The Navy's moved up its timeline for defueling Red Hill by six months to July of 2024. And the new commander overseeing the project pledged today to act with urgency to prevent another major disaster on O'ahu.
Here in the new Joint Taskforce Red Hill, the Defense Department says about 120 personnel will be working to ensure the safe and expeditious defueling of Red Hill.
But safely emptying the more than 100 million gallons in the underground fuel tanks, won't be easy. There's one million gallons of fuel in pipes that must first be removed to reduce the risks of another major spill.
"The first step is the removal of the fuel from those pipelines, do that safely, and that's something we're going to do hopefully in the next couple weeks," said U.S. Navy Rear Admiral John Wade, commander of the Joint Task Force Red Hill.
Once the pipes are cleared, the Department of Defense will work on completing hundreds of millions of dollars in repairs before defueling the tanks and eventually shutting down Red Hill for good.
"We will look at every one -- every line item -- to see if we can do better, more effectively, quicker within the right bounds and safety perimeters," he said. "And then when that's complete and we have the approval from the regulators, then we will start to defuel."
The military plans to use a 10.5-million gallon tanker to move the fuel to the mainland over several months and a second tanker to relocate the rest of the fuel to an undisclosed facility near West Oahu.
"The team is comprised of great men and women who want to do this right because it's so important," Wade added. "Again, when it comes to the safety and the health and wellness of our community and the environment, there's no greater purpose."
The Defense Department estimates defueling alone will cost about $280 million, which doesn't include the costs to close the facility or to remediate and monitor long-term health and Oahu's precious wai (water).
Kristen joined KITV4 in March 2021 after working for the past two decades as a newspaper reporter. Kristen's goal is to produce meaningful journalism that educates, enlightens and inspires to affect positive change in society.
