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CUC working with EPA on charges
The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. is working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to resolve the almost $10 million tab that CUC has been billed with for oil cleanups on Rota and Saipan.
According to CUC lawyer James Sirok, the corporation is currently “working” with the EPA regarding the $9.63 million bill that EPA and the U.S. Coast Guard has billed CUC.
“We are working closely with the EPA and trying to resolve the payment of these assessments,” said Sirok.
He said that CUC asked for a waiver last 2016, but the EPA has yet to come out with a decision.
Sirok added that the EPA is now reviewing the financial condition of CUC.
“We’ve sent them a number of [financial] documents that they have requested and we are still sending them [financial] documents. EPA is now reviewing those documents and CUC is still waiting on the EPA’s decision,” said Sirok.
According to Sirok, there is no set date on when the EPA decision would be released.
In an earlier statement, Sirok said that CUC was assessed about $2.13 million and $3.4 million by the EPA and the USCG respectively for the Rota oil cleanup. The Rota site has historically been impacted with diesel and transformer oil, or PCB, releases into the soil and groundwater.
For Saipan, CUC was assessed about $4.1 million by the USCG.
