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Drilling firm sues CUC
A private company is suing the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. for refusing to pay for the 1,000-foot geothermal exploratory assessment well drilled in Gualo Rai last year.
CUC, relying upon funding assistance from the U. S. Department of the Interior, entered into a contract with 4i-CNMI, LLC in July 2014, to drill an exploratory geothermal gradient well to determine whether geothermal energy might be a feasible alternative for Saipan.
This was the deepest hole drilled on Saipan.
“Despite the fact that this exploratory assessment well provided, and continues to provide, valuable information to CUC, CUC’s board refused to pay 4i for its performance under the contract,” said 4i legal counsel Robert O’Connor. “We expect a new CUC board…will look at this anew and get off on the right foot by paying its vendors for the valuable work they do.”
4i filed the breach of contract action against CUC in the Commonwealth Superior Court on Wednesday.
4i is owed more than $700,000 (70 percent of the contract price). 4i says this is money that CUC already has, provided by the Department of the Interior.
