As the military prepares to drain the Navy’s underground Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, concerns about safety persist.

The military is set to begin defueling Monday after receiving final approval from the Environmental Protection Agency and state Department of Health on its proposed plan. But the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration sent a letter Tuesday to the Navy notifying the service of alleged workplace hazards in Red Hill’s main operations tunnel.

The letter focused on concerns about whether workers in the facility would be able to escape in the event of fire, spill or other life-threatening problem during the defueling. It raised concern that there is only one exit and that “workers need to travel a very far distance” to escape — from 1,000 to 5,000 feet or more in some cases — through “a potentially hazardous area and potential hazardous atmospheres.”

It also stated that the emergency plan appears to provide oxygen tanks “for some of the workers for escape; however, the length of the (escape) path to the tunnel entry will require more time than the supply of air” and raised concern that firefighting and hazardous-environment training is required but that “training provided is questionable.”

The letter requires that the Navy respond by Oct. 18 with proof that it had either addressed safety concerns or that no hazards exist. If it doesn’t, OSHA will conduct an inspection.

Walter Chun, a member of the EPA’s Red Hill Community Representative Initiative, filed the complaint with OSHA as a result of what he said was a slow flow of information from the Navy and Joint Task Force-Red Hill, the military organization overseeing the defueling.

Chun told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser “the key issue is, if something happens, can they get people out of that tunnel quickly and safely? And I just don’t have enough information that makes me feel confident that they can. … What we were provided with was a fire plan that basically says they’re going to leave people in their fighting a fire with limited air supplies.”

Chun has previously worked for the Navy as a shipyard worker at Pearl Harbor and later served as OSHA’s Pacific Area Director during the 1990s before going into private consulting. He said that in both his time working for the Navy and as a contractor, he has worked extensively in the Red Hill tunnel.

“We were in and out, my concern obviously was if something’s happened to one of my guys, I’m gonna have to get them out,” said Chun. “It was a problem then, it’s a problem now. We just can’t ignore it, especially when we’re going to put a lot more people in.”

Late Thursday afternoon JTF-RH sent out a news release saying it “is aware of recent safety concerns expressed by the community. We are reassured that the community takes the safety of our team as seriously as we do. The safety of our service members, civilian employees, and contractors working within the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility (RHBFSF) has always been our top priority.”

The Red Hill fuel tanks — which currently hold 104 million gallons of fuel — sit just 100 feet above a key aquifer most of Honolulu relies on for drinking water. For years local officials had warned that it was a “ticking time bomb” threatening Oahu’s water supply. Navy officials insisted the World War II-era facility was safe and that it was critical to supporting operations in the Pacific.

But in November 2021 jet fuel from the facility leaked into the Navy’s Oahu water system, which serves 93,000 people, including military families and civilians living in former military housing areas.

In March 2022 the Pentagon announced the tanks would be drained and the facility permanently shuttered. Vice Adm. John Wade was appointed to lead JTF-RH to make repairs to the facility and the pipelines connecting the tanks to Joint Base Pearl Harbor- Hickam, and ultimately drain the tanks.

Military officials had by then acknowledged that the facility needed extensive repairs to safely remove the fuel without risking further leaks or spills. JTF-RH’s initial target was to finish defueling in summer 2024. But under Wade’s leadership the task force was able to expedite repairs and move the timeline, with most of the fuel now expected to be removed by the end of January.

Defueling preparation

The defueling involves a wide array of service members, government workers and civilian contractors. EPA and DOH personnel also will be on-site overseeing JTF-RH as it conducts its mission. This summer local National Guard members and reservists were recruited to serve as members of the Roving Security and Fire Watch. As the defueling process starts, they will patrol the facility in shifts, checking pipes, flanges, valves and wires and looking for any potential leaks, spills or fires.

During their summer training they were prepared for firefighting operations. Though some had prior experience, for most it was a first. The Navy’s nearby Federal Fire Department will ultimately be the main response team for any fire at the facility — its the fire watchers’ job to call in and report any problem.

But Chun said he’s deeply concerned the people going into Red Hill aren’t ready for the massive defueling effort. He said that getting toxic materials out of Red Hill and protecting the aquifer is “a high priority, but it cannot take a priority over human life.”

Wade said that he was aware that Chun intended to file the complaint and had discussed concerns with him through the CRI.

“He was very respectful,” said Wade. “He said that he’s concerned about the safety of the men and women that are there, and I respect his opinion, I absolutely do … I too, am concerned about safety. It’s a physics problem, because there are limited exits, but that’s the design of the facility. If we’re going to put in more exits that will take years before we can defuel.”

Wade told the Star- Advertiser that personnel have extensively trained on all scenarios they could think of. Personnel have practiced the timing of routes, extensively studied diagrams, have been issued fire-retardant clothing and thermal imagers, gas detectors and other equipment. Wade also said JTF-RH has placed new video cameras and portable fire equipment with breathing devices around the site to reduce risk.

“I can assure you that we have an audit trail for OSHA standards, all other federal standards, we have an audit trail for the National Fire Association, National Fire Protection Association,” said Wade. “If OSHA comes to us, we’ll walk them through everything.”

“We’ve had questions, we’ve had questioning attitudes that have made us look through different angles, everything of this defueling plan,” Wade added. “I embrace the feedback because this is a ‘we’ effort. The preponderance of the Roving Security Firewatch personnel are volunteers from the Hawaii Air National Guard and they are the sons and daughters of the community. So we want to make sure we do everything possible to keep them safe.”

“I donʻt know how the proposed emergency defueling operations would be more dangerous to facility personnel than in years past,” said Wayne Tanaka, director of the Sierra Club of Hawaii. “Fueling and defueling operations occurred on a regular basis prior to the 250-plus repairs deemed necessary to ‘safely’ remove fuel from the Red Hill tanks.”

“In any case, any necessary dangers to people working in these extremely risky underground circumstances are the result of the Navy’s obstinate refusal to consider any alternative strategies or backup plans for defueling,” Tanaka added. “Remember, the only plan the Navy considered, and that the JTF inherited, was one based off of an assessment that explicitly contemplated the continued operation of the Red Hill facility.”

Long history

Concerns about safety go back long before the 2021 water crisis.

The massive facility was built underground during World War II to make it nearly impossible for enemy forces to find or attack. But its subterranenan nature from the start posed unique challenges for operations and maintenance. Even before it began operations, more than a dozen workers died during its construction.

A March 2014 Pentagon budget request for $50 million in improvements to Red Hill’s fire suppression system noted that analysts had concluded “the existing underground fueling facility at Red Hill has inadequate fire protection infrastructure and communication system” and that “fueling operations in the underground complex create high potential for fire incident.”

The budget request also said “fires involving fuel are extremely difficult to extinguish. This is even more so in the underground tunnels of the Red Hill tank farm because of the confined spaces. Also the ventilation within the tunnel as well as the remote location and inadequate fire protection infrastructure external to the tunnel make this a high risk operation.”

The firefighting system at the facility would ultimately be central to the water crisis. A May 2021 fuel spill descended into a lower tunnel and ended up being pumped into a pipeline that’s part of the facility’s fire suppression system. Months later, on Nov. 20, that pipeline was accidentally ruptured by a worker and spilled thousands of gallons of fuel that made its way into the water system.

The spill was caught on video by the worker, who was trapped in that lower tunnel until personnel could get to him. Chun said that video is a vivid demonstration of the dangers inherent to the operation.

“There’s an OSHA standard for distances and all kinds of regulations that says if you have people working, you have to be able to provide exits,” said Chun. “Now, this is a tunnel, if that’s what you’re stuck with, then fine. But you have to make provisions to make sure they can get people out easily, readily.”

Chun said he’s not suggesting installing more exits and says he’s aware there are inherent risks, but that the military needs to show it’s ready. He added that while it’s possible that there are efficient safeguards and workarounds in place, he hasn’t seen it and wants the military to release a full accounting of its safety procedures.

Wade maintains that he’s confident his team is ready, but said he’s also working to avoid complacency or overconfidence.

“You can’t reduce risk to zero,” said Wade. “But I can assure you, as a naval officer who’s commanded ships at sea, who has taken people into harm’s way, you do everything possible to reduce risk, and then also give them the training so that they can mutually support each other and help them. And that’s my commitment.”