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House subcommittee to take up Navy fuel cleanup in Hawaii

Rep. Kaiali'i Kahele, D-Hawaii, poses for a photo on the House floor on January 3, 2021. He said a House subcommittee will examine the Navy's response to well contamination at its Red Hill facility next week. File Photo by Bill Clark/UPI
Rep. Kaiali'i Kahele, D-Hawaii, poses for a photo on the House floor on January 3, 2021. He said a House subcommittee will examine the Navy's response to well contamination at its Red Hill facility next week. File Photo by Bill Clark/UPI | License Photo

Jan. 7 (UPI) -- The House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness has set a hearing next week on the Navy's handling of water contamination at a nearby storage facility in Hawaii.

The hearing was set for Tuesday, taking in testimony from several high-ranking Navy personnel. A jet fuel spill near the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility around the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickman on Nov. 20 contaminated its water well. The spill affected drinking water for about 93,000 residents.

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The Navy had asked for an extension on the cleanup, saying work will not be completed until the end of January.

"This hearing will conduct oversight into the Navy's maintenance of the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, the Navy's investigation into and response to the November 2021 release of fuel from Red Hill facility impacting drinking water, its impacts on service members and civilians, clean-up and remediation efforts, and next steps forward," the subcommittee said in a statement.

Rep. Kai Kahele, D-Hawaii, said the subcommittee will examine what the military is doing to take care of the military and the civilian families that have been affected in the housing areas.

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The witness list for the subcommittee hearing includes Vice Admiral Yancy Lindsey, commander, of the Navy Installations Command; Rear Admiral Blake Converse, deputy command, of the U.S. Pacific Fleet; Rear Admiral John K. Korka, commander, Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command; Rear Admiral Peter Stamatopoulos, Supply Corps, Navy commander, of the Naval Supply Systems Command; and Captain Michael McGinnis, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

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