Just a week before a round of public hearings on the V.I. Water and Power Authority’s plans to fuel two proposed waste-to-power plants with petroleum coke, a delegation of local lawmakers, environmentalists and WAPA officials are traveling Tuesday to Florida to see a similar plant in operation there.
The group, led by Sen. Craig Barshinger, will tour the Jacksonville Energy Authority (JEA) St. Johns River plant Wednesday morning. Later that day the group will meet with Jacksonville residents and environmentalists opposed to the plant and also tour a model wind and solar facility.
The Florida plant burns petroleum coke imported from the Hovensa refinery on St. Croix —the same source for so-called pet coke to be used in the plants proposed by WAPA.
“We’ll get the sort of dog-and-pony show from the power station officials in the morning and then we’ll get another view from the Sierra Club in the afternoon,” said Paul Chakroff, a St. Croix environmentalist who has been vocally opposed to WAPA’s plans. “I think it will be a very balanced trip,” he said.
Sens. Sammuel Sanes and Nereida Rivera-O’Reilly will also go, as will WAPA Executive Director Hugo Hodge Jr.
“I’m sure the senators will be able to see it with their own eyes and have any of their questions answered before the hearings,” Hodge said Monday.
Four public hearings are planned for next week on St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John to address growing public concern over the use of pet coke—a petroleum-based derivative of the oil refining process—to supplement the primary fuel of garbage that would otherwise head for the landfills.
A signal that lawmakers were starting to put the brakes on the project came on Dec. 21, when the V.I. Legislature decided to postpone a final vote to approve two lease agreements between the V.I. government and Alpine Energy Group. Alpine is the Colorado-based company seeking parcels of government-owned land in Bovoni where Alpine plans to build a waste- and petroleum-fueled coke power plant for WAPA.
The St. Croix facility is planned for a parcel along the Martin Marietta Channel between HOVENSA and Renaissance properties the on the south shore. WAPA has signed two 20-year power purchase agreements with Alpine.
Senators called for more independent information before giving a green light to the leases.
While the lawmakers and other guests on the fact-finding mission to Jacksonville this week won’t have a perfect comparison to go by, Hodge said they should be able to see some of the same components of what is proposed for the territory.
“We will actually have more control of [our emissions] than what they have there,” he said, adding that he welcomed the chance to be there in person to address the senators’ concerns.
“I don’t think it will change anyone’s mind,” Chakroff said of the tour Monday. “But it may generate information that Hugo Hodge and I can use for presenting our positions. I think it will be a worthwhile field trip.”
Several public meetings next week will frame a Jan. 13 senate hearing on St. Thomas that will include Alpine officials testifying before the Committee on Economic Development, Energy and Technology. That committee, which is chaired by Barshinger, will revisit the Alpine leases that were shelved on Dec. 21.
Two days before the hearing, a public meeting is planned for Monday, Jan. 11 at 6 p.m. in the Great Hall on the St. Croix campus of UVI, while a meeting sponsored by WAPA and the V.I. Waste Management officials will be held the following day at 6 p.m. at Charlotte Amalie High School.
On Wednesday, Jan. 13, the same day as the senate hearing on St. Thomas, Crucians in Focus plan to discuss the issue at 6 p.m. at Gertrude’s Restaurant on St. Croix.
Finally, St. John residents will get a chance to weigh in Thursday, Jan. 14 at 6 p.m. at the St. John Legislature.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The original version of this story incorrectly stated that the St. Croix facility would be built on land owned by HOVENSA. It was corrected at 10:20 a.m. on Jan. 5, 2010.