US military shrinks timeline for draining Hawaii fuel tanks
By AUDREY McAVOY
Associated Press
HONOLULU (AP) — The U.S. military says it now expects to remove fuel from a leaky Hawaii fuel tank farm by July 2024, five months earlier than its initial plan. Critics have lambasted the military’s original timeline to remove fuel from the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility by December 2024, saying the tanks posed a threat to Oahu’s water supply and needed to be drained sooner. The state Department of Health ordered the fuel removed after jet fuel from the facility poured into a drinking water well in November and poisoned thousands of people in and around Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. The state health department says it’s reviewing the new plan.
