The U.S. Navy has pledged to be transparent about its work at the Red Hill fuel storage facility, but on Wednesday, the service was a little more forthcoming than it intended.
A Navy spokesman, meaning to share a press release, accidentally sent Civil Beat reporter Christina Jedra a copy of the Red Hill team’s draft communications plan for the rest of the year.
Oops.
And the 15-page document — which honestly looks pretty much like it’s done (or close enough for government work, as The Blog likes to say) — provides a rare inside look at the military’s public affairs strategy.
Apparently, the Navy wants to clean up its image because the military is feeling anxious about the tens of thousands of acres of land it has under state leases that expire between 2028 and 2030.
“Retention of these parcels is crucial for the entire joint force and has far-reaching impact,” the plan says. “However, strongly held opposing perspectives about the military’s footprint, activities and policies exist across the state.”
Leaks at Red Hill that tainted Pearl Harbor’s drinking water with fuel and contaminated the soil with toxic firefighting chemicals have only reinforced the public’s perception of “poor DoD environmental stewardship,” they say, and that needs to change.
Unfortunately, Pearl Harbor residents continue to voice their concerns that their water is unsafe and that they don’t believe Navy test results showing no apparent contamination.
The plan: Convince the public the water is fine by flooding the zone with positive media coverage and information about the Navy’s water quality efforts.
First, the Navy would like to see a “measurable shift” in news coverage. As of now, the document says, there is only one positive story for every 12 negative ones. The Navy is gunning for a ratio of one positive story for every four negative ones. They hope that change will lead to an “increased public perception” that the Navy and regulators are “collaborating and making progress.”
Second, the Navy wants everyone to worry less about the water quality. Specifically, it wants to reduce complaint calls by 50% by “saturating the information environment with factual information about Navy drinking water initiatives.”
Note: Residents continue to report sheens on their water and health symptoms they believe to be related to contamination. The Navy says it has been doing forensic water testing around Pearl Harbor since April and, according to them, everything looks great. However, state and federal regulators still haven’t agreed that the Navy’s testing plan is adequate to get to the bottom of things.
But who needs testing when you have reassurances from the Navy? The plan suggests words of affirmation should be enough to “decrease public anxiety over water safety related to Red Hill.”
All in all, the plan says it seeks to promote open communication and accessibility of information so that the public is informed. The Sunshine Blog is all for that. But we’re not holding our breath.
The Navy has a pretty poor track record when it comes to open communication and accessibility. It’s skipped meetings and evaded questions from the public oversight group formed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It often dodges questions and has even been caught trying to outright hide the truth. And don’t even get us started on the military’s abysmal track record on responding to public records requests about Red Hill. (Read Civil Beat’s coverage of all of the above here.)
The Blog hopes the Navy is serious about a genuine change in its bad communications behavior. Here’s what a Navy spokesman wrote in an email to Jedra when he figured out the mistake:
“The draft plan describes NCTF-RH (Navy Closure Task Force Red Hill) efforts to communicate consistently and factually with the public and other stakeholders about the Navy’s important, ongoing efforts to safely close Red Hill and remediate the environment. NCTF-RH respects its obligation to use our resources wisely and this document is a planning tool that helps us focus our efforts over the next six months as we strive to keep the community consistently informed of our progress.”
A good sign of an enlightened Navy would be if the unfortunate sailor who accidentally hit send on the email to Jedra isn’t made to walk the plank.
West Side stories: Democrats in Maili on Wednesday settled on Cedric Gates, Stacelynn Eli and Cross Crabbe as their recommendations for Gov. Josh Green to choose from when he picks a new state senator for District 22. Until last month, the seat representing Ko Olina, Nanakuli, Maili, Waianae, Makaha and Makua was held by Maile Shimabukuro, who stepped down. She has endorsed Gates.
Both Eli, a former state representative, and Gates, the current state rep from the area, have filed to run for the vacant Senate seat. And whoever is named by Green to hold down the fort will likely have a big advantage in the Aug. 10 primary. Incumbents almost always win — even ones that are appointed.
That point was brought up at the Maili meeting by former Democrat Party of Hawaii Chair Alex Santiago, who suggested that the process was … well, not very democratic. Santiago reminded everyone that it was the controversial appointment of a legislator by Republican Gov. Linda Lingle that pushed the Democrat-controlled Legislature to change the law so that the party of the lawmaker that vacates a seat — and it’s almost always a Democrat — gets to select who a governor can pick to fill it.
Gates defended the process, while Eli agreed with Santiago that the incumbent would have the edge in the primary, adding that the community had no choice but to follow the appointment process. Whoever wins the seat will face a Republican on Nov. 5.
Crabbe, meantime, is running to replace Gates in House District 45 (Waianae, Makaha), a contest that includes three other Democrats and two Republicans. How weird would it be if he first gets named senator and then wins the House seat? Pretty weird.
From the Civil Beat inbox: Just another day at the office. The Blog has no comment.
And in case you missed it, this exchange played out in the comments, starting with the imposter:
