Still brimming with fresh impressions from their recent fact-finding mission to a petroleum coke-burning power plant in Florida, V.I. senators who took the trip say they are ready to ask some tough questions of Alpine Energy Group officials scheduled to testify before the Legislature on Wednesday.
“We are now armed with a lot more information, I’d say sufficient information, to ask the right questions on Jan. 13,” said Sen. Craig Barshinger, who spoke to the Source from Florida Friday.
Barshinger organized this week’s field trip to the Jacksonville Energy Authority’s (JEA) St. Johns River plant, where he and Sens. Nereida Rivera-O’Reilly, Michael Thurland and Sammuel Sanes saw for themselves how power is produced by burning a mixture of solid fuels that includes so-called pet coke.
Questions about the use of pet coke, a waste-product of the oil refining process, have hamstrung the senate’s passage of two leases to Alpine, the Colorado-based company contracted by the V.I. Water and Power Authority to build two trash-to-power plants —- one each on St. Thomas and St. Croix.
The plants are designed to burn a mixture of sanitized municipal trash and pet coke from Hovensa to provide the base load of electricity for each island, creating a stable territorial grid that would allow for alternative energy sources, such as wind and solar, to plug in and help supply peak loads and surplus.
First impressions
Barshinger said this week’s trip gave the lawmakers and their guests firsthand knowledge of the process and its potential pitfalls.
“I did notice that there were a lot of materials left over after combustion. There’s bottom ash; there’s fly ash; there’s slag,” Barshinger said. “But in the surrounding area where the pet coke [was burned], it had not destroyed the environment. Actually we were surprised to see how little damage there was. I was pleasantly surprised that, with good management, it is possible to keep control of the process.”
Sen. Sanes elaborated on the JEA scene Friday, describing two power plants set adjacent to a pristine wetlands area and two residential communities. One plant burns coal and the other a mix of 90 percent pet coke and 10 percent coal.
He said he arrived as a skeptic and left “glad” to have seen it for himself.
“When we got there I was totally surprised because it was right there on this marsh. I was surprised to see how clean it was. There was no smell, no residue in the atmosphere,” he said.
“When I went into the plant I saw a fox …. There were birds, pelicans, diving for fish,” he said.
“They said the federal government monitors the area, and they have never had fines or penalties levied against them. I found it significant,” Sanes said. “It proved to me that these plants can be operating right next to a fragile ecosystem and they can coexist.”
Sanes and Barshinger said they met with representatives of the local Sierra Club and were surprised at their comfort level with the facility.
“They themselves said they have never received any complaints,” Sanes said, adding that the group maintains an important watchdog role as the plant continues to operate.
“Part of the success is that the Sierra Club and the utility are working hand in hand,” Barshinger said in a separate interview Friday.
Another view
Perhaps proving that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, however, one of the senators’ guests came away with a drastically different impression.
St. Croix environmentalist Paul Chakroff, who accompanied the lawmakers along with WAPA Executive Director Hugo Hodge Jr., said the tour only proved to him that burning pet coke and trash for fuel is more trouble than it’s worth.
He said that while the territory could potentially burn 100,000 pounds of municipal trash each year, it would be stuck with 300,000 pounds of toxic fly and bottom ash once the pet coke and garbage are incinerated and the emissions are captured and filtered clean. All of that would have to be handled and stored without releasing the talcum-fine dust into the air and would have to be shipped off island at the territory’s expense, he said.
“It (the trip) gave me a better understanding of the real hands-on realities of the operation,” Chakroff said in a phone interview from Florida Friday. “It reinforced my position as to what a bad idea this is for the Virgin Islands to burn this extremely dirty fuel instead of going for renewable sources of energy while we have the chance.”
While the men differed in their concerns, all agreed that the upcoming Senate hearing on Jan.13, and the four public meetings planned for next week, are crucial opportunities for lawmakers to question Alpine executives and for residents to voice their opinions and concerns.
Let the people decide
“It’s all about management,” said Sanes. “We have to ask ourselves if we here in the Virgin Islands can operate such a facility at the same level of effectiveness.
“What we have to do now is figure out how to get the whole community involved,” he said. “If all the parties get together and start working as one, I think we can.
“If this is going to be done just as effectively here in the Virgin Islands, we all have to do our part,” he said. “If it becomes a reality it’s going to be part of our lives, part of our culture and our future.”
For Barshinger, now is the time for the people to decide. He encouraged residents to learn what they can and write their senators, attend the public meetings and ask lots of questions.
“Debate over what to do is completely healthy and appropriate,” he said.
“What we need is for all those involved to give true information and leave behind trickery and deceit,” he said. “Then, we can make a good decision.”
WAPA and WMA officials are holding the first of three public meetings from 6 to 9 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 11, at UVI’s Great Hall on St. Croix. The next day, Jan. 12, a similar meeting is set for 6 p.m. at Charlotte Amalie High School on St. Thomas. And, finally on St. John, a government-sponsored meeting will be held at the Legislature from 6 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 14.
Alpine officials will testify before Sen. Barshinger’s Committee on Economic Development, Energy and Technology on St. Thomas at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 13. Crucians in Focus have announced plans to debate the issue at 6 p.m. that same night at Gertrude’s Restaurant on St. Croix.
“Virgin Islanders have put ‘environmentally friendly’ and ‘renewable’ right up there with low cost and high reliability,” Barshinger said.
“The real power lies in the hands of the people,” he said. “It’s a choice, and they need to say what they want.”
