Fuel Leak Contaminates Water on U.S. Military Housing Facilities on Hawaii
This week people are remembering the Pearl Harbor bombing, but for many military families on Hawaii they are just trying to find a place to take a shower due to the massive water contamination crisis hitting military communities there:
Gov. David Ige and Hawaii’s congressional delegation on Sunday called for the Navy to suspend its Red Hill fuel storage operation until its drinking water contamination crisis is handled.
The Navy on Thursday said recent testing of its Red Hill well detected the presence of petroleum contaminants. Hundreds of military and nonmilitary users of the Navy’s water system last week complained of a strong fuel odor in the water, including some who reported feeling ill or having pets who became sick after drinking water.
Ige and U.S. Sens. Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono, and Reps. Ed Case and Kai Kahele, all Democrats, released a joint statement calling for the Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro, who is in Hawaii for the 80th anniversary of the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, to suspend Red Hill operations in the aftermath of the contamination of drinking water at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam and surrounding areas.
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link, but the military is handing out bottle water for drinking and showering as well as moving families into available hotels.
Some of the fuel storage on Oahu dates back to the 1930s. Democrats, including one of Japanese ancestry, are now trying to shut down the Pearl Harbor Navy Base on the 80th anniversary of the surprise attack that ushered the US into WW2.
Maybe, if they were actually concerned with the Navy, the people on Oahu, and the Nation, they would have already implemented procedures for maintaining the plumbing and supplied funding for it.
EPA violations are one thing a commander can be held personally liable for (if he/she ignores the problem and places people at risk). Kinda curious how long this has been going on.