Babauta retains grip on CUC—for now

The Executive Branch will retain its hold on the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. until at least two of the three broken engines at the Lower Base power plant are up and running, Gov. Juan N. Babauta said yesterday.

The second 30-day extension to the governor’s state of emergency declaration for CUC expires this week.

In an interview yesterday, Babauta expressed his inclination to extend his emergency powers over CUC for the third time as more work is needed to be done at CUC, especially in the area of power generation.

“The state of emergency in my opinion—and it has been advised by experts—will continue so long as [CUC engines no. 3, 4, and 8] are down. Once we get at least two of them up, and we are able to eliminate the load shedding and have power on a continuous basis, I will lift the emergency and turn the control of CUC back to the board,” Babauta said.

“But until such time, I feel very strongly that the health and safety of the people of the CNMI continue to be threatened and at risk. So the emergency will continue for now,” he added.

Babauta declared CUC on a state of emergency on May 19, 2005, as part of his annual State of the Commonwealth Address. The governor’s goal for the original declaration was to secure a long-term fuel contract for CUC. This was accomplished with the contract signing between CUC and Mobil on June 3.

On June 19, Babauta issued a memorandum extending the declaration for another 30 days, citing CUC’s need for assistance in meeting payments for fuel purchases, among other reasons.

On July 18, Babauta said another 30-day extension was needed because of CUC’s lack of “back up” or reserve power generation capacity; the continued need to initiate critical maintenance and repair of power generation facilities; and the uncertain financial condition of CUC and its ability to make all required fuel payments, especially given the proposed repeal of CUC’s ability to impose a fuel surcharge.

In related news, Babauta lashed at lawmakers who had said his move to reprogram funds to CUC was possibly illegal.

The governor said the Legislature should do its job by appropriating funds so the Executive Branch could pay for the electricity consumed by government agencies. He added that the lawmakers should recognize that the $5 million appropriated for the government’s utility expenses was “simply not enough.”

“I would like for the Legislature to get together and pass a special appropriation measure that would appropriate at least $12 million a year for government billings and additional funding just to subsidize CUC,” Babauta said.

He admitted that he himself did not feel right about his current practice of taking money from various government agencies to help CUC. He compared such practice to playing both the roles of the executive and legislative branches of government.

“I don’t like to get into that kind of practice because it’s the Legislature’s job…to appropriate money. The Legislature needs to appropriate money for me to make these payments. But right now, I’m like the Legislature and the Executive Branch at the same time. There’s a division of responsibility here and I urge the Legislature to do its part,” Babauta said.