Gov. Ralph DLG Torres declared in an executive order yesterday a \u201cState of Significant Emergency\u201d in the CNMI after recently accepting the resignation of all gubernatorial appointees of the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. board.<\/p>\n
The order also gives the Office of the Governor the power to continue the planned purchase of a replacement generator, with the Executive Branch leading the project. The Governor\u2019s Office would be releasing the request for proposal.<\/p>\n
The replacement generator is for an old engine, alternator No. 8, at CUC\u2019s Power Plant 1 in Lower Base. CUC\u2019s daily operations\u2014providing power generation, water, and wastewater services to the CNMI\u2014could be disrupted due to its inability to purchase a replacement engine.<\/p>\n
Torres said the imminent threat could result in losses and damage to life and property, and disruption of CUC\u2019s services to critical infrastructure and key resources in the CNMI.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese events directly threaten the CNMI in various ways, which include but are not limited to its overall economy, health services, industry (e.g. food, medicine, etc.), public school system, the environment, and the government\u2019s ability to properly protect its citizens,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
CUC is the lone power supplier on the island. It provides electricity to all government agencies, departments, divisions, and institutions as well as to all businesses and homes.<\/p>\n
CUC\u2019s lack of ability to maximize its electricity output could endanger life, information, operations, environment, and\/or property, Torres said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost CNMI economic activity would be at risk to sustain immediate losses with the potential for long-term adverse economic impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMuch refrigeration and air conditioning would end, and the airports and ports would be forced to rely on emergency generation and limited and expensive oil supply for it,\u201d added Torres.<\/p>\n
Health and safety in the CNMI would also be at risk \u201cbecause traffic signals and street lighting could cease to function. Emergency, fire, police facilities and their communications systems, and the hospital and island clinics would have to rely on limited oil supplies for emergency generation and then cease functioning.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd much refrigeration of food and medicines would end, as would air conditioning for the elderly and sick; the public schools and the Northern Marianas College would be at risk to close. Other educational institutions would be at risk to close as their backup oil supplies for emergency generators are exhausted,\u201d said Torres.<\/p>\n
He said the CNMI\u2019s water and sewage system would also be affected since CUC is the lone supplier of electricity to operate these systems. \u201cCUC\u2019s water system relies on electricity to maintain the system pressure needed to prevent the backflow of pathogens, to chlorinate, and to pump, store, and distribute water supplies.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCUC\u2019s wastewater system requires electricity to collect, pump, process, treat, and discharge sewage. The lack of electricity could result in sewage overflows, contaminating land and water.\u201d<\/p>\n
The EO states that CUC would continue to function under executive director Gary Camacho, who would continue to carry out the general operations and management of the agency.<\/p>\n
Torres said CUC management has already informed him of the immediate need to buy a replacement engine. Saipan\u2019s reserve capacity is at less than 3 megawatts.<\/p>\n
CUC said Saipan\u2019s minimum reserve should be equal to 40 to 50 percent of the peak demand for power. Currently, the island\u2019s power demand is at 41 megawatts.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf any one of the large units at Power Plant 1 has to be taken out of service for scheduled maintenance or unscheduled repair work, Saipan\u2019s power grid would be deficient in meeting the island\u2019s power demand. This situation is the result of the rapid commercial development and economic growth Saipan has experienced over the last year,\u201d added Torres.<\/p>\n
His executive order gives him the power to use all of the government\u2019s available resources in response to the emergency. It also transfers CUC\u2019s direction, personnel or functions to other departments and agencies to perform or facilitate proper response.<\/p>\n
The State of Significant Emergency is in effect for 30 days from the date when the EO was released.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gov. Ralph DLG Torres declared in an executive order yesterday a \u201cState of Significant Emergency\u201d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[26,49,64,3618],"class_list":["post-252856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","tag-cnmi","tag-cuc","tag-oil","tag-power-plant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252856","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\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252856\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}