Follow The Money In Alpine Deal
Local Opposition To Deal Draws National Attention
There’s some big money riding on this Alpine deal and investor William Koch stands to be one of the big winners if the plan goes through in its current form.
And the local opposition to this deal has gained national attention. (see attached article)
Alpine Energy Group has contracted with the VI Water and Power Authority (WAPA) to build waste-to-energy plants on St. Thomas and St. Croix that would use petroleum coke and trash to generate electrical energy.
The ongoing public outcry against the harmful health and environmental effects of petroleum coke and the potential surge in energy costs to consumers culminated in the delay of a Legislative vote on the St. Thomas leases that was scheduled for Monday’s session. And now it is revealed that Koch stands to profit immensely from the structure of the deal.
Koch, an Alpine investor who has frequently been shown to be environmentally unfriendly, owns and operates the petcoke distribution facility at Hovensa which, per the agreement, is the only place that WAPA can purchase the petcoke needed to run the Alpine plants. So, simply put, he would profit as an investor in the project and in the sale of the petcoke to WAPA. Additionally, Koch carries no financial liability for the petcoke once it leaves the terminal at Hovensa, as WAPA is responsible for not only the purchase price of the petcoke, but the cost and liability of transporting the substance from the terminal to the plants on St. Thomas and St. Croix.
The attached article, published in the Dec. 20 issue of Cape Cod Today, highlights Koch’s environmental unfriendly history and outlines the action taken by the St. Croix Ratepayers Association, the Virgin Islands Ratepayers Association and the Virgin Islands Conservation Society. These groups filed a Motion for Reconsideration of the deal that was denied by the VI Public Services Commission earlier this month. The groups plan to appeal that denial.
CIF initially objected to the lack of sufficient public notice given by the PSC when the agreements was ratified and made that objection formal in a letter to the Commission. The public notice issue was dismissed in the response to CIF from the PSC and the notification issue is a factor that is also noted in the action filed by the environmental groups.
We will continue to follow these critical proceedings.
By reading the article about Koch, I am convinced Koch is not good for the V.I., especially in regards to REAL renewable energy.
The saddest thing is that these are the type of characters our politicans are associated with. And then, our governor try to spin these stories to convince us to trust these people.
Cheese and Bread mon!!!!!!! What F#@king &ssholes. Put Koch and the PSC board in with the pet coke and burn all the &ssess!!!
It goes to show, who ever gots the money (under the table)controls the VI
@ Eve, I say NO LONGER. We have finally accumulated enough brave souls in the territory to stop this bad behavior. It will be a tough fight, but justice will win. We are all very tired of this, “we” being the community who suffers for the greedy actions of our supposed leaders. I feel confident in knowing that this, all of this crap, is just the beginning to an end.