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Stuck Navy ship failed to report sewage release near Hawaii shore

5,000 gallons of raw wastewater went into sea during Port Royal grounding

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

The Navy is pointing to a breakdown in communication in failing to report to state officials a 5,000-gallon release of raw sewage Saturday night by the grounded cruiser Port Royal, which was refloated early Monday.

The state Department of Health revealed the information yesterday. The Navy had not mentioned the sewage release at news conferences discussing the incident.

"The Navy did its best to keep all the responding organizations informed amid rapidly changing circumstances," said Capt. W. Scott Gureck, a spokesman for U.S. Pacific Fleet. "Any breakdown in communication under these circumstances was unintentional."

The omission was one more bit of embarrassment heaped onto the 3 1/2-day spectacle of a 9,600-ton warship capable of shooting down ballistic missiles in space sitting helplessly aground in 17 to 22 feet of water just off Honolulu International Airport's reef runway.

The Navy said it recovered one of two bow anchors and chains yesterday, dropped by the Port Royal to help free its bow from the rocky and sandy bottom.

Officials said the centerline and starboard anchors and their chains weigh 40 tons. Subject to weather conditions, the Navy said it plans to retrieve the remaining anchor and chain today using the salvage vessel Salvor.

The Clean Water Branch of the state Department of Health said it was notified on Monday by the state Office of Hazard Evaluation and Emergency Response of the raw sewage discharge between late evening Saturday and 10 a.m. Sunday.

The 567-foot Pearl Harbor cruiser ran aground about 8:30 p.m. Thursday a half-mile from shore.

"No official notification (of the sewage discharge) was given to the Department of Health, even though two DOH staff persons attended a meeting at 2 p.m. Feb. 8, 2009 in Building 150 (at the) Pearl Harbor Naval Base," the Health Department said in a release.

The Health Department said it confirmed the sewage release yesterday morning.

Gureck said had the Navy not discharged the wastewater, it would have backed up onto the ship. About 130 of the 324 sailors had been off-loaded by the time the ship was refloated, officials said.

"The reason (the sewage) was released was to protect the health and welfare of the crew," Gureck said, adding the release was done at ebb tide to carry it away from recreational waters.

Officials said Navy ships can store about a day's wastewater, which is released when a ship is at sea.

There remained questions about the Health Department's jurisdiction regarding a Navy vessel, but Health Department spokeswoman Janice Okubo said the Navy should have notified the state.

The release of 1,000 gallons or more sewage by a permit holder is considered a significant amount, and the public is required to be notified, Okubo said.

The Health Department also said it was notified Monday of the bypass of 12,700 gallons of treated but not ultravioletly disinfected effluent from the Navy's Fort Kamehameha wastewater treatment plant. The release occurred near the Pearl Harbor channel.

In response, the Health Department is advising the public to stay out of waters fronting the reef runway from Ke'ehi Channel to the Pearl Harbor channel.

A meeting of state and federal agencies, including the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, the Navy, Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was held yesterday to plan for an investigation of the impact of the grounding on the marine environment.

The Port Royal is expected to head to drydock by the end of the week for repairs.