Senate Visit To Florida Plant Questioned

January 4, 2010

Jacksonville plant location, ties to financier, raise concerns

We’ve done a little “fact-finding” of our own into the PetCoke burning plant Sen. Craig Barshinger and his committee members are going to visit in Florida on Wednesday and what we’ve found is troubling.

Barshinger is chairman of the Legislature’s Economic Development, Energy and Technology committee. As chairman, he is leading the excursion to Jacksonville, FL, to visit the Northside Generating Station. The facility is owned and operated by the Jacksonville Energy Authority (JEA). The purpose of the visit is to see first-hand how a plant that uses PetCoke operates and what affect it has on its surroundings. What they learn, according to Barshinger, will help them decide how to address the Alpine Energy Group proposal to build similar plants on St. Thomas and St. Croix.

But the Jacksonville plant has business relationships with some who stand to profit handsomely from the Virgin Islands project. In addition, the location of the plant is not comparable to the proximity the Island locations will have to congested population areas. So we wonder – will the delegation get the whole story, or just the information that will be beneficial to those who stand to profit from the development in the Virgin Islands?

The Legislature recently delayed a decision on the land leases for the Alpine plant on St. Thomas after Barshinger and other senators expressed concerns about the project and the outpouring of negative public opinion on the waste-to-energy initiative. At the heart of the controversy is the use of petroleum coke, an oil by-product, that is a proven environmental and health hazard. Opponents say the impact on the quality of life will be severe; supporters say that the “scrubbing” technology that Alpine will use will minimize the impact of the petcoke emissions.

Now, the concerns. A large amount of the petcoke used in the Jacksonville plant is supplied by the Hovensa Refinery on St. Croix. The distributor of that petcoke is William Koch, who would also be the seller of the petcoke to the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (WAPA) for the Alpine project. Alpine’s contract requires that WAPA purchase all petroleum coke from Hovensa, therefore through Koch as the distributor, for the life of the agreement.

Additionally, the Jacksonville plant is located far outside of the city, and is surrounded by acres of wetlands and other uninhabited areas. This is in sharp contrast to the prospects for residents of St. Thomas and St. Croix who live west of and downwind from the central island locations planned for both Alpine facilities.

So while an attempt to get more information is admirable and, indeed, the responsible thing to do, we wonder whether the Jacksonville visit will give an objective view of the potential impact of this project on the financial, environmental and human health of the Virgin Islands.

Local opposition to this project is gaining visibility on the mainland, as the attached article from “Cape Cod Today” illustrates. The article highlights a letter written to Governor John deJongh by Paul Chakroff, executive director of the Virgin Islands Conservation Society, criticizing the deal and asking the Governor to meet with concerned environmental groups to discuss the impact of the project.

Crucians In Focus (CIF) has gone on the record in opposition to this deal, and agrees that much more scrutiny is necessary before determining an alternative energy solution. CIF, in conjunction with the Virgin Islands Ratepayers Association and other concerned community members, is sponsoring a Town Hall meeting on January 13, from 6-8 p.m at Gertrude’s Restaurant on St. Croix. The meeting is an opportunity for community members to get information on this critical project.

Meanwhile, we will wait for Sen. Barshinger’s report, which may first be given at a hearing he is holding on January 13 in St. Thomas. But we encourage the members of his committee, and any others who may travel to Jacksonville, to seriously evaluate the situation and its relevancy and potential impact on these Virgin Islands. We don’t know who has committed to go, but the other committee members are Sens. Michael Thurland, Neville James, Louis Hill, Shawn Malone, Nellie O’Reilly and Sammuel Sanes.