Following through on warnings issued earlier this year, the federal government announced initial steps Monday toward taking over regulatory oversight of the two Virgin Islands landfills.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s move echoes statements made by its V.I. coordinator, Jim Casey, at a Senate committee meeting in February. Casey told members of the Planning and Environmental Protection Committee then that after years of V.I. government failure to manage solid-waste facilities according to agreements with the federal government, the EPA was set to declare the local landfill program unsatisfactory.
In 1993, the V.I. government applied to the EPA for approval of a solid-waste program. According to the EPA, the territory was then advised that to receive full approval, it would have to have regulations comparable to or stricter than federal guidelines in place by May 1996. The EPA also called for the local government to commit staff and financial resources to operate the territory’s two main landfills in accordance with federal standards.
Seven years later, the Planning and Natural Resources Department has yet to submit an acceptable plan. Meanwhile, because of the threat to human health and the environment, the EPA in April ordered the cleanup of the Bovoni landfill on St. Thomas. Issued with the consent of the local government, the action was one step short of the agency taking unilateral action to force compliance.
"In the interest of the people of the Virgin Islands and their natural environment, EPA is prepared to assume the primary role of enforcing federal solid-waste laws in the territory," EPA regional administrator Jeanne Fox said in a release from the agency Monday. "Our agency has been unable to obtain the regulatory and resource changes by the Virgin Islands needed to approve its program."
During the period when federal regulations have gone unadopted, EPA inspections of the territory’s landfills have found motor vehicle and marine batteries leaking lead-acid, improper storage of used oil, underground methane fires and the contamination of waters adjacent to the dumps.
The EPA will hold two public hearings to discuss the possible regulatory takeover. The first will be at 7 p.m. on June 27 in the Education Department Curriculum Center in Tutu on St. Thomas. The second is set for 7 p.m. on June 28 at the Curriculum Center on St. Croix.
After the hearings, the EPA will decide whether to disapprove formally the territory’s solid-waste landfill program. According to the EPA, the process will take at least 90 days from May 8.
The EPA’s long-sought regulatory program, which is supposed to be implemented by PNR, entails permitting, inspection and enforcement of federal regulations at the territory’s landfills. At the Bovoni and Anguilla sites, PNR would have oversight of the Public Works Department, which operates the local facilities.
Even if the EPA takes on a larger role in enforcing solid-waste regulations, Public Works will continue to operate the landfills and PNR will still have the authority to enforce local laws and regulations. The federal agency would assume PNR’s role of primary enforcement agency by inspecting and ensuring that the landfills meet federal regulations — and by taking action when they do not.
"This is an unfortunate situation," Fox said. "The nation’s solid-waste laws were designed to be implemented and enforced locally by states and territories because local governments can generally deal with their solid waste needs better and faster than other government entities."
In order for the EPA to approve solid-waste management programs, Fox said, local governments must have laws and regulations in place that are comparable to federal requirements, as well as funding and staff in place to monitor compliance.
