Planning and Natural Resources Commissioner Dean Plaskett showed up at Tuesday night's Environmental Protection Agency public hearing with paperwork indicating that Gov. Charles W. Turnbull had just signed into law an executive order approving rules and regulations for managing solid and hazardous waste at the territory's landfills.
It was a step toward possibly fending off the looming federal takeover of administering the regulatory program at the territory's dumps – the Bovoni landfill on St. Thomas and the Anguilla site on St. Croix.
Officials of the Planning and Natural Resources and Public Works Departments pleaded again Tuesday night for more time to comply with EPA ultimatums that have a July 24 deadline for public comment, after which EPA officials will decide what action to take.
At the hearing in the Education Department Curriculum Center in Anna's Retreat, discussion was specific to the Bovoni landfill management. A St. Croix hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Curricululm Center in Christiansted.
In his testimony, Plaskett announced that the governor had just that afternoon signed the solid and hazardous waste regulations. He and Sonia Nelthropp, a consultant to Public Works for solid waste and waste water management, told an EPA team from the mainland that the territory now needs time to implement the rules and regs and to monitor compliance.
Plaskett also stated that his deparment has hired Emmanuel Liburd, an environmental engineer, to be responsible for inspecting the landfills and ensurinjg compliance. He is enpowered to issue non-compliance orders to Public Works for any violations, the commissioner said. Noting that "Public Works has a tremendous mandate," Plaskett then added, "We do carry out enforcement actions against sister government agencies."
Government House spokeswoman Rena McBrowne said Wednesday morning that she did not have any information as yet on the document the governor signed, including what it covered, when the governor signed it or what the process would be for its implementation. She said James O'Bryan Jr., the governor's assistant for public affairs, is off island.
Jim Casey, EPA administrator for the territory, said the governor's approval of the waste regulations "has been a condition that EPA has required from the outset" as one of several steps toward receiving EPA approval of a regulatory program for solid waste. Casey said Wednesday that he learned of the governor's action at the hearing and had not seen the signed document.
Plaskett said the 300-page document had been reviewed and approved by Attorney General Iver Stridironl. "What this does is make the rules and regulations take effect," Plaskett said. The document will be submitted to the Legislature "as a formality to give them an opportunity to pass comments" but does not require a public hearing or Senate approval, he said.
Casey said hiring Liburd as staff to administer the regulatory program complies with another of the "list of conditions" remaining to be fulfilled by the territory under the EPA ultimatum issued earlier this year. Another is the establishment of a fund to operate the regulatory program. The EPA has provided seed money toward the creation of the fund, he said, but there must be "a continued maintenance fund" and "we are not sure where that is going to come from."
In addition to government steps, Casey said, EPA authorities "really do want to take into account the sentiments of the general public and make sure the public understands some of the consequences if the EPA assumes the primary regulatory role." A vocal element of the public "has been asking the EPA to step in," he said.
Plaskett made a point of stating Tuesday night that if the EPA does take over regulatory management, it will not bring any new federal funds into the territory to do so.
About 40 people, many of them representing government agencies and local conservation groups, filled the seats at the Curriculum Center. There were pleas for the feds to hold off and pleas for them to move in. After the meeting, Plaskett said he intended "to write a letter to EPA Region II administrator Jeanne Fox asking her not to disapprove the regulatory program."
EPA official John Filippelli, who works with the agency's Resource Conservation and Recovery Act program area, termed the governor's action Tuesday a sign of progress. "It's good to see the agencies are interested in movement. We look forward to a formal submittal," he said.
Filippelli said the hearings are part of a mandated federal process because the territory's existing landfill program is unacceptable to the EPA and faces disapproval. For now, Filippelli said, there is no firm plan for a federal takeover of regulations management at either landfill. Until the comment period concludes, he said, there will be no discussion of what further action may be taken.
In April, in a separate order, the EPA told the V.I. government to take immediate action to clean up waste oil and discarded batteries at the St. Thomas landfill. According to Filippelli, the steps being taken to respond to that directive are running on a separate track from the territory's efforts to address the lack of an overall solid and hazardous waste management plan.
