Red Hill fuel facility a ‘ticking time bomb,’ Hawaii official says

The Navy’s Red Hill fuel facility is a “ticking time bomb” that poses an imminent peril to human health and the environment, according to a state Department of Health hearings officer who on Monday largely dismissed the Navy’s arguments that it shouldn’t have to comply with a state emergency order that it drain its underground tanks and address safety deficiencies at the facility before seeking state permission to resume operations.

David Day, who also serves as a state deputy attorney general, issued a strongly worded proposed order following a marathon hearing last week in which the Navy contested DOH’s Dec. 6 emergency order. Navy officials argued that their robust response to the current fuel contamination in the Navy’s drinking water system negates any imminent risk that the Red Hill fuel farm poses and therefore the state lacks statutory authority to force it to comply with its order. Navy officials also argued that the fuel facility, which includes 18 active tanks that power military operations in the Pacific, is critical to national security.

But Day concluded that the Navy’s response to its water contamination crisis has not been resolved, and the facility poses an ongoing risk to the aquifer that serves as a critical source of drinking water for Oahu. He also said in dismissing the Navy’s arguments about the importance of the facility that Hawaii law prioritizes human health and the environment over “any functional utility” of underground storage tanks.

“The weight of the evidence establishes that the Red Hill Facility, as currently situated, is a metaphorical ticking timebomb located 100 feet above the most important aquifer on Hawaii’s most populous island,” wrote Day in his proposed decision and order. “The Red Hill Facility has already damaged human health and the environment and, as currently situated, inevitably threatens to do so into the future.”

Day said that the Navy obviously doesn’t want the facility to leak fuel, but it lacks the ability to prevent releases.

The “evidence shows that the Red Hill Facility is simply too old, too poorly designed, too difficult to maintain, too difficult to inspect, along with being too large to realistically prevent future releases,” Day wrote. “It is not just one problem but a combination of many.”

The Navy has until Wednesday to file objections to Day’s proposed order.

“We are aware of the proposed decision and have no further statement at this time,” said Rear Adm. Charlie Brown, U.S. Navy Chief of Information, in a statement.

It is ultimately up to DOH Deputy Director Marian Tsuji to make a final determination in the case. Tsuji has up to 30 days from Monday, or 30 days from the filing of objections, to render a final decision, according to DOH.

DOH issued its emergency order in response to petroleum contamination in the Navy’s drinking water system, which serves approximately 93,000 people in and around Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. In late November, military families began reporting that their tap water smelled of fuel and that they were experiencing a host of health maladies associated with petroleum contamination in water, such as skin rashes, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and headaches.

Navy and DOH officials subsequently confirmed that the Navy’s Red Hill drinking water shaft was contaminated with petroleum. DOH water samples from the shaft, taken on Dec. 5, found diesel fuel levels that were 350 times the state’s environmental action level for drinking water toxicity. Total petroleum hydrocarbons associated with other fuel also greatly exceeded the state’s action level.

On Dec. 6, DOH ordered the Navy to suspend operations at its Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, clean up contaminated drinking water at its Red Hill shaft, drain the fuel in its underground tanks and figure out what needed to be done to safely operate the facility. DOH said that after complying with the order, the Navy could then seek state permission to resume operations.

The Navy has already suspended operations at Red Hill pending the completion of an investigation into the cause of the drinking water contamination, which is due Jan.14. Navy officials have been particularly opposed to the order that they drain the tanks.

Day’s order largely adopted the arguments that were presented by the DOH during last week’s hearing, as well as arguments made by the Hawaii Sierra Club and Honolulu Board of Water Supply, which were allowed to intervene in the proceedings.

Day said that he was particularly swayed by testimony presented by David Norfleet, an expert witness called by the Honolulu Board of Water Supply. Norfleet is an engineering consultant who oversees incident investigations at risk management firm DNV.

Norfleet testified that he had identified as many as 76 known petroleum releases at the aging facility since the early 1940s, totaling close to 200,000 gallons, and that was probably a significant undercount. He said that more releases from the facility are inevitable and that the facility had reached its end-of-life phase.

Day wrote that the “history of releases, notwithstanding the Navy’s best efforts to prevent them, is damning.”

A risk assessment conducted by a Navy consultant found that chronic, undetected leaks are expected to continue at the facility and that the probability of major future releases from the facility is high. There is an 80% chance of a fuel release of 1,000 to 30,000 gallons within the next five years, though Norfleet said that the risk is likely now significantly higher.

Day also wrote that the personal testimonies from residents whose water was contaminated “were highly credible and perhaps the most important” facet to the order’s finding that the fuel contamination “caused a humanitarian and environmental emergency and disaster.”

Navy officials say a May fuel release at the Red Hill facility may be the source of contamination. Capt. James “Gordie” Meyer, commanding officer of Naval Facilities Hawaii, testified during last week’s hearing that fuel from that release is believed to have migrated into a fire suppression line that burst on Nov. 20 and leaked into the Red Hill shaft. However, the investigation is ongoing.

Hawaii hearing officer prop… by Honolulu Star-Advertiser