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EPA worried that CUC may not meet deadline-again
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Posted on Sep 05 2011
By Ferdie de la Torre
Reporter
Reporter
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has expressed concern that the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. may not be able to meet the new deadline for the installation of an oil pipeline due to the slow process in the selection of a construction manager.
CUC agrees that it may not be able to meet the March 15, 2012, deadline. CUC legal counsel Deborah Fisher said the extra amount of time CUC has taken to procure a qualified construction manager likely delayed the project’s completion date.
EPA legal counsel Bradley O’Brien, in his report filed in the U.S. District Court for the NMI, noted that CUC has been in the process of hiring a construction manager to oversee the pipeline construction.
Fisher said CUC went through a procurement process, in which it solicited bids, but none of the initial applicants were approved by EPA and that solicitation was cancelled.
CUC then continued the procurement process with an emergency procurement so that a construction manager could be hired. Fisher said that CUC submitted the name of the selected construction manager on Aug. 11, 2011, and that EPA approved it on Aug. 25, 2011.
The original deadline for CUC to contract and design the pipeline was Aug. 30, 2010. The second joint stipulation entered by EPA and CUC established a June 1, 2011, deadline for the construction.
Mainly due to lack of funding, CUC failed to meet the June 1, 2011, deadline and as a result, a new deadline was set for March 15, 2012.
The CUC pipeline is an eight-inch aboveground receiving pipeline that delivers fuel to CUC power plants 1 and 2 in Lower Base from the Mobil oil facility.
EPA said the pipeline has been poorly maintained and has degraded to a condition that is no longer safe to operate at pressure. Until the pipeline is properly repaired or replaced, EPA said it poses a threat to United States waters.
