Kadena Air Base is home to the Air Force’s 18th Wing on Okinawa. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes)
The Air Force has recovered 575 gallons of diesel fuel that spilled at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa and “affected” its stormwater system, according to the 18th Wing.
The base “immediately contained” the spill on Tuesday, the wing wrote in a news release the following day. The spill was caused by an equipment failure and was “reported in accordance with established procedures,” the release said.
“Response teams successfully recovered the fuel from the affected storm water system and have completed the cleanup,” the wing said. “Additional preventative measures remain in place downstream out of an abundance of caution.”
The wing acknowledged but did not respond to phone and email inquiries on Wednesday and Thursday.
Kadena town’s Base Liaison Division was told about the incident Wednesday evening through the Okinawa Defense Bureau — an arm of Japan’s Ministry of Defense — which did not share the incident’s exact location or if any damage occurred, a spokesman said by phone Thursday. The town lies northwest of the base.
“We are still conducting arrangements to consider how to deal with this matter,” he said.
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.
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.
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.
U.S. Forces Japan last year denied a request by the prefecture to test for PFAS — per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances — at water sources on three U.S. military bases, including Kadena.
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’s Ministry of Defense.
However, the prefecture resumed water intake from the Hija river when necessary to supplement its water supply, Gov. Denny Tamaki said at the time.
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.
AloJapan.com