The US Space Force said about 700 gallons of diesel was spilled at the site of an advanced space telescope atop Haleakala volcano on Maui, the latest fuel spill involving the US military in Hawaii.
A diesel pump for a backup generator at the Maui Space Surveillance Complex failed to turn off Sunday night, the US Indo-Pacific Space Forces said in a news release Tuesday.
The maintenance staff noticed this and disabled the transfer pump at 8 am the next day.
Fuel spill experts from the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center will assess the site to begin remediation efforts, the Space Force said.
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The agency said it notified the state Department of Health and the US Environmental Protection Agency.
The Haleakala summit area is sacred to many Native Hawaiians.
Trinette Furtado, a cultural practitioner on Maui, said Native Hawaiians go to the summit area to align the body and internal compass. Furtado, who is also a native of Hawaii, said they go there to receive mana or power and learn from the gods.
Furtado said the spill made him think about how the Navy in 2021 accidentally poured jet fuel into a drinking water well near Pearl Harbor and sickened thousands of people on Oahu.
A diesel fuel spilled nearly 700 gallons at the Space Force telescope site in Hawaii on Sunday. The US Space Forces said the cause of the spill was due to the failure of the diesel pump to turn off.
“This continues to highlight to me the contempt the US military has for this aina,” he said, using the Hawaiian word for land.
He expressed concern about Maui’s water supply, noting that most of what is deposited in the ground finds its way into the aquifer.
State Sen. Lynn DeCoite, a Democrat representing parts of Maui, Molokai and Lanai, said the spill was unacceptable. She said she would be reaching out to regulators and the Space Force to ensure that her investigation is transparent and that they update the community on her findings.
“Haleakala plays a crucial role in the ecosystem of the island of Maui, and any contamination of our water sources and natural resources could have devastating effects,” it said in a statement.
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The Maui Space Surveillance Complex houses the largest military optical telescope, designed to track satellites.
