The Defense Department will permanently shut down the Navy’s fuel tank facility in Hawaii that leaked petroleum into Pearl Harbor’s tap water.
The Associated Pressthat leaked petroleum into Pearl Harbor's tap water, and will remove all the fuel, the Pentagon said Monday.
Lauren Wright remembers her skin peeling, feeling nauseous and vomiting. Her symptoms disappeared only when she stopped drinking, showering and washing dishes with her home’s water. “My plan is not to use the water, or if we have to use it very, very little. I will not be drinking it, cooking with it," she said. ”We’ve been looking at home filtration systems that we could use, but I don’t trust it. I don’t even want to bathe in it. I don’t want to brush our teeth with it because I don’t trust the water.”
The Pentagon said it will move to a more dispersed fueling system for military ships and aircraft in the Indo-Pacific. Based on the new assessment, the expanded system will be more cost effective and provide greater security by spreading the fuel supply more broadly across the region. Austin said the department will also work with state, national and local leaders to clean up the contamination and consider other uses for the property after the fueling plant is closed. And the military will also provide health care to the families and workers affected.
“Being good stewards of Hawai’i’s natural resources is the expectation for all that use Hawaiian lands and water,” Lindsey said in a statement.