Water near Red Hill fuel tank leak safe to drink, Navy says
STAR-ADVERTISER ARCHIVE / 2007
The Navy considers the Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility “critical” to its mission in the Pacific. Pictured is an empty fuel storage tank at the facility.
The Navy considers the Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility “critical” to its mission in the Pacific. Pictured is an empty fuel storage tank at the facility.
Navy officials tell state lawmakers that drinking water is safe around a fuel tank that sprang a leak in January.
Capt. Mike Williamson on Friday described the Navy’s efforts to locate and repair a petroleum leak in the tank at an underground facility built in the 1940s in Honolulu.
Capt. Mark Wheeler, the Navy official in charge of the facility as commander of Fleet Logistics Center Pearl Harbor, says officials were finishing the process of refilling the tank when a discrepancy was measured.
He says the tank had been down the past five years as part of a routine maintenance. He said the Navy is taking every prudent action it can to protect public safety.
Wheeler and Williamson spoke during an informational hearing at the State Capitol.
