PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii — The Joint Task Force-Red Hill announced Wednesday it has removed residual fuel from the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility.
JTF-RH has removed 104,703,574 gallons of fuel via gravity, plus 61,414 gallons of residual fuel, according to a news release.
The residual could not be drained by gravity because it was caught at low points in the pipelines. The JTF-RH opened low point drains and vent valves to remove the residual fuel.
The residual fuel removal comes six months ahead of the schedule outlined in the original Defueling Plan.
The Environmental Protection Agency and Hawaii Department of Health are now completing a Regulatory Interim Defueling Inspection to confirm all actions stipulated in the EPA Consent Order and DOH Emergency Order were completed. The inspection will conclude this week.
U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz applauded the completion of the residual fuel removal in a statement.
“With more than 100 million gallons of fuel removed, the draining of Red Hill is nearly complete. While we still have more work to do to make sure the area is fully cleaned up and restored, we have made good progress,” Schatz said.
About 4,000 gallons of fuel and 28,000 gallons of sludge remain in the facility’s storage tanks.
Currently, JTF-RH is in the process of turning over the rest of the clean-up process to the newly established Navy Closure Task Force.
In May and Nov. 2021, the U.S. Navy spilled fuel at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility. Because of the spills, about 93,000 people who lived around Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam and used the Navy’s water system were affected by the contaminated drinking water. As a result, the DOH issued an emergency order requiring the Red Hill facility to be closed.
Michelle Broder Van Dyke covers the Hawaiian Islands for Spectrum News Hawaii. Email her at michelle.brodervandyke@charter.com.