Gov. John deJongh Jr. said he is looking forward to Monday’s Senate hearing on the proposed Fourth Amendment to the Hovensa refinery agreement.
His comments came after he responded to a letter from Senate President Shawn-Michael Malone outlining the areas of concern senators have over the agreement.
The Senate rejected the proposal in an Aug. 7 vote and, on Oct. 1, forwarded a list of concerns and suggestions for improving the deal, which is designed to govern a one-year sales process for the shuttered refinery on St. Croix.
An issue for some senators is that they want the clarifications written into the agreement, rather than added as a separate letter. Both deJongh and company officials have said they do not want to reopen the negotiations but wanted to clarify and reassure the senators that the territory is protected.
The letter of clarification is signed by owners of the company and deJongh. On Oct. 27 Attorney General Vincent Frazer issued on opinion that, if enacted by the Senate, the agreement and letter will be legally binding on the company.
The governor reiterated the point in Thursday’s statement.
"The attorney general would not recommend to me to sign off on an agreement that does not bind the owners and require them to do certain things upon the approval and that is very clear," he said.
The governor said all parties have come a long way since the acrimonious Aug. 7 Senate session. He urged the senators to keep in mind the importance of generating economic activity at the refinery site, which ceased operations in 2012.
"We can’t lose focus and I hope we don’t lose focus that the intent here is only and primarily to get it into a sales process so that we can get a new buyer for the facility to rejuvenate and have economic activity at the facility," he said.
DeJongh reminded lawmakers of the economic problems that ensued when Hovensa ceased refining at the site and transformed it into an oil storage facility, costing the territory more than 2,000 jobs. The government lost more than $100 million in direct revenues and the economy took a $500 million hit from the lost employment and the economic activity it generated, he said.
"That’s what’s driving this, making sure we can get a purchaser that really is ready and able to give us that sort of economic activity," he said.
While approval of the agreement does not guarantee that the refinery will be sold, deJongh remains hopeful.
"We’ve had a number of companies that continued to express interest in going forward, so clearly the interest is there," he said.
Passage of the agreement will send a signal to potential investors that "we’re willing to do business and we’re open to do business. We want to do business," deJongh said.
He said he is optimistic that the last three weeks have provided an opportunity to reassure the lawmakers.
"I think we’ve been able to address a lot of the concern that that the senators have, and also to clarify certain areas, which clearly I think has given a much better understanding of the agreement. We’ve come a tremendously long way," deJongh said.
If I were a betting person, I would say that the senate will reject this second attempt at approving the 4th Hovensa Amendment Agreement. Only when the JFL Hospital, the GERS and the VI gov’t in general finally implodes from lack of finances will the naysayers, retirees and other public sector dependents appreciate the importance of the private sector.
Some senators are trying a fast one with the Hovensa reconsideration by assigning a new number to the bill so a senator from the prevailing side will not have to be the “goat” that moves for reconsideration thus ending his or her political career. This is a clever but most likely an illegal move since the original Hovensa bill was defeated. Introducing a new measure that is essentially the same with a letter unsigned by the Hess Corp and PDVSA principles would create an legal escape hatch if they defaulted.
Also when the senate brings up a new numbered bill and does not use the required committee process, nor allows public hearing, this raises the specter of possible kick backs, job promises, and even outright pay to play legislation. We have seen this so many times even beyond the one outstanding example of former Senator Alvin Williams that the public perception will be that the fix is in.
So far not one proponent of this Hovensa give away can demonstrate any immediate economic benefits. The hang out like a carrot some nebulous possible sale which if ever occurred would be long term. Hovensa uses as a stick the threat of fuel supply cut off if we don’t give in.
I can assure you that there are companies who have made offers to Hess Corp for lease or sale of the sweet crude portion of the refinery but don’t want PDVSA as part of the deal. My point here is that the sale will probably *not* be facilitate by any ratification of this “new clarification” agreement that the senate will decide on Monday. Another canard used by proponents is this chicken little fear that Hovensa will declare bankruptcy if they don’t get what they want. I just ask you if that would be so bad having a court appointed trustee providing the recompense to the VI rather than Hovensa using the agreement just to run out the clock on their current breach of contract. At this point in 2019 the GVI would have nothing to show and Hovensa, who we have in our claws today, would merely fly away. Unfortunately some senators can not see this as their future vision on this nonsense is clouded.
If they only knew that the majority of voters on St. Croix really don’t want a bad deal approved then the matter would be settled by a no vote. The propaganda machine spreading gloom and doom on talk radio along with those beating the drum the loudest may personally benefit by their actions but the people will truly suffer as they have with similar deals in the past.
Notice also that the so called “clarification” is not signed by any of the parent companies, i.e. Hess corp nor PDVSA. They are only signed by the representatives of ad hoc local paper companies to completely insulate the the parent companies (Hess Corp and PDVSA) from tort litigation that most certainly will occur when the “deal” goes sour.
We should all know by now that this revised agreement is solely for the purpose of giving Hovensa a chance to run out the clock till 2019 with their desire for untaxed oil storage and no money for the VI plus a heavy blanket precluding any GVI litigation. This what the governor wants and pray to God that the senators do not fall for this.