DJEE doubtful of CUC’s competency

CUC’s competency to meet court ordered deadlines for the construction of tank, pipeline, and other projects came under scorching fire recently by the U.S. Department of Justice Environmental Enforcement Section’s senior attorney.

It was disclosed that the cost of Tank 102 project has increased by about $1 million, the pipeline has ballooned from $1.8 million to $6 million (now about $7 million) due to numerous problems.

DJEES senior attorney Bradley R. O’Brien said, “The U.S. government might soon seek an in-person hearing as it continues to lack confidence that CUC will meet the court ordered deadlines.”

The utility agency has hidden behind the veil of continued emergency declarations that obviously clouds transparency in day-to-day operations.

The lack of transparency obviates the dire need to halt any further projects dealing with fully integrated energy solution. With CUC’s track record, there’s no gain for consumers over the short and long-term except cripple everyone as a result of the lack of technical expertise to oversee performance and execution. Definitely, it results in ballooning cost overruns by the millions of dollars!

Moreover, it seems the Tano Group is a silver lining working on a simple pipeline project for some five years since inception so cleverly tailored to keeping existing and outdated diesel generation infrastructure at Lower Base operational. This project is rendered moot or useless by the 100 percent plan on renewable energy.

Sad that the EPA and other federal agencies have lost confidence in our “banana republic,” struggling to tackle issues under the dark clouds of corruption misappropriating scarce resources through patch-up jobs over the more fully thought-out process.

Alan Fletcher’s politics of self-preservation and fully honed flip-flops have reached their limit of elasticity and must necessarily buckle down to slamming his two costly projects forthwith. Why would Fletcher want to waste millions of dollars derived from the backbreaking work of hardworking U.S. and local taxpayers?

DJEES must send in its inspector general and halt all projects including renewable energy until it could take critical ocular review of CUC’s performance in order to stop the bleeding of cost overruns of no benefit whatsoever to end users and taxpayers. This must be done forthwith!

Authority to appropriate

Certain provisions of the NMI Constitution seem anomalous. It simply means these provisions deviate from what is standard in the way things are done.

For instance, the one single authority the Legislature has is control of the purse or disposition via appropriation of NMI resources. Yet there’s the earmarking of funds via constitutional provision for certain agencies exempted from budgetary review. Isn’t the emasculation of fiscal disposition of resources by future legislatures unconstitutional? Who then protects taxpayers from undisciplined expenditure of scarce public funds?

How warped a request by PSS for an increase from 15 to 25 percent of NMI resources. The failure of 90 percent of public school students who recently took the entrance exam at NMC begs the question: more money for personnel and administration? What about the education of our students so they don’t have to take remedial courses at NMC for lack of skills in math and English?

When 90 percent failure rate pops up, it’s a tale that there is a parade of anomalies that PSS must buckle down to resolve. Is the missing link in the qualifications and quality of instructors? Or is it the students themselves who must have been quietly issued social promotions? Isn’t this an injustice for students where the genesis of failure is founded in their high school education? PSS must solve this serious anomaly forthwith!

Indeed, I can understand the suspicion of an inept Legislature but such view doesn’t change the fact that control of the purse is rightfully the purview of the Legislature, specifically, the House of Representatives. This must be guarded thoroughly!

Disoriented affairs

There are too many “affairs” in government from indigenous, Carolinian, women’s and others nearby. A close scrutiny would reveal that their individual roles and functions overlap rather than complement each other. This scenario is itself a tale of how disorganized we are when it comes to serious issues pertaining to the advancement of the indigenous people.

I’m not talking empty and contradictory speeches that we see spouted then instantly ignored. It’s the absence of realistic programs at least for the younger folks, e.g., introductory to entrepreneurship. The goal is to start them early in order to guide them away from “everything is government” mindset into being their own industrious bosses.

I’ve seen some of our young folks engage in businesses on their own. You know them by the sweat on their foreheads, sweaty raggedy shirts, or one leg of their pants rolled up just so he could move stuff from the truck. And they tirelessly work 18-hour workdays, six days a week. Tattooed on their sweat-laden faces is the word “success.” They simply refuse to don Sears Roebuck or JC Penny ties! You see their invisible ties in their faces of determination.

The lack of an overall comprehensive socio-economic plan with real vision does nothing but force the usual left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. A desk audit of all agencies ought to further reveal a huge redundancy among agencies. No wonder the bloated payroll!

There are ways to reinvent the wheel of help to redirect the “everything is government” mantra sinking pitifully in the sea of mañana at the expense of our young people. This must change!