Sablan, Ind.-Saipan, said House members last week discussed the governor’s latest declaration, “critiquing the perpetual state of emergency at CUC…[and] expressing frustration about the lack of a plan thus far, and the lack of responsiveness from the governor to our requests for a plan.”
Asked for comment, Press Secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. said the emergency declaration extension “is legally necessary to keep the Aggreko generators operating and to keep the power flowing. CUC has just hired an expert, Mr. Wallon Young, to take charge of the engine rehabilitation project. We are making some progress and Tony Muna has repeatedly provided information to the Legislature regarding CUC.”
He added, “It is very unfortunate that some legislators choose to take on a very negative, counterproductive, adversarial and hostile approach with the administration regarding CUC and other matters, while the commonwealth is in crisis. I see this as a classic case of ‘Prisoner’s Dilemma’ in game theory, where the political players, pursuing their own unenlightened, short-sighted and narrow self-interest, choose unhealthy conflict and defection over cooperation and collaboration, so that both parties, the administration and the Legislature, as well as the commonwealth as a whole, end up much worse off.”
Sablan said she and her colleagues requested Speaker Arnold I. Palacios, R-Saipan, and House Public Utilities, Transportation and Communications Chairman Victor B. Hocog, Ind.-Rota, to call in CUC Executive Director Tony Muna for updates.
House members also called “for shifts to renewable energy, to cheaper heavy fuel oil, to a whole new power plant, to privatization.”
Sablan said the governor’s list of reasons for the emergency “grow longer with each new declaration, and there is still no plan in sight. Conditions at CUC worsen despite the emergency declarations.”
She added, “The safety of CUC employees is being compromised, and their morale continues to decline. The [request for proposals] for renewable energy and engine rehabilitation have been cancelled, and CUC is now requesting a waiver of the renewable energy portfolio standard requirements under the law. Net metering regulations are severely delayed. We are almost 100 percent likely to extend…Aggreko’s [$500,000 a month] contract, and no one knows where the money will come from for that contract, or for our other contracts with other vendors for that matter, or to comply with the federal stipulated orders or the [Public Utilities Commission’s] stipulated orders. CUC’s insolvency is now widely acknowledged.”
Sablan “commented on the pattern, the circles we talk ourselves into, and suggested that we take a step back, look at the full picture, and consider that perhaps the problems at CUC might be beyond the resources and capacity of the local government to solve on its own, that it might be time for us to acknowledge that we need serious intervention, and that receivership, as drastic as it might be, might be the most viable option at this point, considering the drastic conditions of our utilities.”
Palacios said he would refer the governor’s emergency declaration to the House PUTC for review, and would seek a meeting with Hocog and Sablan to “discuss…options, including receivership.”
Sablan chairs the Saipan legislative delegation’s Public Utilities and Infrastructure Committee, which is conducting an oversight investigation of CUC.
“It’s still moving along,” she said. “We are still reviewing and compiling reports on CUC over the years, auditors are still reviewing and evaluating key contracts…. [W]e had a meeting with the external auditors to go over the findings of the latest 2007 audit report, and this week I will be focusing on regrouping the committee, taking care of some housekeeping (our legal counsel is now on leave, so we need a replacement), and setting up meetings with [Office of Public Auditor] and CUC officials.”
