Maui Space Surveillance Complex community forum on fuel spill recovery, April 26

A community forum to discuss fuel spill recovery at the Maui Space Surveillance Complex takes place Wednesday, April 26 at 5 p.m. at the University of Hawaiʻi Maui College Ka’a’ike room 144 in Kahului.

Officials will be on hand to provide updates and answer questions from community members. Community members with advance questions may contact
richard.chong.1@spaceforce.mil.

The meeting comes following a 700 gallon diesel fuel spill at the Maui Space Surveillance Complex in January. Officials said the cause of this spill was likely a power surge that resulted in damage to a float within the generator’s main fuel tank. Pentagon officials apologized for the incident, and vowed to make things right.

The phase one of excavation at the Maui Space Surveillance Complex was completed March 22, 2023. Workers removed approximately 43 sacks of soil estimated at 84,000 pounds, replacing it with soil gathered at a nearby site. The soil removed is being stored at the summit of Haleakalā until a remediation plan is approved in phase three.

Phase two involves taking core samples at a depth of 40, 80 and 200 feet, to determine scope of contamination. Work may start in May, according to the Pacific Air Forces. Laboratory results from that sampling will guide the phase three remediation plan; the phase two report should be available by August.

Work is also underway to possibly replace the generator with a smaller, more efficient one, minimizing fuel storage requirements.

The Maui-based 15th Space Surveillance Squadron, which operates the MSSC, is part of Space Delta 2, the US Space Force entity responsible for space domain awareness around the globe.