An investigation by the Pentagon's inspector general released this month found that military officials have failed to provide proper oversight of fuel facilities and that they are now “at an increased risk of fuel leaks and spills, which could endanger public health, harm natural resources, and lead to mission failure.”
The report was prompted by a spill of 19,000 gallons of jet fuel from the Navy's underground Red Hill facility that, in November 2021, made its way into and tainted the Navy's Oahu water system, which serves 93,000 people. The Navy is now working to close the facility, which sits just 100 feet above a critical aquifer that most of Honolulu relies on for drinking water.
After years of insisting the Red Hill facility was both safe and critical to national security, in March 2022 the Pentagon announced that along with closing Red Hill it would seek a new “distributed” fueling model to support Pacific operations, with fuel stored at facilities and on tankers spread across the region.
The military has 591 Defense Fuel Support Points, which include both facilities and Navy vessels storing fuel, worldwide as of 2022, according to the Defense Logistics Agency. But the report said that “DLA officials did not consistently manage or provide oversight of the DFSPs in accordance with (Department of Defense) policies.”
The DLA is required to monitor the facilities and to conduct “staff assistance visits” at these sites at least…
