Oct. 18, 2001 – After months of rough riding, the Water and Power Authority negotiations over the administration's plans for a $180 million gasification plant to process the territory's solid waste hit a solid roadblock Thursday.
At WAPA's monthly board meeting, Claude A. "Tappy" Molloy made a motion to throw the Caribe Waste Technologies proposal out the front door without further ceremony. Seconded by G. Luz James Sr., the motion failed on the vote because the other board members present wanted to hear further comment from Joseph Thomas Jr., WAPA executive director, in executive session.
It was decided that further negotiations with CWT will be acted on at a board meeting on St. Croix next week, board chair Carol Burke said after the session. "We will decide where we are and where we want to go," she said. No date has yet been set for the meeting.
WAPA and CWT, the company leading a group of firms proposing to finance, build, own and operate the waste-to-energy gasification plant, have been in negotiations since June trying to work out a contract for WAPA to purchase power and water from CWT that will be produced by the gasification plant.
The Turnbull administration selected CWT earlier this year to be the provider for the territory's solid waste plant, but the agreement is contingent on WAPA buying electricity and water — something the utility's management has said it doesn't need — from CWT.
WAPA is a major part of the picture because its purchase of the water and power could reduce the government’s costs by about $11 million to $12 million a year over the 30-year contract, according to CWT's president, Mark Augenblick. That, he said, would leave the government with payments of about $25 million a year. Augenblick has said that amount could likely be funded by federal grants and a solid waste disposal "user fee."
Thomas and Augenblick clashed from the start over the issue of "avoided costs" — the amount of money WAPA would otherwise spend to produce the same amount of energy and water that CWT is proposing to sell it.
"We've had a problem from the moment they walked in the door," Thomas said Thursday. "They told us the avoided costs would amount to $800 million over the 30-year life of the contract." In July, both entities agreed to hire consultants to determine the avoided costs. Stone and Webster Consultants of Boston came up with the figure of $360 million. "That's $440 million more than they quoted me, and from my back-of-the envelope calculations, I think it's closer to $100 million — so we could have paid more than $700 million if we had taken the first figure," Thomas said. "They are currently in trouble with me."
At a special meeting last week, the board heard reports from Stone and Webster and another consulting firm hired separately by WAPA, Skadder Arps, of Washington, D.C. It was decided that the two firms needed to recalculate the avoided costs and work with WAPA and CWT attorneys to draft a new purchase agreement which would address several protection and reliability issues advised by Skadden Arps.
One sticking point throughout the negotiations has been the lack of need for the water and power CWT would produce "About 10 to 15 years down the road, WAPA will need to add capacity," Thomas said. "Adding it now is carrying unused capacity."
At Thursday's board meeting, Thomas said WAPA is currently in good standing in the bond market and now has an "unqualified" audit. "If we brought them even an excellent contract with CWT, they would ask 'What for? You don't need the water, and you don't need the power.'"
One board member remarked, "It would look like the V.I. government dragged WAPA kicking and screaming into something they don't want."
Thomas read the board a report he said he had received on Wednesday from Napoleon Nelson, director of Public Financial Management, WAPA's financial advisers. Nelson's report cites a Hoover's Online data report and the Securities and Exchange Commission filing form for Interstate General Company, IGC, which is the parent company of CWT.
"For calendar year 2000, IGC reported total revenues of $3 million, a net loss of $3.9 million, and $18.3 million in net worth," the report states. Nelson wrote Thomas, "Obviously, these are modest financials to back a $200 million project."
Nelson said IGC makes its money from land holdings. "Its long-term success depends on development of solid-waste projects … which require substantial capital," the report states.
Thomas said he had meetings with the consultants and CWT officials last week in Washington, D.C., and both consulting firms need three to four more weeks to complete their studies. So far, the negotiations and studies have cost WAPA about $200,000, he said, and he foresees at least another $200,000 before an agreement, if any, is reached.
Molloy expressed the view that "We have spent valuable time and money. I am totally turned off." CWT, he said, was "less than honest with us. It will turn out being a big embarrassment to us."
Fellow board member Alphonso Franklin said, "I tend to agree. They are leading us down a path that will lead to trouble."
Thomas reminded the board that CWT has a big investment in the project, deferring further remarks to the executive session.
Board members Burke, Franklin, James, Molloy, William Lomax and Andrew Rutnik, Licencing and Consumer Affairs commissioner, attended the meeting. Attorney General Iver Stridiron, J. Arthur Downing and Ira M. Hobson, Housing, Parks and Recreation commissioner, were absent.

Oct. 18, 2001 – Gov. Charles W. Turnbull went to court Thursday to apologize to U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Moore and to take full responsibility for delays in repairing the decrepit sewage treatment facilities on St. Croix.
Turnbull said that his officials had failed to keep him apprised of the situation — in which the sewage treatment facilities still fail to comply with federal environmental standards. But he said that in the end, he is the one who must bear responsibility for the failures.
"I'm going to do all I can. I'm going to have to do some micromanaging," Turnbull told the judge as he pledged to bring the sewage facilities up to standards. "I told my people, 'The judge is right.' When you're wrong, you have to admit you're wrong."
Turnbull's testimony came during a contempt-of-court hearing in which top government officials were called to tell the judge what progress they were making to upgrade wastewater treatment plants and pumping stations in the territory. Moore scheduled the hearing after the V.I. government failed to show progress in bringing the facilities into compliance with federal Environmental Protection Agency standards, which the government is under court order to do.
During the five-hour hearing, Moore noted that the Anguilla wastewater treatment plant on St. Croix is in no better shape now than it was a year ago — and in some ways is worse. But at the end of the hearing, after government officials pointed to several areas of progress in making the needed repairs, the judge said he needed to think about whether to hold top officials in contempt for not abiding by past court orders regarding the sewage plants.
"I'm not interested in retribution. I'm interested in getting the thing working," Moore said.
He heard testimony from Wayne Callwood, Public Works commissioner; Ira Mills, Office of Management and Budget director; Attorney General Iver Stridiron; Jeff Hines, engineer of the Azurix company, which has been contracted to evaluate and make repairs at the Anguilla treatment plant; and Sonya Nelthropp, technical adviser to Planning and Natural Resources Commissioner Dean Plaskett and the person assigned to oversee the sewage treatment plants.
In pointing to areas in which they have made progress, officials noted that Turnbull had allocated $4.4 million for sewage system repairs from the Anti-Litter and Beautification Fund. That outlay still must be approved by the Legislature.
Public Works, meanwhile, has entered into a $1.1 million contract with Azurix, a company that Callwood said has the professional experience with sewage treatment plants that has been lacking in the territory in the past.
Hines testified that the Anguilla plant has a functional design but has been so poorly maintained that it has fallen into a state of disrepair. He said a preliminary study led him to believe that he could get the plant functioning at a reasonable level within 45 days. After that, it would be a matter of making repairs and doing maintenance section by section, he said.
Along with the expected influx of money and the hiring of a professional engineering firm to make repairs, Callwood said he had recently assigned Nelthropp, who has years of wastewater treatment experience in the Boston area, to be directly responsible for the system.
But attorneys for the EPA and the U.S. Attorney's Office noted that promises have been made and broken repeatedly in the past. They brought out testimony that the chief engineer for Public Works, who had been responsible for the Anguilla plant, resigned in March and that Public Works has yet to advertise for a replacement for him.
Callwood testified that it would cost about $30 million to overhaul the sewage treatment facilities on St. Croix completely. But under questioning from the federal attorneys, he acknowledged that there are no concrete plans to find the funding to do so.
In closing statements, EPA attorney Donald Frankel said he believed the allocation of $4.4 million was a major step forward, but he noted that it came about only after Moore had scheduled the contempt-of-court hearing.
"We believe there have been significant violations," Frankel said. "Frankly, the St. Croix treatment plant is in no better shape today than it was a year ago. In some ways, it's worse."
At the end of the hearing, Moore ordered the EPA to outline specific things that needed to be fixed and to set a series of deadlines and other ways to gauge the V.I. government's progress. Local government officials then will have two weeks to respond and make their own recommendations.
The judge ordered regular meetings between the two sides and quarterly status conferences to help him determine whether adequate progress is being made.

Oct. 18, 2001 – Joseph Thomas, executive director of the Water and Power Authority, didn't mince words about the state of the territory's economy at Thursday's board meeting.
As he outlined WAPA's positive outlook and ongoing projects, he tempered his remarks with acknowledgment of the territory's fiscal downturn. "We are in an economic slump," he said. "This is the most important item on the agenda today. If we lose a big block of hotels, we have to have strategies to counter. These are thorny issues."
Joseph with board approval appointed an ad hoc Economic Crisis Committee, to be chaired by G. Luz James Sr., with board chair Carol Burke, Claude A. "Tappy" Molloy and Andrew Rutnik as the other members.
A main part of dealing with the slump in tourism brought on by the terrorist attacks last month is the Key Accounts program, something Joseph mandated in the strategic plan for WAPA he announced shortly after taking over as executive director in May. "It's even more of a priority now," he said Thursday.
The program assigns a higher level of care to the authority's larger customers — hotels, resorts, industries, the government — by establishing incentive rates and innovative service options.
Joseph said he had met with representatives of the hotel associations and chambers of commerce and administration financial officers to work out a strategy for helping the hotels through their current low-occupancy crisis.
"It's not easy," he said. "We can't give them a four-month moratorium as they requested." He said the authority's first obligations are to its bondholders and consumers.
Burke agreed, saying that if WAPA agreed to deferred payments, "Our bondholders would put us in jail."
Thomas said the authority is working with the V.I. Energy Office to conduct energy audits and see where money could be saved by reducing consumer demand. "The hotels and the government over-consume," he said.
He expressed sympathy for the hotels' plight, but added, "If we gave the hotels a moratorium, then what is the individual consumer to think? The single mother? … We'd have everyone coming to our doors looking for the same consideration. Legally and morally, how could we say no? We have to show equal treatment."
He suggested one route for the hotels might be to apply for low-interest loans.
WAPA has a heightened security program in effect that requires visitors to obtain passes to gain access to the upstairs offices in the headquarters in Sub Base on St. Thomas. "We have been very active" in upgrading security, Thomas said. "A number of roads are closed, we have extra armed guards on all three islands, and we may request the use of the National Guard."
Thomas introduced Robert J. Vodzack, WAPA's new chief financial officer, newly arrived from Marysville, Pa. Vodzack is an innovative financial executive with a strong background in utilities, his boss said.
Vodzack greeted the board with a brief rundown of his career and a firm smile. "I've just been on the job four days," he said, "so I'm educating myself about WAPA."
Thomas said the government still owes about $5 million on its past-due accounts, with the money to be paid by Nov. 15. He said, also with a smile, "It's one more week before the nasty letters go out."
In other matters, the board was told that:
– The long-awaited Unit 22 on St. Thomas is expected to be fully operational on Monday.
– A workshop is being conducted on the feasibility of WAPA's plan to assume responsibility for the territory's street and area lights from the Public Works Department.
– A new communications office, including an outreach speakers bureau, is in operation. Thomas noted that he has spoken on radio and TV talk shows and at Rotary Club meetings, job fairs, chambers of commerce after-hours events and a Boy Scouts fishing tournament. "And I'm not running for office," he joked.
Attending the meeting were board members Burke, Alphonso Franklin, William Lomax, James, Molloy and Rutnik. J. Arthur Downing; Ira M. Hobson, Housing, Parks and Recreation commissioner; and Attorney General Iver Stridiron were absent.

Oct. 18, 2001 – After months of rough riding, the Water and Power Authority negotiations over the administration's plans for a $180 million gasification plant to process the territory's solid waste hit a solid roadblock Thursday.
At WAPA's monthly board meeting, Claude A. "Tappy" Molloy made a motion to throw the Caribe Waste Technologies proposal out the front door without further ceremony. Seconded by G. Luz James Sr., the motion failed on the vote because the other board members present wanted to hear further comment from Joseph Thomas Jr., WAPA executive director, in executive session.
It was decided that further negotiations with CWT will be acted on at a board meeting on St. Croix next week, board chair Carol Burke said after the session. "We will decide where we are and where we want to go," she said. No date has yet been set for the meeting.
WAPA and CWT, the company leading a group of firms proposing to finance, build, own and operate the waste-to-energy gasification plant, have been in negotiations since June trying to work out a contract for WAPA to purchase power and water from CWT that will be produced by the gasification plant.
The Turnbull administration selected CWT earlier this year to be the provider for the territory's solid waste plant, but the agreement is contingent on WAPA buying electricity and water — something the utility's management has said it doesn't need — from CWT.
WAPA is a major part of the picture because its purchase of the water and power could reduce the government’s costs by about $11 million to $12 million a year over the 30-year contract, according to CWT's president, Mark Augenblick. That, he said, would leave the government with payments of about $25 million a year. Augenblick has said that amount could likely be funded by federal grants and a solid waste disposal "user fee."
Thomas and Augenblick clashed from the start over the issue of "avoided costs" — the amount of money WAPA would otherwise spend to produce the same amount of energy and water that CWT is proposing to sell it.
"We've had a problem from the moment they walked in the door," Thomas said Thursday. "They told us the avoided costs would amount to $800 million over the 30-year life of the contract." In July, both entities agreed to hire consultants to determine the avoided costs. Stone and Webster Consultants of Boston came up with the figure of $360 million. "That's $440 million more than they quoted me, and from my back-of-the envelope calculations, I think it's closer to $100 million — so we could have paid more than $700 million if we had taken the first figure," Thomas said. "They are currently in trouble with me."
At a special meeting last week, the board heard reports from Stone and Webster and another consulting firm hired separately by WAPA, Skadder Arps, of Washington, D.C. It was decided that the two firms needed to recalculate the avoided costs and work with WAPA and CWT attorneys to draft a new purchase agreement which would address several protection and reliability issues advised by Skadden Arps.
One sticking point throughout the negotiations has been the lack of need for the water and power CWT would produce. "About 10 to 15 years down the road, WAPA will need to add capacity," Thomas said. "Adding it now is carrying unused capacity."
At Thursday's board meeting, Thomas said WAPA is now in good standing in the bond market and has an "unqualified" audit. "If we brought them even an excellent contract with CWT, they would ask 'What for? You don't need the water, and you don't need the power.'"
One board member remarked, "It would look like the V.I. government dragged WAPA kicking and screaming into something they don't want."
Thomas read the board a report he said he had received Wednesday from Napoleon Nelson, director of Public Financial Management, WAPA's financial advisers. Nelson's report cites a Hoover's Online data report and the Securities and Exchange Commission filing form for Interstate General Co., IGC, which is the parent company of CWT.
"For calendar year 2000, IGC reported total revenues of $3 million, a net loss of $3.9 million, and $18.3 million in net worth," the report states. Nelson wrote Thomas, "Obviously, these are modest financials to back a $200 million project."
Nelson said IGC makes its money from land holdings. "Its long-term success depends on development of solid-waste projects … which require substantial capital," the report states.
Thomas said he had meetings with the consultants and CWT officials last week in Washington, D.C., and both consulting firms need three to four more weeks to complete their studies. So far, the negotiations and studies have cost WAPA about $200,000, he said, and he foresees at least another $200,000 before an agreement, if any, is reached.
Molloy expressed the view that "we have spent valuable time and money. I am totally turned off." CWT, he said, was "less than honest with us. It will turn out being a big embarrassment to us."
Fellow board member Alphonso Franklin said, "I tend to agree. They are leading us down a path that will lead to trouble."
Thomas reminded the board that CWT has a big investment in the project, deferring further remarks to the executive session.
Board members Burke, Franklin, James, Molloy, William Lomax and Andrew Rutnik, Licencing and Consumer Affairs commissioner, attended the meeting. Attorney General Iver Stridiron, J. Arthur Downing and Ira M. Hobson, Housing, Parks and Recreation commissioner, were absent.

Oct. 18, 2001 – American Airlines Flight 655 en route from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to St. Thomas was diverted to Puerto Rico Thursday after unspecified mechanical problems developed.
Aviation sources at Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan said the 757 jet aircraft, which departed New York on time at 8:05 a.m., made the unscheduled landing after "mechanical problems developed in-flight." A source on St. Thomas verified the diversion and said the flight was expected to arrive on St. Thomas around 2 p.m. after a"change of equipment" in San Juan. The plane did arrive as expected, it was later confirmed.
Officials at the Federal Aviation Administration control tower on St. Thomas said the American flight crew reported nothing unusual about the flight other than that it was diverted to San Juan for "unspecified reasons."
Flight 655 departs New York's JFK daily, scheduled to arrive at Cyril E. King Airport on St. Thomas at 12:05 p.m. The aircraft then returns directly to JFK, with scheduled departure from St. Thomas at 1:25 p.m. and scheduled arrival in New York at 5:25 p.m.

Oct. 18, 2001 – Jurors on Thursday found a Kenyan-born man living on St. Thomas guilty of first-degree assault, unlawful sexual contact and two counts of first-degree rape in connection with an attack on a woman at the East End of the island in August 2000.
The verdict came at the end of the three-day trial of Swaleh Muiruri, who was charged with 10 counts in connection with the Aug. 8, 2000 attack at Vessup Beach and along a road toward Cabrita Point. The jury found him guilty of four of the charges, but not guilty of other charges including kidnapping and two other rape charges in connection with the attack.
Muiruri could receive up to life in prison after the jury found him guilty of the rape and assault charges. Territorial Court Judge Rhys Hodge will sentence him after completion of a pre-sentence investigation.
The victim testified this week that she was walking along the Red Hook Road in the early morning hours after she had an argument with her husband at a Red Hook saloon. Muiruri drove up and asked if she needed a ride, and after she said no several times, he returned and told her to get in the car or he would shoot her.
He then took the woman to Vessup Beach, where she said he raped her after a struggle. He later drove her to a small road leading off of the main road to Cabrita Point, where she said he raped her three more times.
Muiruri testified that he and the woman had consensual sex, but medical evidence showed the woman had severe bruising and abrasions that corroborated her account. Several other people testified that the woman was distraught and disheveled when she reported the attack immediately after Muiruri dropped her off in the Cowpet Bay area.
The woman got Muiruri’s license plate number, which led police to question him in the days following the attack. He fled the jurisdiction immediately after the initial interviews, but the FBI found him in New Mexico, and he was extradited back to the territory in December.

Oct. 18, 2001 – It's looking a little like ladies' night for this weekend's "Friday Night Alternative" musical and social gathering on the deck outside The Color of Joy gallery and boutique in American Yacht Harbor on St. Thomas's East End.
Joining host keyboardist/vocalist Sally Smith will be jazz singer Cynthia Saunders — most likely along with other musicians who'll be dropping by to sit in.
The gathering from 6 to 8 p.m. takes place on the broad Marlin Deck overlooking the AYH docks in Red Hook. Along with music, the "Friday Night Alternative" features complimentary wine, cheese and crackers and an open invitation to peruse the artwork and other offerings of The Color of Joy.
The deck's got the second story as its roof, so rain can't stop the music, gallery owner Corinne Van Rensselaer says. This Friday and all other Fridays, "the music will be very special," she says. "And anyone who wants to play, feel free to come and join in."
At 8 p.m., the music continues just a stone's throw away — as Lightnin' Phil (an Alternative regular) and his band perform dockside at Molly Molones. (The band members "like to warm up with us first," Van Rensselaer notes.)

Oct. 18, 2001 – It's looking a little like ladies' night for this weekend's "Friday Night Alternative" musical and social gathering on the deck outside The Color of Joy gallery and boutique in American Yacht Harbor.
Joining host keyboardist/vocalist Sally Smith will be jazz singer Cynthia Saunders — most likely along with other musicians who'll be dropping by to sit in.
The gathering from 6 to 8 p.m. takes place on the broad Marlin Deck overlooking the AYH docks in Red Hook. Along with music, the "Friday Night Alternative" features complimentary wine, cheese and crackers and an open invitation to peruse the artwork and other offerings of The Color of Joy.
The deck's got the second story as its roof, so rain can't stop the music, gallery owner Corinne Van Rensselaer says. This Friday and all other Fridays, "the music will be very special," she says. "And anyone who wants to play, feel free to come and join in."
At 8 p.m., the music continues just a stone's throw away — as Lightnin' Phil (an Alternative regular) and his band perform dockside at Molly Molones. (The band members "like to warm up with us first," Van Rensselaer notes.)

Oct. 17, 2001 – A young minority student has a great idea for a film, something that he's sure hasn't been done before. He can write, and he wants to direct, but he doesn't know how to make a film. So, he finds a friend who does, and who will work with him. And he isn't sure how to mesh it all together, so he needs some ongoing advice. But where can he go from here? Save his money up from an after-school job? Wait until he finishes college and can afford time off from a career? Dream?
Now there is a possibility for him. There's an opportunity for minority students with talent in writing, directing and filmmaking who are interested in the media and entertainment industries to qualify for an ABC Television-Walt Disney Company New Talent Development scholarship grant.
This grant program, now in its second year, is offered in conjunction with the Congressional Black Caucus' efforts to increase minority participation in those industries, according to a release from Delegate to Congress Donna Christian Christensen's office.
"This offer comes as a direct result of a CBC meeting with industry officials this past summer," Christiansen said.
The program is to assist high school and college students and members of designated nonprofit arts institutions by providing financial and mentoring support to develop a new, or to complete an existing, creative idea. The goal is to reach individuals and groups from diverse backgrounds, and nurture their aspirations.
The applicant criteria includes a resume, an essay of 500 to 800 words describing career goals and interest in the field, a signed legal agreement, and the proposed project for consideration that must include a project budget and samples. The application form suggests screenplay, video or television script. "Only emerging artists who show promise, have strong vision, originality, creative energy, and perseverance in their respective media will be awarded these scholarships and grants," the release said.
Applications must be made through high schools, colleges, or a designated nonprofit organization by December 30, 2001. The agency will then forward their nominees' applications to ABC for review.
Notification of awards for the grants will be in June 2002. Chosen participants will be paired with mentors, and the mentorship program will start in the fall of 2002.
At the completion of the program participants take part in a three-day workshop in Los Angeles at ABC Entertainment and Walt Disney Studios.
Financial support levels are flexible. No information about the number of acceptances is available. Application information is available at the Delegate's offices in St. Thomas, 774-4408, or St. Croix, 778-5900.

Oct. 18, 2001 – A young minority student has a great idea for a film, something that he's sure hasn't been done before. He can write, and he wants to direct, but he doesn't know how to make a film. So, he finds a friend who does, and who will work with him. And he isn't sure how to mesh it all together, so he needs some ongoing advice. But where can he go from here? Save his money up from an after-school job? Wait until he finishes college and can afford time off from a career? Dream?
Now there is a possibility for him. There's an opportunity for minority students with talent in writing, directing and filmmaking who are interested in the media and entertainment industries to qualify for an ABC Television-Walt Disney Company New Talent Development scholarship grant.
This grant program, now in its second year, is offered in conjunction with the Congressional Black Caucus' efforts to increase minority participation in those industries, according to a release from Delegate to Congress Donna Christian Christensen's office.
"This offer comes as a direct result of a CBC meeting with industry officials this past summer," Christiansen said.
The program is to assist high school and college students and members of designated nonprofit arts institutions by providing financial and mentoring support to develop a new, or to complete an existing, creative idea. The goal is to reach individuals and groups from diverse backgrounds, and nurture their aspirations.
The applicant criteria includes a resume, an essay of 500 to 800 words describing career goals and interest in the field, a signed legal agreement, and the proposed project for consideration that must include a project budget and samples. The application form suggests screenplay, video or television script. "Only emerging artists who show promise, have strong vision, originality, creative energy, and perseverance in their respective media will be awarded these scholarships and grants," the release said.
Applications must be made through high schools, colleges, or a designated nonprofit organization by December 30, 2001. The agency will then forward their nominees' applications to ABC for review.
Notification of awards for the grants will be in June 2002. Chosen participants will be paired with mentors, and the mentorship program will start in the fall of 2002.
At the completion of the program participants take part in a three-day workshop in Los Angeles at ABC Entertainment and Walt Disney Studios.
Financial support levels are flexible. No information about the number of acceptances is available. Application information is available at the Delegate's offices in St. Thomas, 774-4408, or St. Croix, 778-5900.