“It’s almost April 2009 already yet CUC still has 600,000 gallons of unused oil stored down there in Lower Base — why?” Speaker Arnold I. Palacios said in an interview on Friday. “Why haven’t we moved on? What are they waiting for?”
Palacios, R-Saipan, said there will be a potential environmental problem involving CUC’s used oil if a typhoon hits the island.
“At least two companies, including a Japanese firm, have expressed interest to do the work for CUC, but we still haven’t seen [a request from proposals from CUC] and the clock is ticking.”
Interested companies haven’t received a reply from CUC, he added.
CUC remains under the administration’s control following the governor’s extension, for the eighth time, of a state of emergency for the agency.
Palacios expects the governor to extend the 31-day emergency declaration in April.
“An emergency declaration allows for sole-sourcing — the awarding of contracts without going through a bidding process, but I hope that we don’t use that method again in addressing the used oil problem. I think we can do an emergency procurement — ask the companies that have shown interest to submit proposals, and see if we can get a good proposal from them.”
Despite the frequent extension of the governor’s emergency declarations, Palacios said little has been done to fix CUC’s used oil problem.
“The governor wants to put all rules and regs on hold, but he can’t do that with federal rules,” he added.
Asked for comment, Press Secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. yesterday said: “The oil problem has been specifically recognized and cited in several CUC emergency executive orders and the matter continues to remain a very high priority for CUC. Along with power generation, water and waste water issues, this matter has been a problem for years and this administration is responsible for making the greatest effort to resolve such issues. According to [Executive] Director [Antonio] Muna, CUC is addressing this issue and has a program in place. In addition, CUC has made numerous grant applications for federal stimulus funds to further address this issue.”
Reyes said although CUC is focused on engine rehabilitation efforts in order to eliminate the need for the Aggreko generators, “it is also working to comply with federal court orders and stipulations, including compliance with EPA standards.”
He added, “Truth be told, if CUC is unable to make acceptable progress according to Speaker Palacios, he only has himself to blame because he supported a disastrous policy (P.L. 15-94) to reduce utility rates below cost at a time when fuel prices were soaring. Although Speaker Palacios later reversed his position and supported a suspension of that law, CUC had already been damaged and still continues to struggle, in part, because of that disastrous policy endorsed by Speaker Palacios.”
