CUC emergency extended anew

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial extended yesterday the state of disaster emergency for the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. for 30 more days, adding stipulations after members of the Legislature questioned some of the procurement policies used in obtaining the Aggreko generators.

Fitial first declared the state of emergency on Aug. 1.

Under the new stipulations, CUC must comply with its own procurement regulations as well as the CNMI’s, except if the CUC executive director finds that such compliance is not feasible to the disaster emergency. In such cases, the director must document all procurement activity for review by the governor, Public Utilities Commission, Public Auditor, Executive and Legislature. After each procurement process, CUC must notify as soon as possible by e-mail the governor, Senate president, House speaker, PUC and the Public Auditor regarding:

– the subject of the procurement;

– contractors and/or suppliers;

– amounts involved;

– extent to which competitive bids or proposals were used; and

– a short description of the reason for the action.

Charles Reyes, press secretary for the Governor’s Office, said the new executive order should satisfy the concern of the Legislature.

“It’s very transparent. That way we make sure we control the situation, so there are no abuses,” he said. “We do not want to invite abuses. We will hold procurement regulations unless there is a compelling case not to, and we will then have to provide a report. I think we refined it to make it even better to reflect some of the concerns [raised] by the Legislature, and still provide reliable power and not be put back in the dark.”

In his earlier executive order, Fitial said parts of CUC’s power plants were in such disrepair that an explosion could maim or kill power plant workers.

The new order also states that, while the Aggreko generators’ additional 13 megawatts of power to the island has “meant the difference between continued rolling blackouts and largely continuous service to CUC electric customers,” unforeseen technical issues have arisen, causing some forced outages. One of the challenges, according to the declaration, is the failure of the electrical production and distribution facilities, in particular the Chalan Kiya distribution transformers, which require immediate maintenance.

“Their failure could plunge the south end of Saipan into lengthy blackouts, including the water wells in the airport area and the Agingan Point sewage treatment facilities,” the order states.

The order directs CUC to procure as soon as possible the necessary technical expertise, labor, parts and materials to fix the equipment.

Also, the order directs CUC to procure “with deliberate speed” the contractors necessary to remove used oil from Tank 104 and hundreds of other nearby barrels because they are structurally unsound. Severe weather, such as a serious typhoon, could cause the barrels to spill and pollute the lagoon. The removal of the barrels must comply with federal environmental law and, “CUC lacks the internal capability to carry out the removal, and must contract for these services,” according to the declaration.

Fitial directed CUC to provide him within 30 days a plan for compliance with various agency regulations.