CUC emergency extended anew

For the seventh straight month, Gov. Benigno R. Fitial has signed an order placing the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. under a state of disaster emergency, detailing new issues that justify the need for the declaration.

The latest declaration was signed Jan. 30 and will last for 31 days.

“The declaration is still necessary to protect the health and safety of our children, our senior citizens, businesses, and all other CNMI residents and visitors,” the order said.

Press Secretary Charles Reyes has said CUC will most likely remain under a state of emergency as long as the emergency Aggreko generators are in place. The order suspends procurement regulations for CUC, allowing the utility company to retain the generators and any other equipment or supplies necessary to maintain reliable power. It also suspends local environmental regulations.

There are now 12 reasons why the emergency is necessary, Fitial stated. The declaration said that although enough power to the island is being produced, distributing it continues to be a problem for the utility agency because of the failing equipment.

CUC suffered 30 hours of distribution system failures during the month of December, including a one-hour islandwide outage on Dec. 22. During the month of January, CUC experienced 22 hours of partial blackouts and one four-hour Islandwide outage.

CUC’s water and wastewater division continues to face growing problems, according to the declaration. Sixteen pumps are out of service at water wells, and during the month of January, wastewater collection mains and laterals failed at more than 20 points due to grease, bundles of rags and other debris. Such failures could harm CUC’s ability to meet requirements set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Fitial wrote.

In November, the U.S. Department of Justice and the EPA filed a civil suit against CUC to compel it to adhere to federal regulations governing water, sewer, power, and fuel. If certain stipulations are not met, CUC can be penalized up to $1,000 per day per violation for the first 30 days; $2,000 per day per violation following the 30 days; and $5,000 per day per violation for each day after.

Also, the declaration cites the new rates set by the Public Utilities Commission that went into effect Jan. 1 as one of the findings for the emergency order. PUC adopted a levelized energy adjustment clause of 23 cents per kilowatt-hour. The rate will stay in place until March 31, when the PUC will review the rate and set a new LEAC for the next six months.

Fitial directs CUC to do the same measures as past declarations. They include: documenting procurement activity and notifying specific officials; contracting with an independent power producer for two years or less; providing within 30 days permits or compliance plans; procuring the labor and equipment needed to fix the Chalan Kiya distribution system; and removing used oil from tank 104 and other barrels.