The USS Arizona's Oil Leak: Is It an Environmental Concern?-- Part 1: 14,000 to 64,00 Gallons of Oil

From the February 24, 2020, Honolulu Civil Beat "Oil constantly leaks from the USS Arizona.   Is that an environmental problem? by Claire Caulfield.

An audio tour of Pearl Harbor narrated by actress Jaime Lee Curtis, instructs visitors to the USS Arizona Memorial not to throw coins into the water around the shipwreck because they harm the environment.

But nothing is said about the estimated half gallon of oil that leaks out of the ship every day.

A federal report says this oil is particularly toxic and there is concern for marine life in the harbor.  But, even so, there are no plans to stop the leak.

During the December 7, 1941, attack, all eight battleships in the harbor were hit by torpedoes and bombs, spilling thousands of gallons of oil into the harbor.  The Arizona had just been topped off with bunker oil the day before and burned for two days afterwards.

It is believed that between 14,000 and 64,000 gallons of oil have leaked out of the USS Arizona since the attack and the NPS estimates it could continue to leak for another 500 years.

--GreGen