An unassuming mountain of iron-rich basalt, the vestige of ancient lava flows, conceals the single largest fuel repository in the world — but not for long. Seeping through the same volcanic rock, the only reliable freshwater source on the Hawaiian island of O'ahu, contamination of the Southern O'ahu Basal Aquifer was perhaps inevitable. In November 2021, it finally happened: an estimated 19,000 gallons of fuel and water burst from a fire suppression line and seeped underground, poisoning the aquifer.
Now, after an understandable uproar among hundreds of thousands of affected citizens, the United States will decommission the Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility. For indigenous activists like the Kaʻohewai Coalition and the Oʻahu Water Protectors who have long fought to have the fuel storage facility decommissioned, the victory is bittersweet: It took jet fuel running from the tap for people to demand change, despite billions of dollars in economic activity at stake.
