March Joint Section Meeting with SAME

Join us on March 26th from 11:30am to 1pm at Gabe's Bar & Kitchen for a lunchtime section meeting and presentation! We will be joined by our fellow Society of Military Engineers (SAME) Minnesota post and Sam Prichard, who will be presenting "From Disaster to Decommissioning: O’ahu’s Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility". This meeting is $20 for all attendees and will provide you with 1.0 PDH credit.

Abstract:

Once heralded as an engineering marvel that was vital to ensuring our national security, the bulk fuel storage facility at Red Hill has become a cautionary tale of the negative impacts large infrastructure programs can have on the environment and on popular opinion. In November of 2021, shortly after Thanksgiving, hundreds of military families on the Hawaiian island of O’ahu began to complain that their water smelled like gas; these complaints were accompanied by as many hospital trips with symptoms related to gasoline poisoning. As the next days unfolded, thousands of military personnel and their families were evacuated from their homes as it became clear they were being poisoned by fuel leaking from the Red Hill facility. Years later, after extended groundwater monitoring, defueling and pending site closure, and the subject of lawsuits, the water contamination from Red Hill serves as a stark reminder of the fragility of our natural resources. It further compels us to take precautionary measures when considering how large works of infrastructure interact with the environment. 

Speaker Bio:

Sam Prichard has recently joined WSP as a Water Resources Engineer/Consultant. A graduate of West Point, NY, Sam was honorably discharged after eight years of service in the US Army. During his service, he spent two years with the US Army Corps of Engineers, conducting inspections and quality assurance on ongoing projects on the nation’s dam and levee systems. At his final duty station in Hawaii, Sam was a project manager on brigade staff when his unit – the 130th Engineer Brigade – was called upon to assist the response to the Red Hill water contamination crisis. Most recently, Sam worked as a project engineer for Hensel Phelps Construction Company, building a $430M upgrade to the wastewater treatment plant serving greater Honolulu. 

Schedule:

11:30 am - Buffet lunch and networking

12pm - Presentation

12:45 - Q&A