Following through on its threat to take over the primary role of enforcing federal solid waste laws in the territory, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is holding hearings next week to decide the issue.
On June 27 on St. Thomas and June 28 on St. Croix, the EPA will hold public hearings to discuss its preliminary decision to disapprove the territory’s landfill program and assume a greater role in enforcing federal solid waste laws in the islands.
According to an EPA statement, the agency is taking the approach because the V.I. government has not adopted necessary solid waste regulations or allocated enough funding and staff to deal with solid waste issues. Once the hearings have been held and EPA officials have considered comments from the public, a decision will be made on whether to formally disapprove the territory’s program and assume a greater role in enforcing landfill regulations.
EPA’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 that after years of failing to manage solid-waste facilities according to agreements with the federal government, the EPA was set to declare the V.I. government’s landfill program unsatisfactory. The preliminary decision was made May 8.
The problems, however, are not new. In 1993, the V.I. government applied to the EPA for approval of a solid waste program. According to the EPA, the territory was advised that to receive full approval, regulations comparable to or stricter than federal guidelines would have to be in place by May 1996. Additionally, EPA 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 V.I. 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. While the order was issued with the consent of the local government, the action was one step short of the agency taking unilateral action to force compliance.
The first hearing will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Curriculum Center in Tutu on St. Thomas. Wednesday's hearing will be held at 7 p.m. at the Curriculum Center on St. Croix.
