
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Hawaii this week amid lingering community frustration and distrust after jet fuel from a military storage facility last year spilled into Pearl Harbor’s drinking water, poisoned thousands of military families and threatened the purity of Honolulu’s water supply.
Austin was in Hawaii to meet with his counterparts from several Indo-Pacific region allies. He was also scheduled to meet with the commander of a joint task force in charge of draining fuel from the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility so it can be shut down.