Among the reasons he cited were the federal stipulated orders for water, wastewater and used oil that CUC must address.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency fined CUC over $630,000 in penalties for its failure to comply with the stipulated orders.
“The governor’s latest declaration of a state of emergency for CUC is interesting, but not surprising,” said Sablan, Ind.-Saipan. “The list of justifications for the emergency declaration seems to get longer every month, and the governor’s own statements in his orders seem to indicate that very little progress has been made in nearly four straight years of disaster emergencies.”
Sablan said EPA officials “are on island this week and next week, and next week Thursday at 10 a.m., we have scheduled a legislative briefing with CUC where we expect to receive updates on the stipulated orders and CUC’s response to EPA’s warning letter and the penalties that have accrued thus far.”
Despite the latest emergency declaration, she said, “CUC must still comply with the orders with or without the governor’s declaration of an emergency, and it seems that operating under the governor’s state of disaster has done little in terms of promoting CUC’s compliance. Federal penalties for violations as of October reached over $630,000, and have continued to accrue.”
