WASHINGTON, DC\u2014Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) grilled Interior Department officials yesterday on their failure to establish energy action teams to help reduce the cost of electricity in the insular areas. Noting that his constituents in the Marianas pay three times as much for power as officials in Washington, Sablan insisted that Interior follow the requirements of U.S. Public Law 113-235 and put teams in place with engineering and financing skills to help reduced the use of costly fossil fuels and increase energy efficiency.<\/p>\n
The questioning came during the Natural Resources Committee\u2019s review of President Trump\u2019s fiscal year 2020 budget for the Interior Department. The President wants to cut overall funding for the insular areas by $15 million and cut funding to reduce energy costs from $5 million to just $2.8 million, spread across all the insular areas.<\/p>\n
Enacted in 2014, Public Law 113-235 required the Interior Department to create energy action plans for each insular area with financing and engineering laid out on a specific timeline \u2013 and create expert teams to help implement the plans. The law also required the Interior Department to report annually to Congress on whether the benchmarks in the plans were being met.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you know how many of those reports Congress has received?\u201d Congressman Kilili asked Interior officials. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Scott Cameron, representing the Department said he did not know.<\/p>\n
\u201cNone,\u201d Sablan informed him.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd do you know how much the cost of electricity has changed in the Marianas over the last five years during which the Interior Department was required by law to be helping us? Not much. And only because the cost of oil dropped from $100 in 2014 to around $60 today.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the past the Interior Department has claimed that a strategic plan it developed for the Marianas in 2013 fulfills the requirements of Public Law 113-235. That plan laid out three scenarios: no change, a 20-percent reduction in fossil fuels, or a 53-percent reduction.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you know which scenario came to pass?\u201d Sablan asked Cameron. \u201cNo change.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause a plan with \u2018multiple scenarios\u2019 is not a plan. A plan without a schedule of implementation is not a plan. A plan without prioritizing specific projects is not a plan. A plan without financing option is not a plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sablan is working with congressional appropriators this year to force Interior to comply with the law and get aggressive about cutting energy costs for families in the Marianas. (PR)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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