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Ceremony Marks Burial of Christiansted's Power Lines

Aug. 1, 2008 — Gold shovels at the ready and speeches in hand, officials from half a dozen government bodies ceremonially broke ground Friday morning on work to put Christiansted's power lines underground at Fort Christiansvaern.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is paying for the project through its pre-disaster mitigation grant program. FEMA funnels the money through the V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency and the V.I. Water and Power Authority, which is carrying out the project. The goal is to speed up and ease the return of power to St. Croix after a major hurricane or damaging wind storm. The areas that have underground cables would come back online first.
Robert B. Moorhead of VITEMA acted as master of ceremonies as V.I. National Guard Adjutant General Renaldo Rivera, VITEMA Director Mark Walters, WAPA director Hugo Hodge Jr., park service personnel and other dignitaries offered their thoughts and praises for those who helped move along the plan to bury St. Croix's power cables.
"For 150 years there have been poles and wires crisscrossing the streets of Christiansted," said David Brewer, senior archaeologist with the V.I. Historic Preservation Office.
Now that era is coming to a close, he said.
"Most of us remember back in 1989 after Hurricane Hugo took out the power," said St. Croix Administrator Pedro Encarnacion. "But now, with a new Hugo, WAPA Director Hugo Hodge putting these cables underground, if another hurricane comes through we will get power back up right away."
Michael Thurland from Delegate Donna M. Christensen's office recalled a hazard from his childhood posed by overhead power lines.
"I had a jojo tree in the yard right next to the power line and we couldn't climb it because the lines made it dangerous," Thurland said. "Other islands are doing this now, too. … This is for the future generations of all Virgin Islanders."
Jacqueline Heyliger, VITEMA deputy director of operations on St. Croix, is responsible for "getting the project underway," Rivera said.
The project will be paid for by several grants, which require a 75/25-percent cost share between the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and WAPA, according to a statement from WAPA.
Installation of underground ducts and electrical cables will be done in three phases. Phase I, slated for completion by summer of 2009, runs from WAPA's Richmond substation to Strand Street and up to Prince and Fisher Streets at a total cost of $3.74 million. Phase II will bring in Strand, King and Company streets at a cost of $3.67 million, and is expected to be completed by summer of 2010. WAPA will apply to FEMA early next year for additional funds to complete Phase III, which will include Queen, Hill, East and Fisher Streets in Christiansted. The underground conduits will have space for both electrical and communications cables.
WAPA's share of the funds will come from customer payments into the Self-Insurance and Hazard Mitigation funds. This surcharge was approved by the Public Services Commission in 1994 to begin immediate restoration of the electrical system in the absence of quick federal funds after a natural disaster. The surcharge was eliminated in February 2006 when the fund reached its approved limit of $8 million.
WAPA currently operates underground systems from its power plants to the hospitals and airports on St. Croix and St. Thomas, and is working to complete its underground system into the town of Frederiksted.
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