WAPA Polluting our Air, Water and Coral
This an example of the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (WAPA) polluting our Air, Water and Coral. This is a violation of the US Clean Water Act, the US Clean Air Act and the US Endangered Species Act. Unfortunately, this is just one of many violations that happen relatively frequently.
Governor orders DPNR to look into HOVENSA Water distribution
By DANIEL SHEA (Daily News Staff)
Published: December 13, 2010
HOVENSA is coming under greater scrutiny following Thursday’s release of hydrocarbons.
ST. CROIX – After the latest release of gases from the HOVENSA refinery, Gov. John deJongh Jr. has directed the commissioner of the V.I. Department of Planning and Natural Resources to provide an operational assessment and recommendations on how the government can better monitor the emissions released into the air by the refinery.
Thursday’s release of hydrocarbons from HOVENSA was the fourth since mid-September. It caused sickness – vomiting, skin and eye irritation, dizziness – in nearly 200 students at St. Croix Central High School. The school closed early two days in a row as a result. At least 36 people went to Luis Hospital for treatment, the hospital said.
Since the release, a number of local politicians and community members have called for stricter monitoring of the air quality around and downwind from HOVENSA.
“I am very concerned by this string of emission incidents that we have witnessed since Sept. 17, and Thursday’s incident appeared to have been the most severe, causing several hundred people to seek medical attention,” deJongh said in a prepared statement.
The governor said he has directed DPNR Commissioner Robert Mathes to provide an assessment on steps that must be taken to “further enhance the government’s monitoring capabilities of the refinery” within 15 days. Mathes is also to talk with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency about an operational assessment of the refinery.
In the past, government agencies have allowed HOVENSA to take the reins on any cleanup or remediation efforts after such releases. In fact, HOVENSA monitors its own emissions and provides the government with the only data available on how much gas and oil are released into the air.
That information is generally only released after an EPA-sanctioned threshold is broken.
Since Thursday’s incident, many have called for independent government monitoring of the refinery’s emissions, including V.I. Delegate to Congress Donna Christensen, Sens. Nereida Rivera-O’Reilly and Sawn-Michael Malone, and St. Croix Environmental Association Executive Director Paul Chakroff.
Over the weekend, HOVENSA personnel cleaned up the hydrocarbons released Thursday that were deposited on Central High School, according to V.I. Education Department spokeswoman Juel Anderson.
DeJongh said he is also considering contracting an “oil refinery expert” to conduct an assessment of HOVENSA operations and to make an independent review of the impact on the lives and well-being of those who work at the refinery. He said he will wait for the results of talks among DPNR, HOVENSA and the EPA to make that move.
DPNR is preparing notices of violation for the four incidents, which will impose monetary fines against the refinery and require corrective action.
While speaking sternly about the mishaps at HOVENSA, the governor also alluded to the refinery’s massive economic impact in the territory, calling it an “extremely critical part of our economy.”
HOVENSA makes up close to 20 percent of the territory’s gross domestic product, according to V.I. Bureau of Economic Research Director Lauritz Mills.The V.I. Health Department is advising residents of Estate Clifton Hill and Fredensborg not to consume water from their cisterns until further notice.
Our Communications with EPA Head Office in Washington
This email thread is based upon the EPA letters in our Current Crises Page
From: Susan Wolterbeek
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2011 1:58 PM
Dear Vincent:
Thank you so much for your immediate response and concern. Attached are my letters to the EPA, NOAA, and the US Attorney’s Office. Please go to www.greenervi.org and you will see many other documents, press releases, articles, etc. on these subjects. We desperately need the help of the EPA, NOW!! What follows is my letter of March 2, 2011 to Judith Enck, which has received no response, although it was also sent to several of her people, who asked me if she had responded yet, so I know absolutely that she got it. It was also in our local newspaper, and she has a clipping service. I appreciate your getting someone to respond to me now, because the silence is deafening, and our territory is in crisis. Thank you, Sincerely, Susan
Non-responsive Messages from EPA Region 2 & EPA Head Office & our reply:
From: Bowen.Vincent, EPA
Sent: Friday, March 18, 2011 11:34 AM
To: Susan Wolterbeek, GreenerVI.org
Subject: Fw: 1.2 million gallons of raw sewage, per day, dumped in our Caribbean coastal water and terrible Air pollution
Follow-up from regional office
—– Forwarded by Vincent Bowen/DC/USEPA/US on 03/18/2011 11:32 AM —–
From: Bonnie Bellow/R2/USEPA/US
To: Vincent Bowen/DC/USEPA/US@EPA
Cc: George Pavlou/R2/USEPA/US@EPA, Lisa Plevin/R2/USEPA/US@EPA
Date: 03/18/2011 11:19 AM
Subject: Re: Fw: 1.2 million gallons of raw sewage, per day, dumped in our Caribbean coastal water and terrible Air pollution
Thank you for reaching out to us. We are well aware of Susan Wolerbeek’s concerns, and have worked closely with her. In fact, she is a member of the VI’s Recycling Partnership, a group created during the past year by our Regional Administrator to address serious solid waste concerns throughout the Virgin Islands. I believe that Ms. Wolterbeek participated in a meeting of the group several weeks ago. We are also well aware of the ongoing sewage discharges. During the week of March 1, I was in the Virgin Islands with the RA, along with other EPA technical experts, and we visited the site of a pump station that has had many failures. The issue was discussed at meetings with high level VI officials during our visit.
We will look into the status of the March 2 letter to the RA and make every effort to respond quickly. I am out of the office today, but you can reach me next week at 212-637-3660.
Bonnie Bellow
Director, Public Affairs Division
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(212) 637-3660
Our Replies to the EPA Thread Above
From: Susan Wolterbeek
Sent: Friday, March 18, 2011 6:26 PM
To: Bowen.Vincent
Dear Mr. Bowen:
Thank you for the update. Bonnie’s reply is interesting. Yes, they know of my concerns, but they do not respond to any of my concerns. I do not understand what “working closely” is, because I have had no response to these issues for over a year. They admit they are well aware of these sewage discharges- but the dumping continues. They may have spoken with “high level VI officials”, but neither the EPA or those officials deign to give any information to us citizens who keep asking why these massive violations of federal law are allowed to continue. This is killing our coral, our turtles and our tourism.
In my many letters to the EPA, I have raised what amounts to hundreds of counts of violations of federal criminal and civil law, and Region 2 refuses to even answer my letters. This is not “overwhelming transparency”, or even basic professionalism for a federal agency to refuse to answer citizens’ letters focused on violations of law, begging for relief from the dumping of raw sewage. Perhaps with the home office’s input from you, now they will finally reply to my letters.
I am asking you to stay on this, please, and bring it to the attention of Lisa Jackson. Clearly, by the facts presented to you, and not disputed by Region 2, THEY ARE NOT RESPONDING TO MY LETTERS, and raw sewage discharges are a regular occurrence here, at a rate of 1.2 million gallons a day, into what were crystal clear Caribbean coastal waters. So far I have had no reply to my letter of March 2, 2011 or even May 17, 2010, besides “we’re looking into it.” If you go to our website, www.greenervi.org you will see more articles/notices/letters/photographs which I gleaned from the internet. Jim Casey, our local EPA rep, has all the facts and figures as to the discharges.
Sincerely, Susan Wolterbeek
_____________________________________________________
From: Susan Wolterbeek
Sent: Saturday, March 19, 2011 10:06 AM
To: Bowen.Vincent
Subject: protocol for the EPA
Dear Mr. Bowen:
Re-reading Ms. Bellow’s statement to you from Region 2, I really am stunned by the Director of Public Affairs’ clear attempt to be disingenuous with the head office of the EPA. How can Region 2’s willfully ignoring my letters and legal analyses, with hundreds of proven violations of criminal and civil law, be construed as “working closely with” me?
This dumping of millions of gallons of raw sewage has been a part of a federal district court consent order since 1985, yet Region 2 willfully refuses to stop VIWMA’s dumping and WAPA’s polluting, bring a contempt order, or even bother to acknowledge or answer my pleas to help the people of the Virgin Islands. If Ms. Bellow states she will make every effort to respond quickly to my letter of 2 ½ weeks ago…does that mean waiting another 2 ½ weeks for this “quick” response, or a month, another year?
For the past year, while I have been pressing this issue, the EPA has not properly regulated VIWMA, and under the Endangered Species Act, which I urge you to review, Region 2 of the EPA is itself liable. I have been trying to work with the federal agencies on these matters, and for a federal officer to be disingenuous about Region 2’s relations with an honest, concerned citizen is directly in contravention to EPA’s mandate and ethics. Will the head office of the EPA do anything to help us, inform us, and stop this polluting?
Sincerely, Susan K. Wolterbeek