EPA urged to hold ‘urgent’ probe on oil storage issue

The leader of the indigenous Taotao Tano Group, Gregorio Cruz Jr., wants the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to immediately conduct a probe on the oil storage issue in the CNMI following disclosure by the Fitial administration of the imminent threat of an oil spill from a Commonwealth Utilities Corp. used oil storage tank.

Cruz, in a letter to EPA’s Peter Reich yesterday, said this issue caused the extended declaration of an emergency for the utilities agency—a move that he described as a “stall tactic” by the Executive Branch.

“The acting governor has declared an extended emergency through an executive order on an oil storage tank container, Tank 104, located less than a 200 ft. from the coastal shoreline. I would like to point out that not only is this emergency declaration a stall tactic for our Executive Branch to continue controlling our public utilities [but this] threat has been ignored for many years,” Cruz’s letter to EPA stated.

He said this same concern, when raised by the group about a year ago, was downplayed by the Division of Environmental Quality’s James Callier.

“But today, it poses a serious environmental threat based on the EO. We are urgently requesting your division to immediately investigate this serious threat for we had reported this matter to both EPA and U.S. Coast Guard almost a year ago,” Cruz said.

Cruz mentioned that the problem would impact coastal waters and marine life on the island.

Saipan Tribune, in an article published on July 4, 2008, first disclosed that an oil storage tank at the CUC’s power plant in Puerto Rico, Tank 104, is on the brink of a major spill that could pollute Saipan’s lagoon.

Tank 104 is a 300,000 gallon storage unit for used oil at the CUC plant.

It was the same time when Cruz filed a citizen’s complaint over the tank with DEQ.

In addition to problems with the tank, CUC has a host of leaking waste oil drums and failed to address any of its storage issues despite a 2006 order by the EPA threatening thousands of dollars in daily fines unless they are resolved.

E.O. 2009-02, which acting Gov. Timothy P. Villagomez signed on March 1, stated that “CUC has determined that its Tank 104 used oil facility is structurally unsound and must be emptied of its used oil in advance of severe weather, particularly a serious typhoon, to avoid any potential harm to the Commonwealth’s waters, including the lagoon.”