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FYI: Sen. White Thanks WAPA Employees

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July 23, 2008 – Senator Celestino A. White Sr. sent thanks and praises to WAPA employees for working above and beyond the call of duty in ending the latest series of rotating power outages.
"While we have legitimate concerns about the rising cost of power, we often forget the rank and file workers of WAPA who struggle day and night to keep an antiquated power system on-line," said Senator White. "During this latest crisis, the employees rose to the challenge, working more than 24 hours straight to restore power to the islands."
The failure of unit 23 last week Thursday meant that WAPA could not deliver almost half of the St. Thomas-St. John district's power requirements. WAPA resorted to rotating power outages that hampered businesses and residents alike and shortened the life of appliances and electrical equipment.
"Breakdowns happen, but how people respond to such challenges is how we measure their worthiness on the job" said Senator White. "I have to send kudos as well to WAPA Executive Director Hugo Hodge, Jr. and his efficient team of managers who somehow got the needed parts to St. Thomas a day ahead of schedule."
Senator White expressed pride at the skill and dedication of the WAPA team while pointing out that the job they do is probably more difficult than that of any other power plant in the country.
"We operate in isolation, far away from the comfort of back-up grids used on the mainland," said Senator White. "We do not have the luxury of expert consultants, parts that can be trucked within hours or neighboring power plants that can help.
"When something breaks, as often happens in power plants anywhere, we rely on our well trained, highly skilled and very effective WAPA crew to patch things together in record time to get our lights back on. So when you see an employee of WAPA give them a "high five' or just say THANK YOU for a job well done," concluded Senator White.

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