March 14, 2002 – A Public Services Commission hearing on the certification of Caribbean Waste Technologies as a power provider for the Virgin Islands is scheduled to begin on Monday and continue on Tuesday.
If the commission decides in favor of CWT after its investigation, it could direct the Water and Power Authority to buy power from the company, something the WAPA board has voted against doing.
CWT was selected by the Turnbull administration to build and operate a plant to process the territory's solid waste. The contract called for WAPA to buy the electricity from CWT that would be produced in the waste processing. The process CWT proposes to use is called gasification.
At its November meeting, the WAPA board turned down the deal. Thomas, and the WAPA board contend that the procedure is not commercially proven and that the WAPA is able to meet consumer demands on its own.
CWT petitioned the PSC late last year to review the matter, challenging allegations made by WAPA's executive director, Joseph Thomas, that the technologies the plant would use are unproven commercially.
The commission named attorney Rosalie Simmonds Ballentine, a former V.I. attorney general, as the hearing examiner for the case.
In a January letter to Mark Augenblick, chairman and CEO of CWT, Gov. Charles W, Turnbull assured Augenblick of his continuing support of CWT. He said in order to keep "fully abreast of all developments relative to the solid waste project … I have named Nathan Simmonds, my director of fiscal and economic recovery implementation, as my liaison for this project."
Nathan Simmonds is the brother of Ballentine.
Keithley Joseph, PSC executive director, said Thursday morning that he had no knowledge of the Monday hearing and suggested calling the PSC chair, Desmond Maynard. No notice or agenda of the hearing has been sent to the news media.
Maynard didn't return a call Thursday morning, but Ballentine confirmed the hearing will be held at 9:30 a.m. Monday at the PSC offices in Barbel Plaza on St. Thomas. She said the news media are welcome.
