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‘Assess need for incinerator on Rota’
A federal judge has tasked three agencies to go to Rota and assess the need to install a separate incinerator for the island’s waste.
U.S. District Court for the NMI designated Judge David O. Carter tasked representatives of the Commonwealth Utilities Corp., the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Engineering and Environmental Management Company to do the assessment.
Carter designated CUC power generation manager Max Simian, EPA project manager Russell Mechem, and Engineering and Environmental Management Company consultant Jeff Hess for this job.
According to the minutes of the status conference last week, CUC, EPA, and EEMC have agreed that Carter will have a report about this on hand before he arrives on Saipan next month.
Carter have raised concerns about a separate incinerator for Rota.
EEMC project lead principal Daryl Greenway had proposed sending a party to Rota to review the current conditions on the island as he had no definitive answers as to the best type of incinerator for Rota.
EEMC consultant Hess apprised the court regarding the different types of wastes on Saipan, evaluation process, and the design phase of the incinerator.
CUC legal counsel James Sirok informed the court that on Saipan there is zero hazardous waste as prior hazardous waste is shipped off as a result of restoration efforts from Typhoon Soudelor that devastated the island in 2015.
U.S. Department of Justice Environmental Enforcement Section senior attorney Bradley R. O’ Brien disclosed that an incinerator is among the three principal projects that have been identified for Department of the Interior funding next year.
