Kevin Watson
THE Commonwealth Utilities Corporation has not been affected by federal budget cuts, CUC Executive Director Kevin Watson said.
“Not yet,” he added. “We’ve been fortunate that what has been targeted [for cuts] has not impacted CUC or CNMI, at least within the utilities.”
The Department of Government Efficiency under the Trump administration has implemented a series of spending cuts across various federal departments, aiming to reduce expenditures and streamline government operations. These cuts include contract cancelations and workforce reduction, among others.
Each year, CUC receives about $30 million in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grants.
“We received notification from EPA that this fiscal year and the next, we’re okay so far, but we’ve been always wary,” Watson said.
He noted that CUC currently has $100 million in EPA grants for ongoing water and wastewater projects.
“We were concerned that the cuts would cancel our electric vehicle heavy equipment grant, but they didn’t,” he said.
Last year, the CNMI was awarded a $48.6 million grant by EPA under its Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Grant Program.
