User:WikiTopDonor/November 20, 2021 Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility Leak

On November 20, 2021, at 5:00pm HST, United States Navy employees were faced with another leak from the Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility. This leak was estimated to be 14,000 gallons. The facility brings fuel from Red Hill to Pearl Harbor through underground tunnels and has leaked numerous times since its creation.

Summary of Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility
The United States Navy’s Red Hill Fuel System comprises 20 tanks capable of containing approximately 250 million gallons of fuel in total, although today only 18 out of those 20 are operational. The Red Hill Fuel system was Created in the 1940s. They are located underground inside of Red Hill on Hawaii’s Oahu island, and 100 feet on top of a large aquifer that delivers 77% of Oahu’s water. President Roosevelt’s administration decided to construct this system underground to protect it from attacks that would occur if it was above the surface. Through a 2.5 mile long tunnel, the fuel is transported to Pearl Harbor for the use of all branches of the department of defense.

History of Leaks
The Red Hill Fuel System has leaked 73 times, most notably, 27,000 gallons in 2014 which make up for 15% of the estimated 180,000 gallons total leaked since 1943.

Causes of the Leak
The leak was not from one of the fuel tanks itself, but instead one of the fire suppression systems in the facility. A civilian working with the United States Navy did not follow the appropriate protocol for operating the valves.

Effects of the Leak on Humans
Hundreds of complaints came in from military households close by Pearl Harbor regarding fuel odor from water and health problems. This required many people to be relocated to hotels.

Warnings against use of the water in the affected area required residents to look for temporary sources elsewhere.

Navy's Response
As of November 27, 2021, the United States Navy has not made use of the Red Hill well.

On December 5, 2021 Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro apologized at a town hall and announced the termination of operations at the Fuel Facility on November 27, 2021.

The Navy is sure that JP-5 jet fuel is what was found in the water, from a recent leak.

The origin was a fire suppression system that contained a mixture of water and fuel.

Public's Response
The recent leak of November 20th, 2021 has led to peaceful protests that demanded the Navy to shut down the Red Hill Fuel System and move the facilities away from any natural water sources. Approximately three weeks after the leak on December 10th, the State Capitol was the scene of a 250 person die-in. In addition, there was marching, sign holding including phrases such as “Thanks but no Tanks” “Remove the Tanks” and “Stop Polluting our aquifer”.

Outside of the headquarters of the Commander of the United States pacific fleet, many gathered and constructed a ko’a. A ko’a is a marker of a spiritually significant location. These protestors used large stones to create a mound of sorts with a tall red carved object placed on top. The object was surrounded by plants, and on the ground a barrier with a path leading to the mound made of stones. The protesters also planted two plants on opposite sides of the barrier.

In order to spread awareness, new of this incident was posted and shared on social media, namely Instagram captioned with hashtags such as #redhill and #shutdownredhill which can be viewed by users of the application who search up the hashtag.

Members of the public who were interviewed expressed outrage directed at the Navy and concern for their health.

Government's Response
The Hawaii government demanded ceasing any work occurring at the Red Hill facility.

The Hawaii Department of Health warned against using any of the Navy’s water system’s water.

Solutions
The United States Navy has conjured a detailed plan in order to correct this incident. The Navy will cleanse their 25 million gallon system followed by all facilities and homes. This will require many trips with large planes to bring the necessary equipment. This equipment includes water filters that have a maximum workload of 10 million gallons per day. The Navy as well as the Army are relocating people to hotels until it is safe to move them back and covering the cost.