A pair of recently released investigations revealed that the lack of leadership by Navy officials in the days following a fuel storage leak caused the contamination of drinking water for thousands of residents of Hawaii last year.
In an endorsement of the investigation, Vice Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William Lescher stated that the response was “unacceptably low” in comparison to the Navy standards for leadership and ownership.
In November 2021, nearly 20,000 gallons jet fuel leaked from the Red Hill underground storage facility on Oahu. The water supply to over 90,000. Residents was affected and thousands of families were forced to evacuate their homes during the holiday season.
Although the initial cause of the leaks was human error, the investigation also found that leaders were not aware of the possible effects on drinking water and how they could respond.
The investigation found that “no single person was responsible for the incident.”
Although the investigation didn’t reveal which officials were reprimanded by the U.S. Pacific Fleet head Admiral Samuel Paparo told reporters that a “number” of personnel are not in their assigned positions and that there may be additional accountability following a separate probe conducted by U.S. Fleet Forces Command.
In May 2021, operators at the facility improperly performed a fuel transfer that resulted in thousands of gallons of fuel being leaked. Unaccounted for fuel was left in a fire suppression system until an operator pulled up with a passenger train car on Nov. 20, 2021 and released the fuel.
Although Navy officials initially believed the incident would not have any effect on drinking water, they didn’t realize that there were multiple routes to the well. Navy Region Hawaii was notified of the fuel-like odor in the water supply on Nov. 28, 2021.
Paparo stated Thursday that the leaders on the scene in November were slow and inaccurate to inform that the leak contained fuel. He also said that they had presented overly optimistic assessments of the extent the spillage.
About 4,772 gallons of the almost 20,000 gallons fuel that was released are still unaccounted for. Paparo says that some of the fuel was contaminated by the Red Hill well. However, the Red Hill water system has been flushed with the remaining fuel. Some fuel may still be in the soil, rock, or water below the tunnels.
In March 2022, the Defense Department announced that it would defuel and permanently close Red Hill’s fuel storage facility. This process is expected to be completed by 2024 under the current plan.
