Previous Story
EPA urges Fitial, CUC to start looking for Malae replacement
|
Posted on Aug 26 2011
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has encouraged Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. to immediately begin searching for the replacement of CUC executive director Abe Utu Malae to avoid any leadership gaps at this critical time.
With Malae’s recent announcement about his plan to run for governor of American Samoa in 2012, that means he will be leaving CUC in early 2012, according to EPA legal counsel Bradley R. O’Brien in a report filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the NMI.
O’Brien said the executive director position is very important as he is responsible for all operations at CUC, including its compliance with the two stipulated orders that aim to resolve longstanding deficiencies in CUC’s wastewater, drinking water, and oil storage, transportation, and disposal systems.
O’Brien said they encourage CUC and Fitial to begin as quickly as possible the process of soliciting, interviewing, and selecting a qualified replacement for Malae.
With respect to CUC’s drinking water and wastewater division manager, O’Brien said that CUC had temporarily assigned a water operations engineer as the acting division manager while the agency looks for a qualified person.
O’Brien said EPA is concerned that the acting division manager does not meet the qualifications for the division manager position.
CUC, however, O’Brien said, informed EPA last week that it was moving forward quickly to interview one of the previously vetted division manager candidates, who continues to be interested in the position.
