Members of St. Croix’s newly elected Senate delegation got together over breakfast Friday at the Buccaneer’s Parrot Room to hash out ideas and to strategize for the upcoming 30th legislature of the U.S. Virgin Islands, discussing plans to make the Senate more transparent, and provide a unified front for Crucian issues.
With the swearing in set for Monday on St. Thomas, six of the seven elected senators from St. Croix attended the meeting suggested by Sen. Terrence “Positive” Nelson. Kenneth Gittens was absent, as he was tending to the funeral arrangements for his mother.
After the closed-door breakfast, the lawmakers had good things to say about the session. Consensus and optimism were mentioned on more than one occasion at their follow-up press conference.
“Some good ideas came out of the meeting,” Sen. Sammuel Sanes said. “We will see some improvement on St. Croix in the future.”
Sanes said he hopes the 30th legislature is more transparent and united than the 29th.
“We need to let the people of the Virgin Islands know what’s going on,” he said. “We’re becoming more transparent. We’ll adhere to the needs of the people and also the media.”
Nelson said in his opening statement that everyone agreed there was a mandate from the people to have the St. Croix senators working collaboratively together on behalf of the populace. He said he wanted to see more comprehensive planning when it came to addressing the situations and issues that arise on St. Croix.
“What I’m hoping to happen on the St. Croix end is that we’re more comprehensive in our approach. In other words, not just putting a Band-Aid on a problem, but looking at the source of the problem and addressing the source of the problem,” Nelson said. “My hope is we’ll have more collaboration and more comprehensive planning before we propose initiatives.”
“St. Croix comes first,” added Senator-elect Diane Capehart. “We as St. Croix senators need to work collectively together to try to get St. Croix back on the map.”
The biggest issue facing St. Croix was the energy crisis, the group agreed. Capehart said what was needed right away was getting all the players together to see what could be done in terms of “quick relief.”
“It’s (energy) the first priority for me,” Capehart said. “You can’t ask for economic development because nobody wants to take advantage of what the EDA (Economic Development Authority) may have because they’re scared of what they may be faced with in a high WAPA bill.”
Sen. Nereida Rivera O’Reilly said she was interested in what legislators on Guam did when faced with a similar energy crisis.
“They created a commission that was elected by the people that actually had complete oversight over the electrical plant,” she said. “They (Guam legislators) felt the board was a runaway board, and maybe the time has come for us to tighten how the WAPA board operates.”
Rivera O’Reilly also lobbied for privatization of part of the energy production process.
“Maybe competition needs to happen,” she said. “The people of the territory have paid way too high for electricity for way too long and the change has been way too slow and drastic measures are required at this time.”
When asked about the status of the Hovensa refinery and the rumors that circulate around the island that it might reopen, Nelson said nobody present was privy to any inside information about that. But he added that energy and oil experts were saying, to his knowledge, that refining may take place there again someday once a pipeline being built from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico carrying sweet crude becomes operational in the latter part of this year.
Sen. Alicia “Chucky” Hansen said when senators attended a meeting held by the governor late last year, one of the things she learned was that Hovensa didn’t want to lose its permits.
“Hovensa had no interest in letting their permits get away from them,” Hansen said. “That tells me that they have an interest and attachment to that plant here on St. Croix.”
Other ideas discussed included the need for jobs, new industries, improved infrastructure and crime control. Also mentioned as issues requiring the senators’ attention were the bike path project, an inter-island ferry, the expansion of the drag race, boardwalk completion in Christiansted extending all the way to Gallows Bay, construction of a fisherman’s wharf in Gallows Bay, and further recreational facilities development.
Asked point blank what the territory needed or didn’t need from the federal government, Sanes was quick in providing his response.
“We need financial assistance. Period. That’s the bottom line. We need the federal government to be aware that we also are in financial need,” he said. “Every year the federal government allocates hundreds of millions of dollars to foreign entities. Well you know what? Take care of your own. We’re not begging. We are asking as a part of the United States for some financial assistance and that is going to be part of our focus.”
