Citing a lack of details, Hawaii health officials plan to reject the Navy’s Red Hill defueling plan

State Department of Health officials say they will oppose the Navy’s plan to drain the Red Hill fuel facility because it lacks details.

The Navy released the 20-page plan on June 30, per a department deadline, but noted in the document that it did not expect DOH to accept it and that it planned to provide additional information by September to support compliance to support regulatory requirements.

“It’s like turning in a homework assignment that you know is incomplete just to meet a deadline,” Health Ministry spokeswoman Katie Arita-Chang said.

Under the Navy’s plan, more than 100 million gallons stored in the tanks would be emptied by the end of 2024 — a timeline that has alarmed the Honolulu Board of Water Supply and environmental groups that there will be more leaks at the aging facility.

The Pentagon ordered the Red Hill facility to be permanently closed earlier this year after fuel from the facility contaminated the Navy’s drinking water system and sickened residents.

The facility includes 20 underground tanks and a pipeline system leading to the Pearl Harbor fueling piers.

While the Navy said it can drain a tank in days, a recent assessment ordered by the DOH found the facility must undergo extensive repairs so the fuel could be safely drained and protected from a catastrophic release that could further contaminate groundwater, cause a major fire or possibly injure or kill workers.

The 880-page report, released in May, identified dozens of repairs needed throughout the facility’s pipeline distribution system before defueling begins.

The Navy’s defueling plan states that it must remove an unspecified amount of fuel from its pipelines before beginning these repairs.

The Navy then estimates it will take up to 17 months to execute contracts and complete repairs, and another three months for a contractor to complete a final inspection. Then it would take another four to eight months to defuel the tanks.

DOH has the regulator over the defueling process. It wasn’t immediately clear what the implications of DOH’s rejection of the plan would be. A formal letter is expected to be sent to the Navy next week.

The Pentagon described the defueling plan as a work in progress.

“DoD understands that it will not receive final DOH approval for this defueling plan until it provides DOH with an updated plan that includes all relevant supplemental information and the accuracy of its milestones and overall schedules guaranteed,” says the defueling plan.

“We look forward to dialogue, discussion and feedback with DOH as we safely and expeditiously defuel Red Hill,” a Navy spokesman said Friday.