Navy Signs New Red Hill Administrative Consent Order with EPA

21 December 2022

WASHINGTON – On Dec. 20, 2022, the Department of the Navy (DON) and Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) signed a new Administrative Consent Order with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to address the defueling and closure of the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility (RHBFSF), and improvements to the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam drinking water system. The Consent Order is not yet effective; it will be subject to public comment through February 6, 2023, after which EPA will consider whether to sign the Order and bring it into effect, or to modify specific terms in light of public comments.

This 2023 Consent Order will work in concert with the Hawaii Department of Health’s (DOH’s) Emergency Order of May 2022, and the 2015 Administrative Order on Consent signed by DON, DLA, DOH, and EPA. Collectively, the requirements of these orders ensure that the DON may continue to deliver safe drinking water, and the DON and DLA may continue the progress that they have made in planning for defueling and closure, operate under a clear framework to address the impacts of past petroleum releases from the RHBFSF, and perform the work safely and expeditiously.

“This Consent Order is an important instrument to maintain our progress in safe and effective defueling and closure at Red Hill, as well as the ongoing improvement of the drinking water system at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam,” said Karnig Ohannessian, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Environment and Mission Readiness. “I look forward to our continued collaboration with the Environmental Protection Agency to protect human health and the environment in Hawaii.”

The 2023 Consent Order will terminate when EPA certifies that all the aspects of the Consent Order and the accompanying Statement of Work are complete.

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