Hawaii’s Dept of Health says it will reject the U.S. Navy’s plan to remove millions of gallons of jet fuel from the Red Hill bulk fuel storage facility, a massive underground tank complex on Oahu where a 19,000-gallon spill last November contaminated a nearby water supply well serving 93,000 residents.
Leaders of the agency, which holds permitting authority over the World War II-era facility located 100 ft above the island’s primary drinking water aquifer, told a July 19 hearing of state legislators that the defueling plan lacked detail in several key areas. The Navy’s plan, released on June 30, targets 2024 for completion of the process.