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Charlotte Amalie
Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesLANDFILL, SEWAGE PROBLEMS STILL UNRESOLVED

LANDFILL, SEWAGE PROBLEMS STILL UNRESOLVED

A five-hour Senate committee hearing Friday night partly billed as a forum to extract information from government officials about efforts to meet court-imposed deadlines to get the St. Croix sewage system operational never quite got there.
Instead, three members of the Planning and Environmental Protection Committee learned that the Public Works Department still hadn’t made any progress toward meeting U.S. Environmental Protection Agency mandates at the Bovoni landfill on St. Thomas. Public Works officials blamed their inaction on the lack of money, despite assurance from Commissioner Harold Thompson Jr. to the committee more than two months ago that several of the fixes would be completed by now.
In a consent order the EPA issued in March, Public Works was, among other things, to install a security fence around the perimeter of the Bovoni landfill, post warning signs and remove used oil and old batteries.
To assist in that effort, the EPA gave the V.I. government a $1 million check last October,with the money to be split evenly between Public Works and the Planning and Natural Resources Department. PNR has used part of its $500,000 to hire a landfill inspector.
However, Thompson told the committee that he still hasn’t received the Public Works share from the Government House. Without the half million dollars, Public Works officials said, they cannot post the $4,800 worth of warning signs at the St. Thomas landfill.
This contention left committee members incredulous.
Thompson said "administrative glitches" have kept his department from getting its money.
EPA Virgin Islands coordinator Jim Casey said EPA officials inspected the landfill on Tuesday and found a large pool of used oil seeping into the ground.
"Everyday there is something in the newspapers about the sewage problems and the landfill problems, and you can’t even post signs for $4,800?" Committee chair Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg asked Thompson.
Sen. Donald "Ducks" Cole expressed similar skepticism. "The signs aren’t up; the oil is leaking," he said. "Something is wrong."
Meanwhile, June 30 was the deadline a federal court judge imposed on Public Works to have the problem-plagued St. Croix wastewater system fully operational. Inoperable pump stations have caused Public Works to discharge millions of gallons of sewage into the sea for the past 10 months.
When asked Friday night — June 30 — whether Public Works had met the court-imposed mandates, Thompson was vague and noncommittal. "We’re making good progress to complete the goal," he said twice.
In a May 30 order, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Moore said that past government excuses such as a lack of funds will not be accepted as reasons for missing the June 30 deadline "absent extraordinary circumstances."
Moore said government failure to meet the deadline would result in contempt-of-court citations with possible penalties of fines and/or incarceration for government officials, including members of the Public Finance Authority and the Finance Department.
At Friday's hearing, Public Works officials tried to counteract the negatives within their department with good news. They said a request for proposals has gone out for a compactor for the Anguilla landfill on St. Croix. The device would pack down garbage from the top at the landfill and lessen the likelihood of the formation of air pockets that develop methane gas as trash decomposes.
The lack of a compactor is one reason fires break out on a consistent basis at the landfill, Public Works solid waste official Roan Creque said.
Other projects near completion, Public Works witnesses said, are a new wastewater treatment plant on St. John and the imminent startup of work at the Turpentine Run-Mangrove Lagoon wastewater treatment plant on St. Thomas.

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