{"id":413,"date":"2026-04-08T20:04:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T20:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/413\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T20:04:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T20:04:26","slug":"air-force-base-on-okinawa-contains-diesel-fuel-spill-that-affected-stormwater-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/413\/","title":{"rendered":"Air Force base on Okinawa contains diesel fuel spill that \u2018affected\u2019 stormwater system"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mb2-plus4\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/270326KADENA-SPILLphoto01.jpg\" alt=\"A photo of Kadena Air base sign.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"default-font lh-default ma0 mh3 mt0 pb3\">\n\t\t\t\tKadena Air Base is home to the Air Force\u2019s 18th Wing on Okinawa. (Keishi Koja\/Stars and Stripes)<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">The Air Force has recovered 575 gallons of diesel fuel that spilled at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa and \u201caffected\u201d its stormwater system, according to the 18th Wing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">The base \u201cimmediately contained\u201d the spill on Tuesday, the wing wrote in a news release the following day. The spill was caused by an equipment failure and was \u201creported in accordance with established procedures,\u201d the release said.&#13;<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">\u201cResponse teams successfully recovered the fuel from the affected storm water system and have completed the cleanup,\u201d the wing said. \u201cAdditional preventative measures remain in place downstream out of an abundance of caution.\u201d&#13;<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">The wing acknowledged but did not respond to phone and email inquiries on Wednesday and Thursday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">Kadena town\u2019s Base Liaison Division was told about the incident Wednesday evening through the Okinawa Defense Bureau \u2014 an arm of Japan\u2019s Ministry of Defense \u2014 which did not share the incident\u2019s exact location or if any damage occurred, a spokesman said by phone Thursday. The town lies northwest of the base.<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">\u201cWe are still conducting arrangements to consider how to deal with this matter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">Okinawa city had received no information from the bureau as of Thursday morning, a spokesman said by phone that day. The city borders the base to the southeast.<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">A spokesman for Chatan town, bordering the base on the southwest, could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday. Some Japanese government officials must speak to the press only on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">Stormwater from Kadena flows northwest into the East China Sea or into the Hija river, which flows through the base and empties into the sea, according to an environmental review released by the Army and Air Force Exchange Service in 2007.<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">U.S. Forces Japan last year denied a request by the prefecture to test for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stripes.com\/theaters\/asia_pacific\/2026-03-20\/pfas-drinking-water-osan-south-korea-21125332.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">PFAS<\/a> \u2014 per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances \u2014 at water sources on three U.S. military bases, including Kadena.<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">In denying the request, USFJ said the prefecture stopped using the Hija and Dakujaku rivers that flow through Kadena as drinking water sources, according to a December release from Japan\u2019s Ministry of Defense.&#13;<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">However, the prefecture resumed water intake from the Hija river when necessary to supplement its water supply, Gov. Denny Tamaki said at the time.&#13;<\/p>\n<p class=\"storyline-p f4 \">In May 2024, a Boeing E-3 Sentry leaked jet fuel into a stormwater drain on Kadena. The spill was contained, but about 50 gallons of fuel leaked into an outflow that led to Kadena Marina, the wing said at the time.&#13;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kadena Air Base is home to the Air Force\u2019s 18th Wing on Okinawa. (Keishi Koja\/Stars and Stripes) The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[495,492,490,493,494,8,491,162,497,496],"class_list":["post-413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-okinawa","tag-18th-wing","tag-air-base","tag-air-force","tag-diesel","tag-fuel-spill","tag-japan","tag-kadena","tag-okinawa","tag-pfas","tag-usfj"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}