Dear Source:
We will not use petroleum coke to burn trash and generate electricity, but we will if we need to. We will not be producing toxic fly ash from burning petroleum coke but we had a memorandum of understanding with a local contractor to buy this toxic product that we will not be producing when we do produce it. This blatant and flagrant “double speak” would make any politician or private industry executive proud, it fact it deserves a medal for misrepresentation. These statements were reported in the St. Croix Avis, Friday, May 21st from Alpine Energy Group’s executive vice president.
We the people have spoken. We value our health, well being, and prosperity. The upfront and hidden costs of breathing, drinking and eating poisonous toxic emissions and byproducts from the burning of trash with petroleum coke are too great for us to hear. Instead of adhering to our demands for clean, renewable energy, however, corporate executives and our elected officials are once again treating us like ignorant children. Will we be fooled once again? I think not.
Here we are again, round two with Alpine Energy Corporation. The details have been modified to mollify the public but Alpine Energy still retains the legal right to use Petroleum Coke in its operations. Despite the knowledge that pet coke will endanger the health and prosperity of the people of the Virgin Islands it is still part of Alpine Energy’s package. They are now saying, “even though we still can use pet coke, trust us that we won’t.”
Look at the massive oil spill still spreading after 4 weeks in the Gulf of Mexico, which is wreaking havoc with the health, livelihood, and prosperity of the entire Atlantic coast of the United States and beyond.
The Environmental Protection agency trusted British Petroleum Company to do the right thing to protect the people. Government officials trusted industry executives to conduct safe and ethical business. Look at CNN and satellite pictures of the growing oil slick in the Gulf and tell me whether that trust was well placed. Will we trust Alpine Energy not to use pet coke if our elected officials say that they can?
We must now ask who stands to benefit from a deal created and signed with a private corporation behind closed doors. Clearly not the people of the Virgin Islands. Alpine Energy failed to meet 4 of 9 pre-qualifying criteria set by WAPA for selection of the winning bidder including not using technology that includes a petroleum product.
Who stands to benefit from mortgaging the people to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars over the nest 20-25 years for a dubious promise of cheaper electricity? Not the people of the Virgin Islands.
Is our goal clean and renewable energy? It seems that this is not the case. It seems that haste and expediency are the only requirements, otherwise we would be progressing toward the goal of affordable, clean and renewable energy in a sensible and logical manner.
Consider this, The Daily News, Monday February 22, 2010, page 7, ran a story which confirms that the Virgin Islands and U.S. Department of Energy and Interior have entered into an agreement to help the territory move into 60% renewable resources by 2025. Why are we not pursuing this win/win offer head on instead of falling for maneuvers and deals that don’t serve us, the people of the Virgin Islands?
Do we plan to scrap WAPA once Alpine Energy is on line? If we are committed to maintaining control of our energy resources then there is plan B. Let us act like adults and firstly deal with efficiency and conservation and then access our need and demand for the generation of new energy sources.
- Upgrade WAPA and bring it into the 21st century. This is an investment that we should and must make now, an investment that benefits all Virgin Islanders both in the short and long term.
- Empower and support the Virgin Islands Energy office to use the millions of dollars available from the Obama Administration that has already been promised. See Senator Craig Barshinger’s article in the Daily News, Monday, May 17, 2010, entitled, “Keep Pressure on the V.I. Energy Office.”
Lets put up the solar panels that so many people have been waiting so long for, but have been unable to get because of difficulties in the Energy Office. Using solar panels to trap sunlight, our most abundant, clean and renewable resource we can not only heat water, but make electricity via photo voltaic cells, this plan will allow us to earn money by selling our excess energy to WAPA during peak hours by the process of “net metering.”
This is true conservation that will not only decrease our energy demands but also decrease the financial burden on the rate payers of the Virgin Islands, the ones who will be footing the bill for Alpine Energy’s deal. We the rate payers will then be able to keep some of our hard earned money instead of giving it all to WAPA and Alpine Energy Group.
- Start to collect and recycle glass, paper, plastic, etc., etc, etc. to reduce the trash in our landfills and to generate real jobs and income to take us into the 21st century with the rest of the world.
- Open a legitimate, fair and transparent bidding process that seeks clean, renewable and ethical solutions to our solid waste issue.
We, the people have spoken. We cannot afford to compromise on this most important issue. No pet coke, no fly ash. Alpine Energy Group proposes to build their new and improved electricity generating plant on St. Croix on the South shore “in a less environmentally sensitive area.”
I would like to point out that the communities in this area, the South West of St. Croix are already burdened with a suspiciously high incidence of asthma, respiratory illnesses, heart disease and cancer. Will the health of these communities be the sacrifice that we are willing to make? I say no! This is our island and we must protect our health and natural resources for ourselves and our children. Our lives depend on it.
Cheryl D. Wade, MD, PC/St. Croix
