Hawaii lawsuit over fuel contamination continues, as does cleanup

A federal judge in Honolulu rejected the Navy's attempt to dismiss a citizen lawsuit over 2021 jet fuel releases at Pearl Harbor's Red Hill facility, ruling that a 2015 agreement with the EPA and Hawaii regulators did not cover contamination from a leak that happened six years later. U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi called the Navy's reading of the earlier agreement 'far too generous,' noting the Navy didn't even claim the 2015 order covered the 2021 spill until 2023 — two years after the lawsuit was filed.

Kobayashi also declined to lift a stay on the case's core hazardous-waste claim, which argues the Navy's handling of fuel at Red Hill endangers Oahu's sole drinking-water aquifer. She extended that pause to August 2027, citing progress including completed gravity defueling and removal of about 94% of fuel from connecting pipelines.

The Wai Ola Alliance, which brought the suit, argued further delay was pointless since regulators aren't expected to settle on a permanent cleanup plan until at least 2033. The judge was sympathetic but unmoved, though she warned the Navy not to assume any future stay extension is automatic and ordered quarterly compliance reports.

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