GILBANE Federal senior project manager Jess Hess and principal Daryl Greenway told the federal court that improvement projects at the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. Power Plants 1, 2 and 4 will be completed this year.
In 2014, the court appointed Gilbane Federal as the Engineering Environmental Management Company or EEMC to supervise stipulated order projects of the public utility.
In November 2008, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency signed and lodged two stipulated orders seeking to reform and bring into compliance CUC’s wastewater plants and collection systems, public drinking water systems, five power plants and an oil transfer pipeline.
Stipulated Order 1 focuses on drinking water issues, while Stipulated Order 2 concentrates on oil issues, such as requiring CUC to repair and replace oil storage and operation infrastructure, manage tank and pipeline facilities, and require spill and emergency response equipment and protocols.
In its report to the federal court dated Feb. 1, 2021, Gilbane Federal stated that improvements at Power Plants 1, 2 and 4 and those include the installation of an operational modular Oil Water Separator or OWS system, a facility response plan, and an operation and maintenance manual will be completed in 2021.
Gilbane Federal also reiterated what it previously told the court regarding the impact of Covid-19 on CUC’s SO2 projects.
“One of the major impacts…has been the travel restrictions that prevented staff, contracted subcontractors, and specialists from accessing the work on Saipan,” Gilbane Federal stated.
It added that Covid-19 restrictions likewise delayed access and travel to Rota.
But the “Rota work is now scheduled for completion in 2021,” Gilbane Federal stated.
It added that the overall total payment for the EEMC work performed in 2020 is approximately $2.3 million.
In addition, Gilbane Federal’s report highlighted a milestone reached in 2020 in the installation of a third new horizontal fuel tank (20,000 gallons) for the Power Plant 4 tank farm to join two similar fuel tanks installed in 2019.
The three diesel fuel tanks were put into service in support of Power Plant 4 power generation activities, the report added.
