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House told: Don’t let politics get in the way
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Posted on Jan 28 2005
A Commonwealth Utilities Corp. official expressed disappointment yesterday over the cancellation of Thursday’s House session, where major CUC-related issues were scheduled for discussion.
Two House bills involving CUC were supposed to be introduced at the session, which was called off after minority bloc members failed to show up.
One is House Bill No. 14-285, which seeks to authorize the Commonwealth Development Authority to write off the principal sum and interest from CUC loan.
The other is H.B. No. 14-286, which will reprogram $3.3 million from appropriations for the Kagman wastewater treatment for the construction of the Agingan ocean outfall and upgrade of the Agingan wastewater treatment plant.
“There are critical issues that affect the public and need to be addressed immediately. I just hope our lawmakers will get back to work, move on, and not let politics get in the way,” said CUC board member Joe Torres.
He noted that the debt write-off bill is particularly essential to CUC’s recovery from its current financial situation, as it would allow for the utility firm to float bonds for its operations.
“Everybody is banking on the fuel surcharge, a temporary solution which until now has not been approved by the governor. The write-off, on the other hand, will provide us a long-term solution to our problems,” Torres said.
Funding for the Agingan treatment plant is also an urgent matter for CUC.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has given CUC until February 2005 to comply with a Nov. 11, 1999 administrative order to improve the quality of water effluent being discharged into the ocean at the Agingan treatment plant. Failure to comply with the EPA order will subject CUC to a fine of $35,000 for each day of violation.
According to H.B. 14-286, the cost to complete the Agingan project now costs $5.6 million.
CUC received a $2.1-million grant from EPA, but over $450,000 of this amount has been used for the architectural and engineering design and other related fees.
There remains $1.6 million from the EPA grant, leaving CUC with a $3.5 million budget shortfall for the project.
