{"id":23538,"date":"2012-07-09T00:56:55","date_gmt":"2012-07-09T00:56:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newspaper.ctsi-logistics.com\/?p=23538"},"modified":"2012-07-09T00:56:55","modified_gmt":"2012-07-09T00:56:55","slug":"it-was-usda-that-pulled-plug-on-10m-cuc-loan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/it-was-usda-that-pulled-plug-on-10m-cuc-loan\/","title":{"rendered":"‘It was USDA that pulled plug on $10M CUC loan"},"content":{"rendered":"
It was the U.S. Department of Agriculture-and not the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.-that pulled the plug on CUC’s $10 million loan with Rhode Island-based Independence Bank when the federal agency realized that the utilities agency does not have the ability to repay the USDA-guaranteed loan, according to Lt. Gov. Eloy S. Inos.<\/div>\n

CUC is under a state of emergency because of financial, procurement and hiring crises, among other things. It is now again under the direct control of the Executive Branch.<\/p>\n

Inos said USDA as the loan guarantor \u201chas decided not to move forward\u201d with the loan.<\/p>\n

A USDA-guaranteed loan would have a much lower interest rate than a regular loan. Inos said CUC is not considering applying for another loan at this time, given its financial standing.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy understanding is that it was USDA that felt that CUC is not financially capable of servicing the loan. That’s why they [USDA] are not guaranteeing the loan. And this is a loan guarantee program,\u201d Inos told Saipan Tribune in an interview Friday.<\/p>\n

CUC and lawmakers previously said it was CUC and the Office of the Attorney General that decided to back out of the $10-million loan.<\/p>\n

Rep. Frank Dela Cruz (R-Saipan), chairman of the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation’s Committee on Public Utilities and Infrastructure, is now asking CUC to give back to its customers an estimated $1 million that he believes the corporation started collecting from customers in July 2011 to help repay the planned $10 million loan that didn’t materialize.<\/p>\n

\u201cCUC should give back the estimated $1 million they collected since May or June 2011, whether in the form of offsetting their utility bills or refund. They have been collecting that supposedly to help pay for the $10 million but that loan is not moving forward anymore,\u201d Dela Cruz said.<\/p>\n

The PUIC Committee called on CUC acting executive director Alan Fletcher to attend a July 12 meeting to discuss the cancellation of the $10 million loan and additional collection from CUC customers since last year to help pay the supposed loan.<\/p>\n

Dela Cruz’s committee listed eight sets of issues about CUC that they want to discuss, which also include CUC’s cash flow and operational status; the status of its alternative energy sources and their cost to CUC per kilowatt hour, as well as the companies that will be awarded contracts; update on two stipulated orders from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; status of Power Plant 4 on Saipan and the power plant on Tinian; and status of the request for proposal for trouble calls as well as payment branches to be held by IP&E.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease be prepared to answer questions regarding the above issues and to address other concerns that the other members in the committee may have,\u201d Dela Cruz told Fletcher.<\/p>\n

Sen. Juan Ayuyu (Ind-Rota), chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation and Communications, earlier said that CUC could no longer afford to enter into a $10-million loan and pay a monthly rate of $110,000, and this was coming from CUC officials that met with the panel.<\/p>\n

Ayuyu and Senate President Paul Manglona (Ind-Rota) said CUC should also be mindful of the consequences of not addressing CUC\u2019s stipulated order requirements as it could end up facing stiff fines from EPA.<\/p>\n

CUC was supposed to use the $10 million loan to meet federal requirements under the U.S. District Court and EPA stipulated orders.<\/p>\n

CUC had said the $10-million loan will be used to fund 27 projects and initiatives that will result in more dependable and reliable power, water, and wastewater supply in the CNMI. Some $3.859 million of it will be used to build the infrastructure for safe fuel storage, handling, and transfer at power plants.<\/p>\n

By Haidee V. Eugenio
\nReporter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was the U.S. Department of Agriculture-and not the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.-that pulled the plug…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,112,50,117],"class_list":["post-23538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-cuc","tag-environmental-protection-agency","tag-power","tag-usda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23538\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}