The United States’ Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has earmarked more than $1.3m to clean underground petrol leaks in Hawaii.

The money is part of $197m allocated under the US Recovery Act to tackle ‘shovel-ready’ sites nationwide contaminated by petrol from leaking underground storage tanks.

Cash has also been set aside for similar work for the Mariana Islands, officially a commonwealth politically aligned to the USA.

America will give $57,000 to the Northern Mariana Islands, located about three quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines.

And a further $138,000 to nearby Guam, officially one of America’s five over sea territories, which forms the Mariana Islands along with the Northern Mariana Islands.

The EPA’s administrator, Lisa P. Jackson, said: “We’re providing immediate growth opportunities for communities across the nation, as well as long-term protection from dangerous pollution in the land and water.

“We’re putting people to work by serving our core mission of protecting human health and the environment.”

Luke Walsh

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