Risk and Vulnerability Assessment at Red Hill

The Administrative Order on Consent (AOC) requires the Navy and Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) to assess the risk posed by the facility to groundwater resources. The risk assessment required by the AOC will evaluate the likelihood of various events that may result in the release of fuel into the environment. These initiating events could include human error, mechanical failures, fires, or earthquakes. The assessment will study these types of events and cascading scenarios to estimate potential releases and their consequences. This risk assessment will provide important information to support contaminant modeling and tank upgrade decisions.

Work to satisfy this requirement is ongoing. On September 23, 2019 EPA and the Hawaii Department of Health approved the Navy and DLA’s risk assessment that accounts for internal events such as human error and mechanical failure. Additional work to assess the risk posed by external events such as earthquakes, fires and flooding is still underway, and the Navy and DLA have submitted a scope of work for this next phase to EPA and the Hawaii Department of Health for review and approval or disapproval.

The Navy and DLA also provided EPA and the Hawaii Department of Health with a report, titled The Red Hill Alternative Location Study, that compares the risks and benefits between the current fuel storage facility location and alternative fuel storage facility locations.

Please note that redacted versions of the risk assessment and location study are available for viewing at right. Due to Federal contracting regulations and national security concerns, some information, such as the cost of constructing the new facility and specific information on the facilities’ capacities, cannot be publicly released. The Navy’s summary of the assessment results is also available.