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US military to begin draining leaky fuel tank facility that poisoned Pearl Harbor drinking water_我的网站
A | LOS ANGELES -- Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell for the fourth month in a row in September, held back by surging mortgage rates and a thin supply of properties on the market.Existing home sales fell 2% last month from August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.96 million, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. That’s just above the 3.9 million unit pace that economists were expecting, according to FactSet.Sales sank 15.4% compared with the same month last year and are down 21% through the first nine months of the year versus the same period in 2022.Despite the housing market slump, home prices kept climbing versus a year ago. The national median sales price rose 2.8% from September last year to $394,300. It slipped 3.1% from August.“Clearly, the story of limited inventory and rising and rising mortgage rates continues to hinder the home sales market,” said Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist.The weekly average rate on a 30-year mortgage moved above 7% in August, when many of the home sales that were finalized in September would have gone under contract. It has remained above that threshold since, surging last week to 7.57%, the highest level since 2000, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac.High rates can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers, limiting how much they can afford in a market already out of reach for many Americans. They also discourage homeowners who locked in rock-bottom rates two years ago from selling.While surging mortgage rates have shut out many prospective buyers, a chronic shortage of homes for sale continues to keep the market competitive, especially for the most affordable homes.Homes sold last month typically within just 21 days after hitting the market, and about 26% of homes sold for more than their list price, the NAR said.All told, there were 1.13 million homes on the market by the end of last month, up 2.7% from August, but down 8.1% from September last year, the NAR said. That amounts to just a 3.4-month supply, going by the current sales pace. In a more balanced market between buyers and sellers, there is a 4- to 5-month supply.。 PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii -- The military next week plans to begin draining fuel from World War II-era underground fuel tanks in Hawaii, nearly two years after the massive facility sickened 6,000 people when it leaked jet fuel into a Pearl Harbor drinking water well.Removing the fuel is a key step toward shutting down the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility as demanded by the state of Hawaii. The November 2021 spill poisoned the Navy's water system serving 93,000 people in and around Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. The leak continues to threaten an aquifer used by Honolulu's municipal water utility to serve 400,000 people on Oahu.“I want the community to know that my team and I understand the enormity and the significance of this mission,” Vice Admiral John Wade, the commander of Joint Task Force-Red Hill, said at a news conference.Work to drain the 104 million gallons (394 million liters) remaining in the tanks was scheduled to begin on Monday. Each tank is 250 feet (76 meters) tall and 100 feet (30 meters) wide. Gravity will feed fuel into fuel lines connected to the lower part of the tanks. The fuel will then flow downhill through pipelines for 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) to a tanker ship waiting at Pearl Harbor pier. It will take more than two days to fill each tanker. Wade said it would take three months to remove 99.9% of the fuel. Then, work will begin to remove a residual amount of an estimated 60,000 to 70,000 gallons that will have accumulated in low-point drains and bends. That work is expected to be finished in the spring. The moment is bittersweet for Lacey Quintero, whose Navy family was among the thousands who suffered health problems after drinking contaminated water in 2021. She's happy the fuel is being removed but the operation has stirred memories as the two-year anniversary of the spill approaches. “The timing of it, coupled with the dangers that are present during defueling — there’s fear,” she said. She's concerned that more fuel could spill into the Navy's drinking water well and poison the aquifer. She's also worried about possible explosions. Quintero and her husband, who is in the Navy, and their two children moved to Hawaii in November 2021 from California. They fell sick soon after moving. Her youngest, who was then 3 years old, vomited uncontrollably. The entire family complained of diarrhea and itchy skin. Quintero's arms and legs went numb and she struggled with chronic fatigue. Her husband is still stationed in Hawaii but they have moved to private housing off base which uses Honolulu municipal water. Yet she still suffers from stomach pains, migraines and skin issues. She has PTSD.“I have flashbacks of feeding my daughter this poison soup and watching her vomit it up,” she said.Quintero is one of 6,750 claimants seeking compensation from the U.S. government for what they experienced. Their attorney, Kristina Baehr, said claims for the first group of six plaintiffs were due to go trial in March. The state of Hawaii ordered the military to drain the tanks after the 2021 spill, saying they posed an imminent threat to the aquifer underneath. The Department of Defense challenged that order in court, but eventually acquiesced. It's spent the past year repairing the tanks and pipes so the fuel can be safely removed without additional leaks. For years the military said the tanks were vital to national security and resisted calls to close the facility or to move it. Military officials repeatedly reassured the public that Oahu's water was safe — even though the tanks had a history of leaks.The spill upset a broad cross-spectrum of Hawaii, and precipitated a crisis for the military in the islands. Many Native Hawaiians have been angered given the centrality of water in Hawaii’s Indigenous traditions.A Navy investigation pinned the cause of the spill on a series of mistakes. First, operator error caused a pipe to rupture on May 6, 2021, when fuel was being transferred between tanks. This caused 21,000 gallons (80,000 liters) of fuel to spill. Most of it flowed into a fire suppression line and sat there for six months, causing the line to sag.Then on Nov. 20, a cart rammed into the sagging line, releasing 20,000 gallons (75,700 liters.) A team thought they recovered all of this fuel, but they missed about 5,000 gallons (19,000 liters) which flowed into a French drain and from there into the drinking water well.The Navy reprimanded three now-retired military officers for their roles in the spill but didn't fire nor suspend anybody.。
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