Antonio Muna, the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. executive director, yesterday said the EPA officials will also advise CUC on what it should do to comply with federal environment regulations.
Muna said CUC and the Division of Environmental Quality have already provided vital information to the EPA regarding the environmental concerns involving the Aggreko units.
Dean Higuchi, spokesman for the EPA’s Hawaii and Pacific region, earlier said they would have to evaluate the information provided by CUC and DEQ before coming up with a recommendation.
But he also said that the Federal Clean Air Act, which covers stationary sources of air pollution, applied to the Aggreko generators and the EPA would work with DEQ to implement the regulations.
Muna said the extension of the a state of emergency declaration for CUC will allow the Aggreko units to continue their operations without necessarily securing environmental permits.
The extension of the emergency order will “essentially suspend any local regulations that may require CUC to get permits for emission,” he added.
CUC has yet to fully comply with the environmental regulations for the generators which went online early in September.
The CNMI government will have to pay Aggreko $6 million for the 12-month use of the generators.
