April 22, 2009 — Every year the Virgin Islands emits 121 metric tons of greenhouse gases for every man, woman and child in the territory, said Carl-Axel Soderberg, director of the Caribbean region for the Environmental Protection Agency, at an Earth Day conference Wednesday.
That's six times as much as the United States as a whole and more than 40 times the rest of Latin America, which produces 2.7 tons per capita. This might be blamed on the presence of the Hovensa oil refinery, Soderberg told the audience in the Great Hall of the University of the Virgin Islands' St. Croix campus, but should still give Virgin Islanders pause and cause for reflection on what can be done locally to cut greenhouse gases linked to global warming.
EPA and local-government agencies gave a series of short presentations about the environmental issues affecting the territory and the role of government agencies in regulating and directly handling waste and pollution problems. Giving overviews of their missions and priorities were officials from the Waste Management Authority, the Water and Power Authority, the Division of Planning and Natural Resources, the Energy Office and the EPA.
Ariel Iglesias of the EPA said there are two contaminated Superfund sites and one other site being cleaned up under a separate program called the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The Superfund sites are in Estate Bethlehem on St. Croix at the site of the former V.I. Chemical Corp., and in the well field around Estate Tutu on St. Thomas.
The V.I. Chemical site was severely contaminated but has been cleaned up and is now in the process of being delisted, Iglesias said. Initially there were barrels of chlorine compounds, chemical reagents and a wide array of other poisonous and hazardous materials.
"When we conducted our initial investigation we discovered over 400 drums that were deteriorated and leaking into the soil," Iglesias said. "But this is one of our successes. The cleanup has been completed and it is now in the process of being delisted."
Work continues on St. Thomas.
"We are monitoring how the plume of contaminants behaves under our remediation actions," Iglesias said.
Superfund sites are generally abandoned former industrial sites, while RCRA sites may still be in use. The RCRA site in the territory is beneath the 2.2 square miles of St. Croix owned by the Hovensa oil refinery.
"Our data and modeling indicate the plume is stable and is not migrating," Iglesias said.
While government agencies have the tasks of regulating and cleaning up pollution, their work is much easier and more effective with public input.
"You are our eyes and ears when we are not there," said Nadine Noorhasan, director of DPNR's Division of Environmental Protection, one of several speakers urging the public to call DPNR and report environmental damage.
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