With a federal judge pointedly stating that the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. has no regard for judicial deadlines, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is now strongly considering asking the court to find CUC in breach of court orders and appointing a receiver to oversee the utilities agency\u2019s operations. <\/p>\n
U.S. Department of Justice Environmental Enforcement Section senior attorney Bradley R. O\u2019Brien, however, stated that rather than seek specific relief from the U.S. District Court for the NMI at an upcoming July 29 hearing, the U.S. is permitting CUC and CNMI an opportunity to meet their obligations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe United States will evaluate CUC\u2019s and CNMI\u2019s future compliance with the orders and respectfully advise the court accordingly,\u201d said O\u2019Brien in EPA\u2019s July 29, 2014, report filed in federal court on Friday.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien pointed out that U.S. District Court for the NMI designated judge David O. Carter, in an attempt to help CUC and the CNMI people, presided over some 55 status conferences and personally inspected many of CUC\u2019s facilities, despite being a Central District of California jurist whose courtroom is in Santa Ana, California.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, the court\u2019s good faith attempt to prod CUC into compliance and to develop a functional utility largely failed as CUC continued to violate the orders and the court\u2019s deadlines,\u201d the lawyer said.<\/p>\n
As a result, at the March 17 status conference, Carter pointedly stated that CUC has no regard for judicial deadlines, the series of status conferences are at an end, and the parties are now in an adversarial proceeding.<\/p>\n
Carter then directed the U.S. to consider seeking appropriate judicial relief.<\/p>\n
Consistent with the judge\u2019s direction, O\u2019Brien said the U.S. strongly considered asking the court to find CUC in breach of the orders and court-ordered deadlines; to impose stipulated penalties; and to appoint a receiver to oversee aspect of CUC operations, with the receiver funded by CUC and CNMI under court supervision.<\/p>\n
Although progress has been made to cure long-standing deficiencies with CUC\u2019s drinking water and wastewater systems\u2014thanks in large part to EPA technical assistance and U.S. grant funding totaling more than $50 million since entry of the orders\u2014CUC consistently fails to meet the orders\u2019 remaining requirements and unerringly fails to meet deadlines and \u201cextensions of time\u201d of these deadlines, O\u2019Brien said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSerious questions remain whether CUC will meet the orders\u2019 requirements and become a functioning utility\u2014in part because two of the three senior level CUC positions falling within the order\u2019s requirements (deputy executive director of water and wastewater operations and chief financial officer) are unfilled,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Similarly, O\u2019Brien said, the CNMI fails to meet the terms of the court orders by failing to fund CUC\u2019s obligations.<\/p>\n
In fact, he said, CUC often represents to the court and the U.S. that a fundamental cause for CUC\u2019s poor operations and inability to comply with the orders and environmental laws is the CNMI\u2019s refusal to pay the government\u2019s power bills\u2014arrears that CUC says total $20 million.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien said the U.S. intended the orders to create a sustainable foundation for CUC\u2019s operations and to modify CUC\u2019s historically poor practices in order to be consistent with comparable utilities and in compliance with environmental laws.<\/p>\n
In the status report, O\u2019Brien also provided a summary of significant CUC projects covered by the stipulated order numbers 1 and 2 that the court entered in March 2009.<\/p>\n
Stipulated order No. 1 focuses on drinking water and wastewater issues such as requiring CUC to provide safe drinking water to residents on a 24-hour basis, maintaining adequate chlorine supplies, safely treating and discharging wastewater, and developing long-term capital improvement and financial plans.<\/p>\n
Stipulated order No. 2 focuses on oil issues such as repairing and replacing oil storage and operation infrastructure, managing tank and pipeline facilities, and requiring spill and emergency response equipment and protocol.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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