Muña: CUC respects EPA requirements

Commonwealth Utilities Corp. executive director Antonio Muña said yesterday that CUC respects the U.S. Environmental Agency’s air emissions regulations but the swift procurement and installation process of the emergency Aggreko generators provided little time to obtain the permits.

The EPA is currently gathering information regarding the emergency generators’ air emissions and quality and lack of permits.

Muña said CUC was under a tight timetable to get the Aggreko generators online and provide 24-hour power to Saipan residents. Waiting for the permit process would have added another three to four months to the process. Meanwhile “everybody is screaming” for relief, he said.

He echoed Dean Higuchi, a spokesman for EPA, who earlier said the CNMI’s power situation is unique.

“We had to look at the lay of the land,” Muña said. People were living without water for days at a time, he added.

“We considered all of that as far as EPA,” he said. “Yes, we respect them. We wish we had had more time.”

CUC has been working with the Division of Environmental Quality regarding the air quality issues.

Yesterday, DEQ spokeswoman Reina Camacho said the agency has been in contact with CUC. She also said Gov. Benigno Fitial’s emergency declaration for CUC does not suspend federal regulations, only local regulations.

“CUC, as a major source generator, is required to submit an application to DEQ prior to commencing activities. However, the governor’s declaration of emergency allows for the exemption of local regulations,” she said in a statement. “EPA can choose to exercise its authority to require CUC to submit for a permit.”

In Fitial’s latest declaration, issued Monday, he said CUC must provide copies of relevant agency permits or a compliance plan within 30 days.

Aggreko is not an unknown provider, Muña said. They have provided temporary power to countries around the world, like Japan and China. China is a good example because they probably have similar air quality concerns, especially with the recent Olympics in Beijing, he said.

Also yesterday, Muña said the utility corporation is still on track to pay the $504,000 to Aggreko that is due Friday. The central government and the Public School System should be paying off their several million dollars of debt shortly to achieve the payment.