‘We’re making a big mistake’

Lawmakers heading committees with oversight on public utilities and transportation said yesterday that the CNMI is losing a valuable asset in Abe Malae, who resigned as Commonwealth Utilities Corp. executive director soon after Gov. Benigno R. Fitial declared a state of emergency for CUC.

“We are making a big mistake in accepting Mr. Malae’s resignation,” said Sen. Juan Ayuyu (Ind-Rota), chair of the Senate Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation and Communications.

Ayuyu pointed out that it was Malae who got the CNMI out of rolling blackouts.

“The only problem is finances and our government is part of that problem because it has not been paying CUC for their utility billings,” he said.

Ayuyu said Malae shares the Fitial administration’s hope of making available renewable energy in the CNMI so that residential and commercial consumers will see a significant reduction in their utility billings.

“But Mr. Malae wants to make sure the renewable energy contracts that will be awarded will really be to the advantage of CUC and the CNMI. Who’s going to make sure of that to protect customers in the long run? I hope the governor will look deeper into that instead of just awarding renewable energy contracts,” he said.

The Fitial administration wants renewable energy contracts to be awarded much faster than the current pace.

Malae said Thursday that the governor is correct about the slowness of the renewable energy development, but said this is because legal counsels are just trying to protect the interests of the CNMI.

“You don’t want residents 10 years from now complaining about the foolhardiness of a 20-year supply contract,” he had said.

Malae’s resignation takes effect 30 days from May 24, 2012.

Rep. Frank Dela Cruz (R-Saipan), chairman of the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation’s PUTC Committee, echoed Ayuyu’s sentiment that Malae helped solve the rolling blackouts and stabilized the CNMI’s power supply.

“We’re losing a very big asset in Abe Malae. He did his job to get us out of rolling blackouts. His job is not finished and there are other things he wants to do to further improve utilities. It’s unfortunate he has to leave,” Dela Cruz said.

He said he is also concerned that Wallon Young, whom he described as “power plant guru,” might also leave CUC.

“What I’m afraid of is that we’ll go back to the rolling blackouts era,” he added.

Malae is the former executive director of the American Samoa Power Authority and also served as president of the Development Bank of American Samoa.

Malae, who holds the Samoan chiefly title of Utu, holds a master’s degree in physical chemistry from Iowa State University’s School of Science and Technology. He also has a master’s degree in public works administration, as well as civil engineering, from the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.

He ran for governor of American Samoa in 2008 but he lost to incumbent Gov. Togiola Tulafono. A year later, he left his American Samoa Senate seat to accept the CUC position after the CNMI government asked for his help to turn around the troubled CUC.

Fitial named CUC deputy executive director Alan W. Fletcher as acting CUC executive director effective immediately.

The governor said he accepted Malae’s resignation “because I believe a change in leadership is necessary for four reasons.”

These include the utility rates that are among the highest in the United States, the high utility costs’ crippling impact on the economy, not seeing evidence of aggressive action to seek out viable alternative energy sources that would provide cheaper power, and not seeing any prospect for change in the approach to these issues.