3 Mar 2011

CNMI utility struggles with EPA rules

2:33 pm on 3 March 2011

The Northern Marianas struggling utility services provider, the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation, has failed to meet another deadline of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA had given the Corporation until March the 1st to hire five certified operators in charge of its water and wastewater systems.

In March 2009, the EPA and the utility signed deals based on the requirements of the Clean Air Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act.

The Corporation agreed to create a new management and financial structure to overcome issues within its infrastructure and the supply of fuel, its management of power generation and distribution, and its readiness for enviromental cleanup.

A Corporation lawyer, Deborah Fisher, says it had managed to hire four certified operators though one has since left and returned to the US mainland.