logistics Agency reached an Administrative Order on Consent in October 2015 requiring “immediate and long-term actions” to reduce the threat of future leaks. But the Honolulu Board of Water Supply, the Sierra Club and others contend the agreement requires too little action over too long a period and does not ensure the safety of the aquifer.
The Sierra Club last month pressed the Health Department to revise its rules to reflect a 1992 state law that required the storage tanks to be replaced or upgraded no later than December 1998 to prevent spills.
On Wednesday, Rear Adm. John Fuller, commander of Navy Region Hawaii and Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific, issued what he described as a “final stakeholder letter” reiterating that “there is no fact-based evidence to conclude that the tanks are at risk for any material failure.” Fuller is scheduled to depart Hawaii for a new command after Friday and is being replaced by Rear Adm. Brian P. Fort.
For more information, go to epa.gov/red-hill.