Attorneys for the U.S. Navy on Wednesday appealed Hawaii's order that it drain massive tanks that store fuel in the hills above Pearl Harbor, saying the state wrongly concluded the tanks posed an imminent threat that requires immediate action.
FILE - Overhead lights illuminate a tunnel inside the Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Jan. 26, 2018. Attorneys for the U.S. Navy on Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022 appealed Hawaii's order that it drain massive tanks that store fuel in the hills above Pearl Harbor, saying the state wrongly concluded the tanks posed an imminent threat that requires immediate action. HONOLULU — Attorneys for the U.S.
Thousands of people have been treated for physical ailments and 4,000 military families are staying in hotels because of the leak.“This appeal proves undeniably the Navy is unwilling to do what’s right to protect the people of Hawaii and its own service members,” Kathleen Ho, Hawaii’s deputy director of environmental health, said in a statement.
The Navy said last month it would comply with the final order but on Monday Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks said it would appeal. Doing so would give the military time “to make evidence-based and transparent decisions,” she said in a statement. There would be plenty of time for the Navy to negotiate with the state about the long-term fate of the facility after it removes fuel from the tanks, said David Henkin, an attorney for Earthjustice. The group is representing the Sierra Club of Hawaii, which intervened in the case as an interested party.