Navy Whistleblower Pursued Fraud Case Against Red Hill Contractors, Unsealed Documents Show

Photo: Prior to the fuel leaks at Red Hill in 2021, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Shannon Bencs raised concerns with her superiors about the lines that ran through the underground facility’s tunnels. Newly unsealed court records show she subsequently filed a False Claims Act case against contractors responsible for maintaining, inspecting and repairing many of those lines. (David Croxford/Civil Beat/2023)

The DOJ decided not to intervene in the case, but it hasn’t released any details on why.

Newly unsealed court documents show that federal authorities spent the past two years investigating but ultimately declined to pursue a Navy whistleblower’s claim that private contractors helped cause the dire fuel leaks at the military’s Red Hill fuel storage facility by fraudulently cutting corners on their work there.

The U.S. Department of Justice did not give a reason in those documents for why it opted not to intervene in the whistleblower’s case, which was filed under seal in January 2022 by Navy Lt. Cmdr. Shannon Bencs. 

The federal agency instead requested that the documents related to their investigation into the matter remain sealed.

“She had to sacrifice her career so that people on the island of Oahu could be safe. She basically has thrown away her career to speak out on behalf of others.”

—Travis Bencs

Bencs, a former Red Hill fuel director, had previously reported grave mismanagement and abuse at the underground fuel facility in early 2021, months before fuel leaks there contaminated the drinking water and sickened hundreds of military families. 

After Bencs raised those concerns, however, her Navy superiors removed her from her job duties.

The documents that were unsealed late last week in U.S. District Court show that Bencs subsequently filed a False Claims Act case against five private contractors for doing shoddy work at Red Hill, prompting the DOJ to investigate and weigh whether to pursue its own fraud charges against them.

Those contractors — Georgia-based construction company Pond & Co., Louisiana-based engineering company Aptim Corp., Texas-based infrastructure company AECOM and Colorado-based construction company Hensel Phelps — collected military contracts worth nearly $400 million to maintain, inspect and repair key, vulnerable systems at Red Hill, according to Bencs’ newly unsealed complaint.

The systems those companies were paid to oversee included the miles of fuel and fire suppression lines that run through the storage facilities.

“The Contractors failed at the most basic level to install and maintain the proper components and equipment – such as installing synthetic plastic pipes instead of steel pipes to run alongside fire-hot fuel pipes – throughout the Red Fuel facility,” the complaint says. “These failures were themselves contributing factors to the fuel leaks.”

None of the contractors responded to a request for comment Monday. 

Bencs declined to comment Monday because she didn’t have the proper approvals within the Navy. Her husband, Travis Bencs, said in an interview that she filed the False Claims case to stop waste, fraud and abuse.

“She had to sacrifice her career so that people on the island of Oahu could be safe. She basically has thrown away her career to speak out on behalf of others,” Bencs said.

He added that his wife hasn’t received anything in writing from the DOJ regarding their decision not to pursue.

Carl Varady, who represented Bencs, said in an email Monday that “after candid discussions with the government attorneys regarding their conclusions, my co-counsel and I concluded that […]

Full article: www.civilbeat.org