Esso Virgin Islands has paid $294,200 in penalties for violating the Clean Air Act and the New Source Performance Standards for bulk gasoline terminals.
The penalties were the result of a civil complaint filed by the U.S. government charging Esso V.I. with violating federal environmental regulations, the Daily News reported Saturday.
As part of the settlement approved by District Court, Esso must perform certain tasks, including:
— Instituting certain monitoring and maintenance precautions relating to loading tank trucks.
— Conducting monthly leak detection surveys.
— Submitting to Environmental Protection Agency monitoring to ensure compliance.
U.S. Attorney James A. Hurd Jr. said his office will continue to enforce federal environmental laws and collect debts owed to the United States.

The former Virgin Isle Hotel has been deeded to the Virgin Islands
government.
The owners stipulated that the once-posh, now derelict, hotel be used for a public purpose, said Kevin Rames, attorney for the consortium that owns the property.
The Maribe Hotel Corp. had a price tag of $4 million on the property but
had no acceptable offers, due to the location, according to the Daily News.
The hotel, which was destroyed nine years ago in Hurricane Hugo, is located
in Upper John Dunkoe near Altona.
Rames said the owners determined the location was more suited for a
government project, such as an office complex.
He said he could not project what the cost of rehabilitation might be or
whether the government would choose to rebuild or demolish the buildings.
The property in recent years has become a haven for vagrants, and neighbors have complained about its appearance and the activities it harbors.

According to local flacks, the Virgin Islands can be self-sufficient with agriculture and ranching — given the right conditions. Anyone can answer all questions, outline solutions to any problem, be all things to all people; using that simple word: given!
Whether one is growing meat, produce or people, the ingredients are the same: space, water and nutrients. Given our priorities, people receive the best land, most of the water and imported nutrients.
There is still the old machismo thing — quantity vs. quality. Then there are relatives, friends and others who relocate to better their standard of living. And they all vote! Of course, there is no shrimp, pepper, fish, cabbage, papaya or yam vote.
The easiest place to plant produce, grow livestock and build low-cost housing is on gentle, well- watered land. In the Virgin Islands, this scarce commodity is given to people.
When economists and planners suggest land-use plans, they are attacked by politicians selling their souls for the popular vote. Instead of acting as educated surrogates for the masses, our senators too often scurry about prostituting themselves to please the masses' most base emotions.
If a man wants to build a commercial temple in a residential zone and can call upon the taxi driver's extended family voting block and the immigrant West Indian voting block, he has political clout.
When the opponents are seen as a gaggle of expatriates and a few old Virgin Islands families who have become strangers in their own land, the temple is a done deal, notwithstanding zoning by the professionals, wishes of the immediate community or constitutional legalities.
Districting with senators responsible to a well-defined constituency would solve some of this problem. A land-use plan and an attorney general with fortitude, elected to uphold the law, could solve even more.
The major item in our race to oblivion is motivation. Only Rastafarians and government grant gourmets appear motivated to grow anything outside of people.
Well-meaning agrarians farm marginal land on the West End, yielding survival living for a few families. Then this wasteland is given to ranchers?? Cattle take up far too much land and eat too many nutrients in exchange for scant meat. The truly productive meat producer is the humble rabbit.
Island ranching depends on minimal human population and lots of empty land. Otherwise, it is a rich man's hobby. In the Virgin Islands we support this hobby with local tax grants and federal feed grants. Few Virgin Islanders can afford the real cost of this meat.
An agrarian cycle requires a fine balance of resources. How many people use how much water, which becomes how much sewage, which can be treated to produce how much agricultural water, with what nutrient levels, piped where to support what type of growth?
What are the costs of developing the water, treating the sewage and getting the outputs to the users? How much rubbish and garbage can we recycle and use, how much can we dispose of, and what are the costs? How much land should be devoted to people and where is it? What relationship do we want between imports and locally produced goods?
All the glossy newspaper articles are so much smoke without hard, calculated logic and economics. In the Virgin Islands we have proven time and time again that we are not willing to make hard decisions. Instead we wallow down the path to disaster with the hope that some far off savior will keep us from becoming another Antigua — and ultimately Haiti.
Are we really so short on vision? Do we really want to practice survival living on the edge of a garbage dump? It does appear so.

Local spending, not the tourist dollar, brought a merrier Christmas to island retailers this year. Locals, who had not been much in evidence all year, made up for it this season.
Kathryn Peterson, owner of the Leather Shop, said her biggest surprise this season has been local spending, which made all the difference.
"Sales were spectacular and above expectations," she said.
Corrine Van Rensselaer, who owns the Color of Joy, had a "wonderful season, up from last year both in the store and the frame shop." Almost all her business is local.
Echoing this trend, Debbie Shaw, hardline manager at Kmart, said, "Sales were excellent — better than anticipated,and better than last year."
But this wasn't the case everywhere.
Many stores, especially those dependent on the tourist dollar, suffered.
The Pampered Pirate's Sarah Kemp reported sales down 15 percent from last season.
"I think with the cheaper cruises, the cruise ship clientele has changed appreciably," Kemp said. "They simply aren't spending like they used to."
Meene Sahni of Carnival Gifts at Havensight said, "Sales were 50 percent lower than a regular heavy cruise ship day."
Anatalia Turbe of the venerable La Belle Creole in Frenchtown said she didn't reap the benefits of local spending either.
Joan Henle, retail director for Pussers, said that while their St. Thomas stores didn't do well, both the St. John and British Virgin Islands outlets did quite nicely.
The larger Main Street merchants are traditionally reluctant to release sales figures but many said they were happy, overall, with their Christmas sales.
Thomas B. Brunt III, president of the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce, said people he talked to on Christmas Eve had done well. In general, it seems most stores are doing better than last year, he said.
Brunt had a prediction: "The stores and business who will do really well are those who have invested in their businesses. Those people who have made physical improvements, invested in new inventory and who have spent time and money training their employees will reap the rewards of their investments."

Gov. Roy L. Schneider has signed six new contracts, Government House announced Thursday, Schneider's last official working day in office.
The contracts, all relating to health and human services, are for:
— Medical Services of Northwest Florida Inc. to provide registered nurses, midwives, nurse practitioners, licensed practical nurses and certified registered nurses to the Juan F. Luis Hospital on St. Croix. The one-year contract is for $2.5 million.
— William M. Karr and Associates to furnish all labor, materials and equipment to design and renovate the Queen Louise Home on St. Thomas, which was damaged by Hurricane Marilyn. The work is to be completed in 180 days for $693,132.
— Howard University Hospital to screen newborns for sickle cell disease, congenital hypothyroidism and other diseases. The one-year contract is for $33,933.
— Roy D. Jackson to audit Community Health Services at the East End Family Health Center on St. Thomas. Jackson will be paid $19,000 for one year.
— Zenon Construction Corp. to install a new perimeter fence at the Youth Rehabilitation Center on St. Croix within 60 days. The contract is for $245,540.
— Caribbean Quality Control Services Inc. to inspect the construction of the Anguilla (Figtree) sewage force main on St. Croix. The $84,380 project is to be completed within four months. The project is funded by the V.I. Public Finance Authority through $2.5 million in bond proceeds, the release noted.

The Federal Transit Administration has awarded a $161,296 grant to the Public Works Department for bus support service for St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix, Government House has announced.
The total project costs $287,936, according to the release, which had no information on how the money will be used or divided among the islands.

Gov. Roy L. Schneider has accepted a gift of land, Virgin Cay Marina near Bovoni, to be used as a conservational/recreational park.
The land was given by the estate of Cynthia Sophie Major to the V.I. government with a stipulation that it be named the Cynthia and Ian Major State Park.
Housing, Parks and Recreation will manage the property, the Government House press release said. It did not indicate how big the cay is or any specific plans for how it will be used.

Tiger Woods played Mahogany Run Golf Course on Wednesday and decided, "I like the course."
Thursday's Daily News has a page 1 story with photo showing Woods golfing. Said Nevin Phillips, golf director at Mahogany Run: "We're in heaven here. He's the No. 1 player in the world."
Phillips said he didn't know Woods was coming to play until a half-hour before his tee time.
Woods played Mahogany Run on his 23rd birthday "to have fun," he told the Daily News. But he wanted his visit to be private, and declined to say where he is staying in St. Thomas or how long he'll be here. He also didn't say what he shot.
Woods, a Stanford University graduate who turned pro in 1996, won the 1997 Masters tournament. He lives in Orlando.

Beginning in January, the Internal Revenue Bureau will computerize all withholding procedures, according to IRB Director Joseph Aubain.
Aubain said that for the first time in 22 years, the bureau will reconcile withholding taxes along with 501, 941, W3 and W2 forms.
For more information call the IRB at 774-5865.

An early February event at Tillett Gardens will herald the return of Chee-Yun, a Korean violinist who is widely recognized in the music world as one of today's most gifted young musicians.
Chee-Yun is a past winner of the Young Concert Artist's International Auditions. Sounds like another must see.
The concert is scheduled for 8 p.m. Feb. 3. Call Tillett Gardens at 775-1929 for ticket information.