Navy needs more time for chemical spill report

The Navy has blown a Monday deadline to provide the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with details about its cleanup of a Nov. 29 spill of toxic fire suppression chemicals at Red Hill and any past spills of the aqueous film forming foam, or AFFF, at the underground fuel facility, telling federal regulators that it would need another five weeks to provide that information.

The EPA’s law enforcement arm requested the information, as well as maps of any nearby water infrastructure, on Jan. 6, telling Rear Adm. Stephen Barnett, commander of U.S. Navy Region Hawaii, that the EPA needs to understand the risk that spilled chemicals might pose to drinking water and human health.

The fire suppressant contains per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS and referred to as “forever chemicals” because they degrade so slowly in the environment. Chronic exposure to the chemicals has been linked to cancer and other health problems, and the EPA has recently lowered the health risk thresholds for the chemicals in drinking water to close to zero.

“It is important for EPA to understand not only the November 29, 2022, AFFF release and the Navy’s efforts to investigate, but all other known AFFF releases, as PFAS in an underground source of drinking water potentially poses an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment,” the EPA wrote in its letter to Barnett.

The Navy requested the time extension shortly before the information was due, telling the EPA in a letter sent Friday that a team of experts has been working to assemble information about past AFFF spills at all of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-­Hickam, which includes Red Hill, and that the report is not expected to be completed in time.

The Navy also questioned the EPA’s legal authority to request the information but said it would provide it voluntarily.

The EPA said it has not yet made a determination on the Navy’s extension request.

Asked why it is taking so long to turn over the information to the EPA, a Navy spokesperson told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that the use of AFFF predates the period when Naval Station Pearl Harbor was combined with Hickam Air Force Base to become Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, which occurred in 2010.

“Therefore the team is working the data collection process for the prior installations that have now been aligned under the Joint Base,” the Navy spokesperson said by email. “This will take considerable time and effort in order to provide EPA the requested information. The Navy continues to stay in contact with the EPA on the issue and will provide information as soon as we can.”

The Star-Advertiser has also been requesting information from the Navy since December about past AFFF spills at Red Hill. On Dec. 19 the Navy told the newspaper that it was reviewing its records and would inform the state Department of Health about any historical releases of AFFF as they were identified.

The Navy later told the newspaper on Jan. 19, following another request for the information, that experts were performing a comprehensive review of historical uses and spills of AFFF at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam and that while there was no timeline for that review to be completed, the work was being conducted “as quickly as possible.”

The Navy said this week that the team of experts is also working on plans to transition to a new fluorine-free fire suppressant that does not include PFAS.

The Nov. 29 spill of 1,300 gallons of AFFF concentrate at Red Hill alarmed health and environmental regulators — DOH called it “egregious” — and infuriated environmental watchdogs who have been closely tracking the Navy’s progress in shutting down the Navy’s Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility for good.

The Pentagon ordered Red Hill to be permanently closed amid community uproar over 2021 fuel spills at the facility that polluted the Navy’s drinking water system and sickened military families. A Navy consultant report later determined that the facility needed extensive repairs before the approximately 104 million gallons of fuel stored in underground tanks could be safely drained. The needed repairs include fixes to the facility’s fire suppression system. On the morning of the AFFF spill, contractors had begun work on infrared sensors, which activate the fire suppression system when they detect heat.

However, it’s not clear whether that caused the spill. The Navy launched an investigation following the AFFF release, which was to be completed within 30 days, or in early January, in accordance with Navy regulations. But the Navy won’t say when the report, or video of the spill, will be released publicly.

“The investigation is ongoing,” a spokesperson for Joint Task Force-Red Hill said by email this week when asked for an update. “The investigation report, along with video footage of the actual AFFF release, will be made available and shared with the local community and media as soon as complete.”