Blog posts

   February 2, 2012

GOVERNOR DE JONGH CONVENES MEETING WITH OFFICIALS OF
HOVENSA, HESS AND PDVSA

Governor John P. de Jongh, Jr. met Thursday morning with officials of HOVENSA and its owners, HOVIC, a subsidiary of Hess Corporation and PDVSA, VI, a subsidiary of Petroleos de Venezuela, SA, to discuss the closure of what is one of the world's largest oil refineries and the Territory's largest private sector employer.

“Today’s meeting with the senior officials of the three companies was the first of what I believe will be several meetings to address their closure of the oil refinery, their proposed use of the facility as an oil terminal and their obligations under the existing agreement. I expressed my deep concerns about the economic impact of this decision on the Territory, their view of the obligation to provide fuel to meet the needs of WAPA and the general community and the basis of under which we preserve a relationship into the future under a business model that makes sense to them and is beneficial to us,” de Jongh said after the meeting.

NEWS RELEASE
January 27, 2012
 
The St. Croix Chamber of Commerce has endorsed Acting Police Commissioner Henry White, Jr.  for confirmation  by the 29th Legislature.

The endorsement follows a two-hour meeting last week between Acting Commissioner White and the Chamber Board of Directors. The discussion touched on a wide range of public safety issues, including gangs, drugs, weapons, professional training and the VIPD’s consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice.

“It was a frank and sobering discussion and our board members were unanimous in their highest respect for Acting Commissioner’s White candid responses, high standards and professionalism,” said St. Croix Chamber President Stuart Logan.

White is a veteran of more than 30 years in local and federal law enforcement. He started out as a patrol officer in New Jersey and later served as a detective, state investigator and spent 22 years as an FBI special agent.

Please see below for a brief summary of our meeting with Governor deJongh and several of his key commissioners yesterday regarding the impact of the Hovensa closing.

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Governor John P. de Jongh, Jr. and Lt. Governor Gregory R. Francis met with the leaders of the St. Croix and St. Thomas-St. John business community this morning as the administration continues to assess the economic impact of HOVENSA’s decision to close its oil refinery on St. Croix within the next three months.  

De Jongh, joined by Tourism Commissioner Beverly Nicholson Doty, Energy Office Director Karl Knight, EDA Chief Executive Officer Percival Clouden and EDA Assistant Chief Executive Officer Jennifer Nugent-Hill, opened the discussion with an overview of the administration’s efforts in responding to the HOVENSA announcement. De Jongh addressed the financial impact of HOVENSA’s closing as “more on the order of $100 million.” The governor said that WAPA is identifying alternative suppliers of oil and that HOVENSA will continue to supply fuel and other petroleum products to retailers in the St. Thomas-St. John district.

The Senate Committee of the Whole will meet on St. Thomas on Tuesday  evening and on St. Croix on Wednesday evening to hear public comment on the revised Alpine Energy Project, specifically leasing government property on St. Thomas for fabricating refuse-derived fuel pellets to fuel a power plant on St Croix. Unlike the original plan, the revised proposal excludes using petroleum coke as a fuel, relying instead on converting municipal waste on both St. Thomas and St. Croix into refused derived fuel pellets. The plan is designed to allow the Territory to close both the Anguilla and Bovoni landfills as mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency and to resolve airline safety concerns of the Federal Aviation Administration with the Anguilla landfill, while converting an estimated 146,000 tons of municipal waste into 16 megawatts of low-cost electricity for sale to WAPA. Because of the highly technical nature of the plan, the Board of Directors of the St. Croix Chamber of Commerce met with representatives of Alpine Energy in 2010 along with a follow-up meeting with the St. Croix Environmental Association. Based on its scientific assessment, the St.