At least three different efforts are now under way to counter the bid by Southern Energy Inc. to purchase 80 percent of the V.I. Water and Power Authority.
But on Tuesday night at UVI's Chase Auditorium, Virgin Islanders who oppose the pending deal between WAPA and Southern Energy were told they have little time left to do something about it.
V.I. Delegate to Congress Donna Christian Christiansen chaired the three-hour town meeting of about 50 people. They heard presentations by Cliff Humphrey, legislative representative for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, and Thomas Nusbaum of the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corp.
Contractor Joe Hodge said a St. Croix businessman he did not name is developing an alternative to the deal.
"I spoke to an accountant later and he was telling me that there is funding available if people were to come together — federal funding available," Hodge said. "He mentioned to me that (Innovative Communication Corp. head Jeffrey) Prosser used that same funding to buy Vitelco, so I think the people of the Virgin Islands have a chance to buy WAPA."
At the meeting, Gerald Hodge of the WAPA buyout committee announced the creation of the Virgin Islands People and Consumer Cooperative, or V.I. PACC, formed after Monday's meeting on St. Croix.
A WAPA employee buyout is the third alternative being developed, though that seems to have merged with the V.I. PACC effort.
Christiansen, resident Yvonne Freeman and Steelworkers' head Luis "Tito" Morales pointed out that the 23rd Legislature has already scheduled a vote on the Southern Energy proposal for Aug. 12. Even the best effort to slap together an alternative offer cannot beat the clock before the Senate votes, the delegate said.
Freeman and Morales said lawmakers' offices are already being flooded with calls from pro-Southern Energy businesses, and it is up to Virgin Islanders to meet those efforts with a "vote no" campaign if they hope to have a chance.
Freeman said she had personally called all seven senators representing the St. Thomas-St. John district to ask their position on the Southern Energy proposal. Three said they were prepared to approve, she said. Four said they were awaiting an analysis of the deal.
Morales expressed doubt that the pending analysis was the real reason holding up some lawmakers' decisions.
According to Humphrey, "If you can offer them a promise that within some reasonable period of time there will be another option for them to consider, that might deliver more benefits to the people and be more attractive and keep the assets that belong to the people here on island for the benefit of the people, then perhaps that's the way to get them to postpone any kind of a final action until we can work with the cooperative-interested folks here to try to put together some kind of offer."
Humphrey and Nusbaum told the group that electric cooperatives were providing reliable power for 930 utility systems across the United States serving 34 million customers in 46 states. Some of the latest cooperatives, Humphrey said, had formed in Hawaii and American Samoa, communities with many similarities to the U.S.V.I.
Both were quick to point out that they had not come to the territory to convince anyone that cooperatives are the solution, only to present facts on cooperatives as a viable energy alternative.
"Our objective is to provide the lowest cost power to rural electric consumers across America," Nusbaum said.
Questions at the meeting ranged from the cooperative's financial base to its ability to provide assistance after natural disasters.
Gerald Hodge asked Nusbaum if the utilities finance corporation could provide his or any V.I. group with the funding they need to conduct an alternative utility feasibility study or back a counter proposal.
"I do know that the folks in Kauai when they first got started had no source of funding," Nusbaum said. "They didn't have a lot of money, but they went out and the first $100,000 or $120,000 in expenses all went on those 14 or 18 people's personal credit cards. Boy, you talk about a leap of faith, you talk about commitment to your community."
After a few months, he said the NRECA was able to provide seed money. The biggest donation to the cause, he said, came in the form of volunteer time, volunteer travel and cost-of-living expenses when other cooperative members traveled to Hawaii to help create engineering and feasibility studies.
