The Navy announced Tuesday that it has awarded a contract to Hawaii-based Nakupuna Cos. to develop a public outreach program to look for proposals on how to repurpose the underground Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility after the military removes the roughly 104 million gallons of fuel stored in the facility's aging World War II-era tanks.
“Nakupuna and its team of sub-consultants will solicit and consider all ideas received from the community with an emphasis on citizens on Oahu, ” the Navy said in a Tuesday news release. “Based on this input, the Navy will meet with the Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) and Hawaii Department of Health (DOH ) to select the top five ideas, from the public, with the most merit and benefit for further consideration. The top five ideas will be further evaluated on feasibility considering environmental, engineering, maintenance, safety, cost and benefit. The final analysis will be presented to the state, DOH and EPA for review and consideration.”
In its news release, the Navy called Nakupuna “a Native Hawaiian-owned and local small business.” Representatives of Nakupuna could not be reached for comment and did not respond to an email from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, but according to the company's website it was “established to provide knowledge-based services to Department of Defense and government clients ” and maintains offices in Hono lulu and Washington, D.C.,…
