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OIA’s Babauta to Fitial: Return $3.5M to dump project in 2013
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Posted on May 16 2012
Interior Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs Anthony M. Babauta told Gov. Benigno R. Fitial to replenish in fiscal year 2013 the $3.5 million that will be redirected from the Puerto Rico Dump closure project to the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. in fiscal year 2012.
This was part of Babauta’s message to the governor when the OIA official approved Fitial’s request to redirect $3.5 million in capital improvement project funds originally intended for the Puerto Rico Dump closure project to CUC, to be able to comply with a consent order.
“Recognizing the importance of addressing the closure of the [Puerto Rico Dump], I will nonetheless approve your requested redirection for [fiscal year] 2012. However, in [fiscal year] 2013, the [Puerto Rico Dump] project will be replenished by the same amount to ensure that the concerns of the Department of the Interior, Justice, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency continue to be addressed and that the [Puerto Rico Dump] project remains on schedule,” Babauta told Fitial in a May 14 letter, a copy of which was obtained from the Fitial administration yesterday.
The administration issued a statement on Tuesday about OIA’s approval of Fitial’s request, but a copy of OIA’s letter was not made available until yesterday.
Press secretary Angel Demapan, in an interview yesterday, said it’s the Fitial administration’s intent since the beginning to restore the funding for the Puerto Rico Dump project in fiscal year 2013.
The $3.5 million in redirected funding includes $87,294 previously given to the Puerto Rico Dump closure project in grant year 2006; $2,990,160 in 2007; and $422,546 in 2008.
The administration said the redirected funds will be used to assist CUC in complying with requirements of the EPA to meet consent order requirements.
In total, the CNMI has transferred in excess of $16.8 million in grant funds to CUC over the past several years.
