Report on power plant tour, current crisis

On Friday we received a call at around 9:30am from CUC’s Executive Director’s Office informing us that the executive director would like to take us on a tour of the power plant facility at 1:30pm. We accepted the last-minute tour, which was actually scheduled for Sunday, April 13, 2008 at 1:30pm. The tour guides were Mr. Tony Guerrero, Mr. Almando Santos, plant manager; and Mr. Matt Chargualaf, safety officer, while Taotao Tano was represented by myself and Mr. John Salas, board member. A brief history of the power plant was given, including safety measures, and homeland security issues under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Coast Guard.

We were also briefed on the layout of all engine locations and ongoing repairs and rehabilitations being conducted. Currently we have eight engines and they are as follows

Engines No. 5, 6, 7, 8 are the large engines capable of producing 13 megawatts per unit.

Engines No. 1, 2, 3, 4 are smaller engines that produce 7 megawatts per unit

Currently there are four engines in operation: Engine No. 2, 3, 5, and 6.

Engine No. 8 is now being commissioned after being down for over two years due to major mechanical failures. Test run for the past two weeks have been conducted to ensure that engine is capable of taking on a load and hopefully the power plant would be able to add load by this week. The engine will generate an additional 9 megawatts of output power generation.

Engine No. 1: A new crankshaft is scheduled to be installed within the week by a Contractor called MAN GERMANY.

Currently there is contract of $5,006,479 awarded to DCM Group, a Guam-based contractor with partner EEI Corp. from the Philippines for the repair and rehabilitation of seven engines.

We have grave concerns on security issues and contracts awarded and they are as follows:

– Security: Security Guards are posted around the outside perimeters but none inside, given the fact that the power plant is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Coast Guard, a federal agency responsible for homeland security issues for CUC. There are no surveillance camera systems to monitor activities within the power plant, especially near and around engines.

– Recently the Administration’s public information officer, Mr. Charles Reyes, had reported that repair and rehabilitation work being performed had reached nearly $10 million. But the signed contract agreement for repair and rehabilitation contract between the Governor, CUC and DCM Group for all seven engines is just for $5,006,479.

– We feel that tackling seven engines all at one time for the amount awarded is costly. The proponents behind contracts to repair and rehabilitate engines should have concentrated on the least troubled engines to obtain maximum results and not all seven at one time.

– We have questions on the integrity of such contracts under the emergency declaration signed by the Governor on Dec. 12, 2007. Questions such why was there no RFP bidding? Who and what is the affiliation between the Governor/Lt. Governor and the contractor DCM Group in partnership with EEI?

– The Commonwealth Utilities Corp.’s current condition with our power plant is a result of past mismanagements and lack of proper preventive maintenance that had led to the detriment of public service to the community.

– The Administration’s stance on the current conditions of our power plant is unjust since both the Governor and Lt. Governor are from the past, the Governor being a Speaker of the House and the Lt. Governor being the executive director for CUC. We believe that our public utilities corporation has been a target of political agendas to include self-interest in the past years.

Today we face a huge emergency crisis that is beyond realm. We are facing additional costly repairs and rehabilitation on a power plant that had been a victim of politics and greed of past upper management, boards and politicians. Let it be known that we people of the Commonwealth are now being oppressed into a full privatization of CUC, which we the Taotao Tano strongly oppose. We the people of the Commonwealth should be involved on every aspect of the privatization plan.

We the people of the Commonwealth demand a public hearing on all RFPS being submitted for the privatization of CUC. We the people of the Commonwealth are fed up with the past mismanagements of our public utilities for ultimately we the consumers, taxpayers and voters in the Commonwealth pay the price. Personal self-interest and greed had led us all, the suffering community, into the current crisis we now face.

We, the people of the Commonwealth, should take control and aggressively monitor all government agencies’ performances with regard to public services and hold each and everyone in charge accountable.

Our silence will continue to lead us to our own detriment and that of our future generations to come if we the people of the Commonwealth do not act immediately to rectify the situation. It is time to act now and not later for the suffering of all in the community is crystal clear. Our Commonwealth leaders in the past have all failed us, to include the current administration, which is asking for four more years, and some members of our legislative branch who had been part of the past and are also seeking re-election soon.