The Navy is investigating the publication of video and photos this week showing fuel gushing from a Red Hill pipe on Nov. 20, according to a Navy official who said the person who released the footage to the media could face disciplinary action.

The fuel, which spewed from the pipe for more than 34 hours, flowed down a tunnel and contaminated the Navy’s drinking water system, sickening hundreds of families who live around Joint Base Pearl Harbor­-Hickam.

The stunning footage, published Monday by Honolulu Civil Beat, was surprising because the Navy had given the impression that there was no footage of the spill, or an earlier spill on May 6, 2021, because the majority of its closed- circuit cameras had been inoperable for most of the year.

The footage was provided to Civil Beat by an unnamed military source and was captured by the worker who drove a tunnel train into the pipeline on Nov. 20, rupturing it and causing the spill, according to the news outlet.

A Navy official confirmed the authenticity of the footage and said the Navy is investigating the release of the footage as part of its routine process of reviewing potential “accountability actions” that may be taken against military and civilian officials in relation to Red Hill.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser filed a Freedom of Information Act request this week for all footage of the May 6 and Nov. 20 leaks. The Navy says there is no footage of the May 6 spill, either from its closed-circuit camera system or personal devices, and that even though footage of the Nov. 20 incident is now easily viewable online, it wouldn’t commit to releasing that footage on its own because it could impede its ability to take disciplinary action against the person who released it.

The official said the Navy might eventually release the footage on a “rolling basis” based on its level of resources to respond to FOIA requests.

Earthjustice attorney David Henkin, who represents the Hawaii Sierra Club in matters related to Red Hill, said that even if the Navy had a legal right to pursue disciplinary action, it’s “pretty offensive that they would go after someone that is providing information that the public has a right to see.”

“That they are not apologetic for not releasing this information to the public and instead are trying to stomp it out is really offensive,” said Henkin.

The footage of the spill was published just days after the Navy released its long-awaited investigation into the two fuel releases. That report includes a detailed section explaining why its closed-circuit cameras didn’t capture either the May 6 or Nov. 20 spills in 2021. Out of the 57 security cameras in the facility, only 13 worked, and none of those covered areas inside Red Hill where the two spills occurred, according to the report.

About five months prior to the May 6, 2021, spill, the Navy realized the camera system was not fully operable, and routed a request through the Defense Logistics Agency to fund a replacement system. The request was approved prior to the May spill, but a miscommunication resulted in the Navy’s Fleet Logistics Center being “erroneously informed” that the system would not be funded, according to the investigation. The cameras were not fixed until this year.

Not mentioned in the body of the report is that footage of the Nov. 20 incident did indeed exist. In its defense, the Navy pointed out that the appendices of its report does include four references to video that was taken Nov. 20. Those references do not provide any description of what the footage captured. The Navy said that the videos were included in the report as “enclosures.” Those 292 items, which include internal emails, reports and other documents, formed the basis of the report but have not been publicly released.

The existence of the videos and photos, which show fuel spewing from a pipe and rushing down a tunnel, elicited a scathing response this week from Hawaii U.S. Rep. Kai Kahele, who for months had been inquiring about the existence of footage of the two spills.

Kahele said that as recently as June 30, the day the Navy’s investigation was published, he asked top Navy officials during a briefing about the existence of video footage, including from mobile devices.

Vice Adm. Ricky Williamson and Rear Adm. James Waters said video footage from the facility or an individual did not exist, according to Kahele.

“Despite repeated inquiries, the Navy was not forthright when providing information about video footage surrounding the leaks at Red Hill,” Kahele said in a statement released earlier this week. “This is extremely frustrating. Since this nightmare began, when I first visited the homes of service members in November, I continuously requested the Navy be forthright and transparent with their information. I warned that to do otherwise would erode the public’s trust in the military and its credibility regarding management at Red Hill.”