UPDATE: Senate Defers Financial Discussion Until Tuesday, Asks Governor To Delay State Of The Territory Address; Hovensa Closure Cited As Reason
Update: After a three hour delay in the start of this pivotal meeting, Senate President Ronald Russell delivered this message from the Legislature in St. Thomas.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
This action not only defers resolution on the financial issues facing the Territory, but also disrupts the planned Operation Yellow Cedar demonstration that has been long planned for Monday night, to coincide with the annual State of the Territory Address, if the address is indeed postponed.
More as this story develops.
If there has been a more critical Legislative session, we can’t remember it.
Before all eyes turned to Hovensa and its impending closure, the issues of government terminations, fiscal mismanagement and the Alpine Energy Group proposal were top of mind. And Hovensa notwithstanding, those issues remain critical, may in fact be even more critical, in light of the events of the past two days.
The Hovensa closing was no surprise – it is inconceivable that the largest employer in the Territory only contacted your Governor the night before the closing – and it has devastated this already embattled community. But let’s not let the shock drive us into even more destructive decisions. This is no time to lose focus.
The deceptively brief agenda for today’s Legislative session states “BR-12-1287- The Employment Relation & Economic Recovery Act of 2012, and for other purposes.”
Other purposes indeed.
Here are the priorities as we see them:
- Borrowing Is Off The Table – it was never a good idea, but the departure of the Hovensa refinery, and the $60 million it contributed to the VI Economy, makes the Territory a risk no borrower will take. And in any case, $90 million won’t cover three months of payroll – and then what? Done.
- Freeze every single budget today – get all those agency heads in now and line item every single budget for the rest of the fiscal year. Period.
- Hovensa’s closing is no excuse to move forward with Alpine. The much publicized $20 a year payment is less than the tip of the financial iceberg. Additional fees. tax exemptions and contract provisions that will cost even more when we can’t produce the amount of trash we’ve committed to make the return on this investment zero for the Virgin Islands – and 200% for Alpine.
- Bring EDC recipients to the table and revise the tax exemptions for those who have them, and force collections on overdue loans – IMMEDIATELY.
- No More “Public/Private Partnerships” – If the government would quit destroying the business environment, there are companies that would come into the Territory and build revenue-producing businesses with their own money – and not ours. Case in point? Synergy Renewables who even now are petitioning the Public Services Commission to bring a waste-to-energy plan to the Territory at no cost to us.
- New Taxes Are Not The Answer – the answer is to collect those outstanding taxes from businesses who have been allowed to shirk their responsibility. Suspend their business licenses and close their doors until they pay.
- Remove Alicia Hansen – As long as she illegally occupies a seat in the Senate, any action they take in which she has a part are effectively null and void. It was and remains an issue – and we’re not going to let it go away. The story on the street is that you’re afraid because she’s “got something on you.” The Governor got busted in the university parking lot – what could be worse and frankly, who cares?
- How about that $6.9 Million from the Senate Audit – yet another issue getting, as one of our bloggers put it “swept under the rug” in the shadow of the Hovensa closure.
There are more – many more options but one thing is for sure – the Governor’s agenda – dictated by the business community – is an approach whose time has passed.
Senators, we are watching you.
Readers, the live blog is open..
Robin Hood is lurking.
@3:39,
Thank you. Not many people know that the clowns led by russell did NOT touch a penny from their budget. NOT one penny.
Perhaps the VI can look to Auruba for strategies. That island nation also had an oil refinery closing in July 2009 which lasted approximately 18 months. The Valero Energy Corp has now reopened the oil refinery. What Auruba did during the several months of closure could provide a piece of a road map for the VI.
Whoa!!
U-Turn,it’s been ages since we last heard from you.Welcome back.
Can the State of the Terrritory really be postponed?
Governor deJongh has postponed it about twice since he was first elected.
The most important thing to do at this time is to get 24 hour access to the Hovensa channel into the St Croix Containerport. It’s as close to a straight passage to Containerport that any ship can get & Hovensa has always refused access to anything other than vessels calling the refinery. The Hovensa channel is perhaps the only private access channel in the entire USA.
This access would negate the current daylight only access to the STX Containerport for vessels over 400 feet in length via the Krausse Lagoon Channel which has two 90 degree turns in an approximately 300 foot wide channel. 24 hour cargo traffic to Containerport would make St Croix a key/vital transshipment port, probably increase competition beyond the few carriers currently serving STX & serve to reduce costs for cargo arriving into St Croix.
Imagine St Croix as a transshipment hub for the entire Caribbean due to the strategic location of the USVI serving the Leewards, Windwards & Greater Antilles…
The USVI needs to regain access/control of the Hovensa Channel IMMEDIATELY, if not sooner. The VI Port Authority needs to take this for action, as the implications are enormous for our Territory overall & St Croix in particular.
The democrasy will cease to exist when you take from
those who are willing to work and give to those who
would not. Thomas
Jefferson
John lied. He cancelled it because he was in the parking lot. He staged the whole thing so ah yo can’t catch he in the parking lot again.
John, come outta the parking lot and do the peoples business.
Yes,some things can be postponed and the giving of the State-of The-Territory
address is one of them.
On the flip side,some things cannot & the arrest,sentencing & imprisonment of those who have defrauded and otherwise short-changed the people of the Virgin Islands,cannot and will not be postponed.
No question about it,Rome is a-burning and Nero and his underlings are busy trying to rewrite the ‘musical score’ from one of doomsday,to one offering
less gloom and doom.But try as they might…..there can be no glossing over
of the true state of the territory and the Saga Boy and his acolytes will have to man-up and tell it like it is.
Whatever the date and whatever the time,the people must occupy the senate when and let their frustrations and dissatisfaction be heard.
Peace and God Bless.
Never let a good crisis go to waste.
We need to focus on the idiots we have in office deciding our futures. What have they done so far and why the continued closed door meetings?? Against the law, I may add.
These ‘leaders’ continue to piss us off on a daily basis.
All need to hit the door. I can hardly wit for Tuesday’s circle j&rk of a session. All staged like the last one BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO SOLUTIONS TO OUR PROBLEMS!
Great idea DarkCargo. I hope CIF is composing a list of ideas or will open a blog for ideas only that can then be forwarded to our policy makers. CIF, please open a blog for ideas and delete any posts in that blog that stray from the topic.
i agree with dark cargo, what a great idea, nother way to generate revanue is to leagleise marajuna, and taxitwe could go the route of alaska, where each citizen is alowed to grow, but may no sell, we could then liscence our existing bars andtaverens to sell for on premisis consumption liethe netherlands dose. this would raise revanue and help break up the cartels and gangs currently selling dope. a few simple ideas could help us imencely, how about all non violent criminals rebuilding our roads? no ot a chain gang a kind of work release that isvolentary and by passes all but a single hearing from a judge. by giving back to the comunitywe could for go criminal records for our youth, have better roads and save some money. there should be a mandatory jobs act passed, where by all goverment work is subject to open bidding.
@ U-Turn:
Aruba has casino gambling, another source of revenue to its general fund.
@ Anon @ 8:43
The new Open Forum on for solutions to our current crisis is posted. Thank you for the suggestion.
CIF Admin
Don’t be misled. Private Ports and (except in emergencies) their privately maintained approaches are just that- private. The refinery is NOT going bankrupt- actually just the opposite- paid off all their short term debt ALREADY. They’re closing.
The terminal will NOT be closing- and will get three to four ships a week I think- that means that the terminal director and a handful of marine abd terminal people will stay. They will maintain the port. I don;t feel sorry for some of them- the Pilot’s? they mad $200k a year and barely worked 40 hours a week…
Dark Cargo @ 10:12, that’s what we should be focusing on. Excellent for review and it is one key target for opportunity on my island. It’s suggestions and ideas l ike those is what we lack. I “think” that this will definitely be a positively good plan to discuss and also consider. B.B, Wah you tink ?
I think that this “closure” is a scam and a sham. They pay all of the outstanding short term debt, have a financial plan to fully retire their senior debt early- they’ll pay off all of their debts.
It’s my opinion that this is one big corporate set up, with government knowledge. This has happened before. Shut down, change the nature of the business to storage. Lease and then sell the “storage facility” to a new owner- voila all past dealings are severed. No more cheap gas or oil- our economy gets wrecked- they walk away all roses. Then the “new” owner comes in- gives us a lesser of the two evils deal.. The sun will not rise and set one year before this happens and we’re left to pick up the pieces…
DC & BY look in CFR 33 about private ports and navigation, there ARE a few of these in the US. As long as their privately maintained for navigation, they are just that- private.
Now, for the purposes of argument I FULLY agree that the ENTIRE commercial port access be switched to the south shore. Perhaps a new facility, but I think you will see that ANYWAY- LNG will be in that port in a year or so; but I did hear that a large crane company will be coming on island shortly- perhaps to move things? Be vigilant, be smart, what is now on the surface is smoking mirrors I think.