The Space Force says environmental remediation efforts that include returning sacred soil back to a volcano in Hawaii after 700 gallons of fuel spilled at an observatory on the grounds in 2023 could take as long as seven years to complete.
"We're moving as fast as the process allows us, but we're doing so with minimal disruption to that environment," Brig. Gen. Anthony Mastalir, commander of Space Forces Indo-Pacific, told Military.com during an Air and Space Forces Association conference in Colorado last week. "So, that's kind of key, and sometimes we forget that there's a balance there."
A week after Mastalir's comments, a Space Base Delta 1 spokesperson, who didn't attribute a name to the statement saying the information came from several groups, confirmed with more details that it could take as long as 2032 for the contamination to be fully cleaned up.
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"The estimated time to reach the levels where the contamination will not pose a hazard is three to seven years and will be confirmed with periodic testing throughout that process," the Space Base Delta 1 spokesperson said.
More than two years ago, on Jan. 29, 2023, a diesel fuel pump for a backup generator at the Maui Space Surveillance Complex located atop the more than 10,000-foot summit of Haleakalā broke, spilling hundreds of gallons of fuel onto the ground. The incident not only harmed trust with the Maui community, it marked the latest in military environmental contamination within Hawaii as a whole.
As cleanup efforts have dragged on for two years and could stretch on for nearly a decade since the original spill, the local Maui community has voiced its concerns -- and the Space Force is planning a new project that would expand its footprint on Haleakalā by adding seven more telescopes atop the dormant volcano.
The Maui County Council said in a June 20 resolution that "erecting even more telescopes on Haleakalā -- when the military has yet to complete cleanup and soil-remediation efforts within the same footprint -- would be insulting."
The summit of Haleakalā is considered a sacred place and is often used for religious ceremonies and prayers to the native Hawaiian gods, the council said in its resolution.
Benjamin Silva, a Maui County Council spokesperson, told Military.com on Friday that the June resolution passed unanimously but also added "the council is not scheduled to take further action on the matter."
The Space Base Delta 1 spokesperson told Military.com that the Hawaii State Department of Health recently approved a plan to remediate the soil from the fuel spill that called for "active bioventing," a process using blowers to bring air into the ground to break down contaminants.
"Workers will install bioventing wells while the actual bioventing system is being constructed off-site; the bioventing system will be brought to the site when complete," the spokesperson said. "An electrical system is scheduled for installation in April, paving the way for system start up and testing later that month."
As the remediation process for the 2023 fuel spill continues, an environmental impact statement is also being drafted for the creation of the Air Force Maui Optical Supercomputing Site Small Telescope Advanced Research Center, nicknamed AMOS-STAR.
The Department of the Air Force, which oversees the Space Force, heard over 600 local Hawaiians testify about their concerns over the project and the disturbance it may cause. The environmental impact statement is set to be made public this year and will include eight weeks of public hearings and comments from the community.
"We work very closely with the mayor, with the council down in Maui, with the governor to be able to explain why these capabilities are not just important to Hawaii, they're important for national security," Mastalir told Military.com. "We'll continue to share that message and work with Maui County and work with local officials to understand where we can find common ground."
Mastalir added they were ensuring they could "do everything we can to make this, this process, as painless as possible."
The Space Base Delta 1 spokesperson also added that a new "Maui Council of Environmental Stewardship" is being created that will have members from state government and the community as well as the Air Force leaders "to discuss the issues at various Maui sites."
It's unclear what environmental or cultural effects will ultimately be taken into account or whether the dialogue will continue with native Hawaiians as the Department of Defense and President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency have reportedly planned to cut climate-related programs and have already started to disband programs related to diversity and cultural education within the ranks.
"The [Department of Defense] does not do climate change crap," Hegseth posted Sunday on X.
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