Sierra Club of Hawaii

The Defense Department says it will permanently shut down and defuel the Navy's Red Hill fuel tank facility that leaked petroleum into Pearl Harbor's tap water. Hawaiʻi's congressional delegation and local leaders praised the announcement but warned there is a lot of work ahead.

The Sierra Club says the Navy is not in compliance with a key aspect of a state emergency order on the Red Hill fuel storage depot. As HPR’s Scott Kim reports, the Navy was required to submit documents to the state Department of Health last week on how it would safely defuel the facility.

Earthjustice and the Sierra Club are calling on the state Health Department to reject the military’s work plan report that was filed last week in response to the emergency order to defuel Red Hill. The Conversation talked to Earthjustice attorney David Henkin about his concerns.

Opponents of the Red Hill fuel storage facility have expressed bewilderment at the Navy’s decision to appeal a state emergency order requiring it to remove the fuel from its tanks, HPR’s Scott Kim reports.

Earthjustice and the Sierra Club say they are cautiously optimistic about the prospect of the Navy removing fuel from its Red Hill storage facility.

A Hawaiʻi Department of Health official ruled the Navy must comply with a state order requiring it to remove millions of gallons of fuel from the Red Hill storage facility. As HPR’s Scott Kim reports, DOH Deputy Director Marian Tsuji upheld the order following a contested case hearing. She said the hearings officer’s recommendation was accurate and properly reflects state law.

The state Department of Health, Honolulu Board of Water Supply and Sierra Club argued during a hearing Monday that an order should be enforced requiring the Navy to remove millions of gallons of fuel from the Red Hill storage facility on Oʻahu. The Navy says it is addressing the issue of contaminated drinking water in areas around Pearl Harbor, and pushed back against the order. HPR’s Scott Kim reports.

The Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi wants to intervene in the state’s Dec. 6 emergency order against the Navy following the discovery of jet fuel in a Navy well at Red Hill. The order requires the Navy to stop operations at the fuel storage facility and assess how to safely remove the fuel from the tanks.

Environmental groups are calling on President Joe Biden and military leaders to shut down tanks that provide an important fuel reserve for U.S. forces in the Pacific. The director of the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi told a rally and news conference that the Red Hill fuel storage tanks are an unacceptable threat to the drinking water of 400,000 Oʻahu residents.

The U.S. Navy says operator error was the main cause of a fuel leak from the Red Hill storage facility on Oʻahu in May. As HPR’s Scott Kim reports, the Navy maintains the leak did not contaminate the island’s drinking water.