Justices Hear Oral Arguments in Bryan Suit Over WAPA Board

The V.I. Supreme Court panel hearing oral arguments Tuesday in Gov. Albert Bryan Jr.’s lawsuit over changes to the composition of the Water and Power Authority governing board by the V.I. Legislature seemed skeptical that the law infringes on the powers of the executive branch, as the governor has argued.

Central to the issue is WAPA’s status as an autonomous agency — “separate and apart from the government of the Virgin Islands,” Associate Justice Ive Arlington Swan noted — that was created in 1964 by an act of the 5th V.I. Legislature.

The three-judge panel — Chief Justice Rhys S. Hodge, Associate Justice Maria M. Cabret, and Swan — returned to this fact again and again as they sought to understand how legislative amendments to the composition of the board infringe on the governor’s powers when he may still nominate all the members and remove them for cause, and when it is the Senate’s job to pass and amend laws.

Act 8472 was passed in May 2021. It reduced the WAPA board from nine members to seven, cut the number for a quorum from five to four, and the number of cabinet appointees from three to one — specifically, the director of the V.I. Energy Office. It also requires members to reside in the districts they represent and for all non-government members to have formal education in any one of several fields, from energy production to information technology.