Amid ‘Political Concerns,’ Navy Kept Quiet About Red Hill Pipeline Leaking Into Pearl Harbor … As the health department held hearings on whether the Navy could operate its Red Hill fuel facility safely, fuel from a Red Hill pipeline was leaking into Pearl Harbor.
It was the end of January, just days before the U.S. Navy was set to appear in a hearing before the Hawaii Department of Health that would determine the fate of its Red Hill underground fuel facility.
A particularly inconvenient time for a leak.
And yet, an oil sheen in the water of Pearl Harbor had been growing since March 2020, and a nearby pipeline connected to the Red Hill facility had just failed a leak detection test.
In a Jan. 21 email, a Navy captain said he was worried about the optics.
So-called “historical” releases, such as from fuel-soaked soil near Pearl Harbor, were one thing. But an active leak from an in-use pipeline would reflect poorly on the Navy at a crucial moment.
“There are significant political concerns if this were to become an ‘active’ leak,” he wrote. “Activist organizations will use this to advance their anti-Red Hill narrative … at a sensitive time as the contested case hearing begins and (the) legislative season starts.”