CUC agrees to pay $108K EPA fine
Acting Commonwealth Utilities Corp. executive director Betty T. Terlaje talks during the CUC board meeting last Thursday about, among other things, their agreement to pay $108,000 to settle a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency fine of $162,000 against CUC for failing to timely fill critical positions.
-FERDIE DE LA TORRE
The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. has agreed to pay the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency $108,000 to settle a $162,000 fine for failing to timely fill critical vacant positions.
As this developed, the CUC administration also recommends a $115.8-million budget for the agency in fiscal year 2025—the same amount they had proposed for the fiscal year 2024 budget.
Acting CUC executive director Betty G. Terlaje disclosed during the CUC board special meeting on Thursday that they have settled with EPA, which agreed to reduce the fine to $108,000.
Terlaje said their legal counsel was prepared to argue the issue before U.S. District Court for the NMI designated judge David Carter as the lawyer believes the judge could have considered taking the fine off. She did not want to “shake the waters,” though, with EPA because she believes EPA has given CUC a lot of considerations.
Terlaje conceded it is in the court-mandated orders—called stipulated orders—that CUC will be penalized if critical positions are not filled within 150 days.
“And the reality of it is we’re really not compliant,” Terlaje said.
She said she agreed to work with EPA and accept the $108,000 fine, which CUC board chair Janice A. Tenorio also agreed to.
Terlaje said the issue was then taken off the calendar with Carter.
In an interview during the break of the Thursday meeting, Terlaje said the truth is that CUC is not compliant because they haven’t filled the position of chief financial officer.
She said they negotiated and asked EPA to reconsider since they have already hired an executive director.
“They brought it to their authority, came back and offered us a lower amount at $108,000. So it’s something we can work with. EPA supports us in many other ways with projects and all that,” Terlaje said.
As for the proposed fiscal year 2025 budget, CUC fiscal budget and grants officer Joanne Paraiso said during the same CUC board special meeting that it’s still very difficult to project any revenue increase since the CNMI economy is still in a post-pandemic mode, having just gotten out of the COVID-19 pandemic and just starting to see some visitor arrivals and small businesses opening up.
On the revenue side, although CUC did see some improvements in their collections in the first quarter of fiscal year 2024, Paraiso said they are seeing some conservation in electric usage, which means revenues are going down despite an increase in collections.
In response to director Allen Michael Perez’s question, Paraiso said their focus is more on net revenue or on the collection.
“We want to be more conservative and not over-project on our budget,” she said.
‘The reality of it is we’re really not compliant.’
