Navy says Red Hill cameras may not be operable for defueling – Honolulu Star-Advertiser
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The Navy says that repairs to its video surveillance system at Red Hill, where seven out of 37 cameras remain broken, may not be completed before it begins draining all 104 million gallons of fuel from its underground tanks, which is slated to begin in February 2024 and take four months.
The camera system hasn’t been fully operational for at least two years.
The lengthy timeline for repairs means that if there is a fuel spill or other accident at Red Hill — as occurred last month when approximately 1,300 gallons of toxic fire suppression chemicals spewed from a pipe — there’s a higher likelihood it won’t be caught by the Navy’s surveillance system and that footage won’t be available for regulators to review.
To compensate, the Navy says it will add more workers to keep watch over the facility once it begins draining the tanks.
“The surveillance cameras installed act to enhance the operators’ ability to view the tanks, pipeline and equipment,” said a Navy spokesperson by email. “In essence the cameras act as a staff multiplier to alleviate the need to have as many observers when doing fueling operations. When Joint Task Force-Red Hill commences defueling, critical areas that are not visible due to inoperable cameras will be manned by observers and operators.”
Naval Information Warfare Center, a Navy entity, was hired to do maintenance and repairs on the system under a contract worth up to $4 million. Its subcontractor, Integrated Security Technologies, has been doing most of the work. The biggest challenge has been global supply chain shortages for camera parts, the Navy said. Military officials estimate it could take six to 18 months or more to fix all of the cameras.
“As with all equipment that have chips or electronic components, there are global shortages that impact availability,” the Navy said by email. “This is a legacy system, with a number of the parts that are no longer being produced.”
The Navy said a “functional alternative solution needs to be identified and developed for many of the non-operational cameras” and that new fiber-optic cables will need to be run, adding additional time. Wireless cameras are not an option, the Navy said, due to security vulnerabilities.
Hawaii Sierra Club Director Wayne Tanaka said he was confused as to why it would take the Navy so long to fix its video cameras.
“It doesn’t make sense that it would take 18 months to procure seven cameras. I can go online and order a closed-circuit television system right now with free shipping,” he said. “Something is off.”
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