Senators Unconvinced Limetree Bay Refinery is Prepared to Reopen Months After Oil Spill Affected Thousands of St. Croix Residents Under Old Management

The principal owner of the recently purchased Limetree Bay Refinery in St. Croix could not have been less prepared for the onslaught of questions posed by senators in the Committee on Economic Development and Agriculture on Thursday, regarding shareholders’ ability to restart a financially sound and environmentally safe plant.

After a drawn out and confusing bidding process, Port Hamilton Refining & Transportation was named as the majority shareholder in the refinery – owning 42 per cent of the company, according to Charles Chambers, the principal owner of Port Hamilton Refining & Transportation.

Mr. Chambers, who is also the chief executive officer at the West Indies Petroleum Limited — which deposited an initial $3 million dollars to secure the bankrupt facility — expects the refinery to become operational in the second quarter of 2023. The plan is to restart the refinery at a capacity of 180,000 barrels of oil daily.

But before they can reopen the second largest oil refinery, they must convince lawmakers in the Virgin Islands that they have the finances, equipment and investor support to do so safely.

"We are moving assiduously towards a restart and we communicate and maintain an open line with the EPA. Whatever the EPA ultimately requires in order for us to restart is what we will give the EPA," Mr. Chambers said as he pushed the companies mandate to restart safely.

“There are a number of people and processes in place. We are going to restart the refinery, first of all safely, and second of all in an environmentally conscious way for us and for all of the people of St. Croix, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Caribbean and the United States”, he assured.

Reopening also means that the new owners would need to obtain a Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit from the Environmental Protection Agency. They would also need to submit a proper Root Cause Analysis (RCA), and to apply for a new water pollution permit.

In the meantime, Fermin Rodriguez, PHRT acting vice president said Port Hamilton is willing to work with the Department of Planning Natural Resources (DPNR) to coordinate efforts that will allow DPNR to receive instant data about the level of emissions in the atmosphere.

“Right now, we have a computer system that indicates all the monitors information in the headquarters of the EPA," Mr. Rodriuez said, adding that while the same does not exist with DPNR, it is something that can happen.