HONOLULU (AP) — The U.S. Navy does not agree that double-lining massive tanks at the Red Hill Fuel Storage Facility is the best way to prevent groundwater contamination. ADVERTISING HONOLULU (AP) — The U.S. Navy does not agree that double-lining
HONOLULU (AP) — The U.S. Navy does not agree that double-lining massive tanks at the Red Hill Fuel Storage Facility is the best way to prevent groundwater contamination.
“I’m not so sure that the best solution is some type of secondary containment,” said Navy Capt. Mike Williamson, commanding officer of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Hawaii and regional engineer Hawaii.
Double-lining tanks is a recommendation of federal, state and city officials on a legislative task force set up to evaluate a leak in January.
The remedy is “not without flaw,” Williamson said Thursday at a task force meeting.
“We agree that further study is warranted.”
An estimated 27,000 gallons of jet fuel nearly a year ago leaked from one of the 20 250-foot World War II-era tanks under Red Hill.
The Hawaii Legislature created the task force to make recommendations.
Navy officials at the task force meeting said two new monitoring wells near the storage facility have shown trace amounts of contaminants. Navy and Environmental Protection Agency officials said it’s premature to form conclusions from the results.
No harmful contamination in groundwater has been detected.
Williamson said the Navy will support secondary containment “when technology and implementation” support it. A 2008 study indicating that double-lining the tanks would be an enormous undertaking, he said.
Gary Hill, deputy director of the state Department of Health, said secondary containment is the best solution if the tanks remain in use.
“Anything else, when they leak, and they will leak eventually, leaks directly into the environment. And the only way to avoid that is with secondary containment,” he said.
Regional EPA official Steven Linder said the agency wants to make sure the Navy uses the best available technology within practical limits.
“It may be secondary containment,” he said. “I think the jury’s still out in terms of essentially what combination of technologies is best to be used to improve the Red Hill facility.”
