WEBVTT

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Welcome to Let's Talk Redhill , your

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source for the latest updates and

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insights on the Navy's progress at the

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Red Hill Bulk Field Storage Facility .

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This podcast is dedicated to keeping

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you informed , addressing your concerns ,

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and sharing progress straight from the

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experts leading the way . Hi , I'm Rear

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Admiral Mark Williams , and welcome to

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another episode of Let's Talk Red Hill .

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Today we're diving into a key part of

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our decommissioning operations called

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pigging . It's a process that might

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sound a little bit unusual at first ,

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but it plays a critical role in

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cleaning the pipelines before we can

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safely move on to the next step in the

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decommissioning of the Red Hill Bulk

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fuel storage facility . Joining me

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today is Steven Chow , one of our task

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force facilities engineers . Who's been

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overseeing the technical aspects of

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this operation . Steven , thank you for

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coming back . Thank you , Admiral .

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It's great to be here and help shed

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some light on what pigging is and why

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it's important to our mission . So

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alright , let's , let's start at the

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beginning . Piging is gonna sound very

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strange to a lot of people . What

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exactly is it ? So for industries using

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pipelines , a pig is a device that's

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used for various purposes . It's

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inserted into the pipe and travels from

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one point to another . The term has

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been affectionately coined due to the

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squealing noises it makes as the device

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passes through the pipeline . There are

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many different types of pigs including

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advanced pipeline inspection gauges or

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PIGs which can take detailed

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measurements as it moves through the

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pipe . For our purposes , we will only

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be using a flexible foam plug to

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basically clean the pipeline before

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they're cut and removed . So to your

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point , these pigs are gonna help clean

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the pipelines before we actually remove

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them . That's correct . Think of it

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like , uh , wiping a tabletop but in

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three dimensions . Our pig will wipe

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all the surface of the pipeline

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interior in one pass , pushing residual

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fuel from one end through the length

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until it comes out on the other end .

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And we've completed the , the bulk fuel ,

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uh , defueling , uh , what's left in

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the pipelines . Uh , great question .

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Uh , bulk defueling of the pipelines

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was achieved via mostly gravity flow .

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There may still be pockets of residual

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fuel trapped where physical barriers

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created traps or surface tension

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prevented complete draining of the

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pipeline . And and why is this

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important for us to remove this

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residual fuel from the pipelines ?

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Safety and environmental protection are

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top priorities , so we wanna make sure

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that no fuel vapors can endanger our

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cutting crews . We also don't want to

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have any residual fuel spill from the

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pipe sections while it's being handled

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during lifting or transport . Picking

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the pipeline will dramatically reduce

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these risks . So let's spend all the

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time . Can you walk us through the

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specifics on how this picking operation

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would be conducted ? Sure , first we

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identify and isolate the section of

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pipeline we want to pig . We carefully

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remove the pipe spools and or valves ,

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creating a launching and receiving

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location . We set up robust spill

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containment of both the launching and

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receiving ends . The pig is then

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launched where it'll be pulled by cable

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or pushed by compressed air . As it

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slowly moves through the pipe section ,

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fuel will be pushed ahead of the pig .

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And collected at the receiving location ,

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the process is repeated for each

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section with a new pig until the pig

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comes out squeaky or squealy clean .

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Residual fuel will then be stored ,

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handled , and disposed of off island ,

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similar to the sludge in the tank

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bottoms . And how many pipelines are we

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talking about ? The Red Hill facility

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has 3 main product pipelines uh

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traveling the 3 miles from Red Hill

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down to Joint Base Pearl Harbor . This

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here is actually our smallest of the 3

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pipelines , and the , uh , the larger

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one is actually twice as wide . So you

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can see this gives you a scale of what

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the work is that what is that we have

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coming up for us . And and how does

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pigging help us , uh , meet our

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responsibilities to protect the

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environment ? Well , we expect that

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this pigging operation will capture the

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largest portion of remaining residual

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fuel , bringing us that much closer to

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ensuring that 100% of the fuel has been

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removed from the facility . Pigging

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will greatly reduce the risk of any

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spills during the next steps of the

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pipeline removal process . We're also

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doing this with close collaboration

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with the EP and DOH because

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transparency and safety are central to

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everything we do . So if there's one

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thing , you know , one , thank you for

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breaking this down . If there's one

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thing that you want our listeners and

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the viewers to take away from this

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episode , what would it be ? I would

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say that , uh , piggy may seem like a

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simple process compared to the other

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more technical and complex operations

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we're doing to clean the tanks and

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remove the pipelines , but it's

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actually a big milestone for our

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mission and very important for the

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protection of public health and the

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environment . Well said , well said .

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Hey , for our viewers , if you'd like

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to learn more about pigging , see

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videos and photos from our site , or

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read the latest updates about our

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operations , please visit our website

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at www.navy closure taskforce.navy.mil .

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Thanks again to Steven Chow and thanks

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to our community for your continued

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interest and support . Until next time ,

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I'm Rear Admiral Mark Williams and

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thank you for tuning in . Mahalo for

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listening to Let's Talk Red Hill . Stay

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tuned for our next episode and be sure

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to subscribe to stay up to date . Be

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sure to download the mobile app by

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