The U.S. Navy is planning to defuel Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, a massive World War II-era military-run tank farm in the hills above Pearl Harbor, after an investigation revealed multiple mistakes and mismanagement caused fuel to leak into Pearl Harbor’s tap water last year.
The Hawaiʻi Department of Health released the Navy’s investigation on Thursday that found poor management and human error caused fuel to leak from the facility into a well that supplied water to housing and officers in and around Pearl Harbor. Thousands of people were poisoned and military families were forced to evacuate their homes.
“Red Hill needs to be shut down as quickly as possible and we fully expect that the Navy will marshal all possible available resources to defuel and decommission the facility,” Deputy Director of Environmental Health Kathleen Ho said in a statement. “However, with the extensive repairs needed and the Navy’s history of spills from unsafe pipelines, our first priority continues to be ensuring that all defueling activities are performed safely for the sake of the people and environment of Hawai‘i.”
Read more: Fox News
