‘It was Kumoi who made it happen’

Although not a fan of Ms. Tighe’s “On my Mind” column, I must admit that I do read it on a regular basis to keep abreast of her perspective on island issues. As such, I find that she seems to have the innate ability to continually point out the many problems we face, yet I have gleaned very few, if any, viable solutions in her columns for the problems, which she identifies.

A classic example of her misconceptions of the present, exacerbated by an apparent memory loss of her tenure with Lyonnaisse Marianas America (LMA), are found in portions of her latest column, as appearing in the Sunday edition of the Saipan Tribune dated May 22, 2005, in which she again fancied herself as a “utilities consulting engineer.”

I, too, agree that the Water Task Force is doing a good job and making progress under the capable leadership of their very experienced program managers. I also believe that with the Legislature’s continued support and no further meddling by the CUC board of directors, that the goals of the WTF may be achieved.

However, please also allow me to remind Ms. Tighe to reflect upon some of her press statements in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s as dictated by LMA’s president, Jean Louie Pierrefeau, which were full of praises for the great accomplishments of LMA, the most experienced utility company in all of the Pacific. Upon reflecting on LMA’s self-serving agenda, I would then request Ms. Tighe to relate the true state of the CUC’s utility systems at the time of LMA’s departure and the reasons why.

Yes, it was true that water and power were metered at 90+ percent. However, it was not until Ramon Kumoi” Guerrero was appointed as CUC executive director “to win the war on water, power and sewer,” with the full support and confidence of the Guerrero administration, the 11th Legislature and the CUC board of directors, that the utilities for all islands of the CNMI showed major improvements.

No, there was no 24/7 water; however there was more water available and at more regular hours than now. This was accomplished by planning and instituting specific operational procedures utilizing the available resources and wells.

Yes, there were intermittent power outages, the vast majority of which were either due to planned maintenance or system upgrades or cut-overs. As just two examples:

* Beach Road Feeders Number #1 and #2 were upgraded/rebuilt “live” with a total of less than 16 hours of outages.

* Middle Road Feeder #3 (Power Plant One to the Waterloo Station) was upgraded to an over/under build with only minimal outages, and then only for individual lateral cut-overs or upgraded transformer connections.

During this same time period, there was a total of 110 MW of installed and available power generation to support an approximate base load of 56–58 MW, peaking at approximately 64–66 MW.

With the exception of the now defunct Isley field generators—due to no maintenance after Kumoi left—all power was generated on Heavy Fuel Oil No. 06 (HFO #6). Yes, this required more regular maintenance; however this cost was by far offset due to the fuel cost savings over #2 Diesel. Now I ask the more pertinent question, “What accounts for the approximate 44–46 MW decrease in generation capacity between then and now?”

Never had much to do with the sewer system for obvious reasons; however I do know that the various sewer plants (existing and newly constructed) were regularly maintained and when a problem arose or a malfunction occurred, it was addressed immediately and expeditiously resolved or repaired.

“Unbilled” power revenues were less than 2 percent, not the 15–16 percent of today. (Harris’s 25 percent less my estimated line losses of 9–10 percent). Here is something positive for Ms. Tighe to look into as a “solution.” If all of CUC’s consumers were billed for their actual kwh consumption, maybe these additional revenues could be used to offset the 32 percent fuel surcharge, which the rest of us are now paying to make up the difference.

As a matter of fact and record, Kumoi’s accomplishments were justly recognized 13 years ago by the representatives to the Inaugural Pacific Power Association Conference for which he was considered to be the founding father, so to speak, and elected as their first chairman of the board in mid 1992.

As a further fact and matter of record, and as a result of the progress and improvements to the CUC power generation and distribution systems during the first two years of Kumoi’s directorship, then American Samoa Gov Peter Talig Coleman personally requested that several of his senior utilities staff come to Saipan for management training based upon what Kumoi and his CUC department managers had been able to plan, develop and implement with the limited resources available. The training received on Saipan was not only instrumental in upgrading American Samoa’s power system, but the same methodology was also integrated into the development plans of many of the other emerging Pacific nations.

I fully realize that I’ll probably be castigated for my above opinions and comments, but I will state unequivocally that Ramon S. “Kumoi” Guerrero did more for the CNMI during the four years of his tenure as CUC’s executive director than the Navy Administration, Trust Territory government or any other entity did in the 40 years previous to his appointment or since his departure. It was only through his leadership and the efforts of his selected managers that viable water, power and sewer systems were able to be established for the benefit of all CNMI residents.

As a closing anecdote, Mr. Abe Malae was not only a participant to the First Pacific Power Association Conference, but was a member of Governor Coleman’s staff sent to Kumoi for Power Systems Management training. Now as Paul Harvey would say, “You have the rest of the story.”

Owen A. Rumley
As Lito, Fina Sisu