The V.I. Legislature will discuss a 30-year lease with AEG Bovoni for a refuse-derived-fuel processing facility in Estate Bovoni on St. Thomas Tuesday, and on St. Croix Wednesday. The V.I. Waste Management Authority, Government House, and the V.I. Water and Power Authority are pushing the plans.
The St. Croix Environmental Association, St. Croix’s largest and most influential environmental organization, has also come out in favor of this project after it was changed to eliminate the use of petroleum coke as a fuel. Others, such as Susan Parten of Community Environmental Services, remain opposed to the project on environmental grounds.
The V.I. Waste Management Authority and the V.I.Water and Power Authority entered into an agreement with AEG Bovoni parent Alpine Energy Group (AEG) for it to build trash processing facilities on St. Croix and St. Thomas that would supply refuse-derived fuel pellets to feed a trash-to-energy plant it will build on St. Croix.
The goal is to expand the territory’s energy base away from its current exclusive reliance on pricey fuel oil, while disposing of trash cheaply and allowing WMA to close the territory’s two landfills. Instead of burying trash at the landfill, the territory would ship much smaller quantities of trash off-island for disposal.
The government owns the proposed site in Bovoni and, by law, the Legislature must approve all leases of government land that extend more than one year. The two proposed St. Croix facilities are on private land: a 16-acre parcel on St. Croix’s southern shore within St. Croix Renaissance Park.
This is the second time the lease has come before the Legislature. Plans put forward in 2010 called for a second, larger power plant on St. Thomas, and for both plants to supplement the trash-based fuel with cheap petroleum coke from the Hovensa refinery.
In the face of stiff environmental opposition, the V.I. Legislature voted down a lease for the St. Thomas RDF facility in March 2010. Senators and residents objected principally to using the very inexpensive, but potentially dirty, petroleum coke as a fuel. These new plans eliminate the St. Thomas plant and plan to use the money-saving petroleum coke.
If approved and completed, the facilities will replace the use of 400,000 barrels of oil each year and help meet a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency mandate to close the Anguilla and Bovoni landfills, according to Government House.
Under the terms of the agreement, AEG will fund the entire $210 million price tag for the project up front and will get revenue both from disposing of the territory’s solid waste and from selling low-cost electricity to WAPA. AEG will guarantee electricity at 10 to 15 cents per kilowatt hour – roughly a quarter of the current retail price of 41 cents per kilowatt hour. Because the plant, if built, will only provide a fraction of total power generation in the territory, ratepayers will see smaller reductions in their actual bills.
The lease sent to the Legislature is for 1A-7 Estate Bovoni, St. Thomas. AEG Bovoni Power President James Beach signed it on Nov. 3, and Gov. deJongh signed off on Dec. 8.
The lease is for a term of 30 years, with options to renew for two 10-year periods. Rent would be $35,700 per year for the first five years, then adjusted based on market rates. As part of the lease, the company is to build the fuel-making facility, offices, and warehouses.
If the Legislature approves the lease, AEG Bovoni will then re-apply for permits. The company withdrew its permit requests in April, pending the approval of the Bovoni lease. After this week’s two hearings, the Legislature will have to meet again in session for a final vote on the matter.
In other news, Thursday, the Committee on Rules and Judiciary will meet to consider the nomination of Dr. Mercedes Dullum for commissioner of Health. Friday, the Committee on Housing and Labor will receive testimony on labor and housing issues, and consider a bill to expand eligibility requirements to participate in the V.I. Low and Moderate Income Affordable Housing Act of 1990.
Personally, I am not in favor of this Alpine deal – AT ALL!
Hopefully, our senators who cannot balance any budget or rein their spending in, shall vote NO on this crucial matter.
Sue Parten has given them lots of information and the public has come out against the Alpine deal which shall only indenture the VI taxpayer to an antiquated WTE system which shall become another BLACK HOLE that our money shall disappear into and that NO-ONE has come out to tell the taxpayer the bottom line of what the costs shall be from start to finish.
Alpine has no history of putting a WTE plant online, the tippage fees are excessive by industry standards and they have penalties in their contract for the VI not producing or providing enough waste to BURN! This, in the day and age of recycling and going with “green technology.” We are going back to the 19th century on this deal and only a few shall profit. Those few will not be the people of the Virgin islands!
The amount of money for them leasing 16 acres to go about the business of creating more pollution in the VI is $1400 plus. ABSURD! No wonder the VI Government continues to raise our taxes and fees as they continue to GIVE AWAY OUR MONEY!
ALPINE has submitted no information to EPA which has already deemed our air pollution in the VI up 20%.
Ms. Cornwall has LIED when stating that the Bovoni lease was needed PRIOR to EPA being able to review Alpine’s information.
If this deal was on the up and up, WHY the deceit? Why approve a lease, to begin with, if you do not know the answers to these questions? How can you?
Here is some information that we should all be aware of as we all know that our illustrious leaders have been known to make “exceptionally bad decisions” in the past. spend our money wastefully, and unless watched like a hawk, shall continue to indebt us to an already outdated technology that can only be said to take us out of the frying pan and directly into the fire.
I, personally, just want to know “how much kick-back are you getting, May and Gov., to imperil the people of the Virgin Islands?
Below are a couple of quotes from Sue Parten, PE, to our Senators. She has given the same and much more information to our Governor who along with May Cornwall/VIWMA who wishes to ram this deal down our throats.
1) AEG has submitted information to EPA that has been deemed “unacceptable” to EPA technical review staff. They’ve also made claims of energy production that are twice what WTE industry experts and advocates say could possibly be produced from VI municipal solid wastes.
2) VIWMA’s executive director has attempted to persuade Senators and the public, falsely, that the Bovoni lease agreement approval is needed before EPA can carry out those reviews. I believe you now have in hand the response directly from EPA on that matter. If you doubt the email’s authenticity, do please follow up directly with Region 2’s head, Judith Enck.
3) A man was recently crushed to death at the Bovoni landfill, in his pickup truck, under circumstances that are such clear and egregious violations of basic landfill operational standards, and in violation of federal OSHA requirements. That occurred under VIWMA’s “watch”. It matters not that the landfills are operated under contracts. It’s upon VIWMA to ensure that basic safety standards are upheld on VIG / VIWMA lands. And, adding to the outrageousness of the situation, VIWMA did not notify OSHA officials of the event, as required under federal law, and instead had local traffic police “investigate” the matter, as though it were a traffic accident. This is despite VIWMA reportedly telling staff working for one of your fellow senators that in fact OSHA had been notified.
Tell your Senators, TODAY, that you do not want the Alpine Bovoni Lease approved and go to the scheduled meeting, tonight at 6PM to voice your distress!
STX – your meeting is scheduled for tomorrow.
Tuesday evening at 6:00 pm on St. Thomas (Ottley Legislative Hall) and
Wednesday evening at 6:00 pm on St. Croix (Lawaetz Conference Room)
To submit written testimony, best to do that today, which you can send to:
[email protected] and [email protected]
JUST SAY: NO!