FEMA Chief Creswell Doubles Down on Solar Funding for U.S. Virgin Islands

Lost amidst the devastation left behind in Florida by Hurricane Ian, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) quietly announced what appears to be nearly $200 million in funding for an ambitious solar project in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI).

You might ask: Why is the agency tasked with disaster preparedness and response spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in the USVI to construct a solar grid?

Many in Washington are now asking the same thing.

The Billion-Dollar Question

In 2017, Hurricanes Maria and Irma hit the USVI. In response, the federal government has spent billions of dollars to help the territory recover.

Despite this, FEMA Administrator, Deanne Criswell, still believes the USVI is facing some sort of emergency, and that an active recovery operation, requiring hundreds of millions more in funding for renewable energy, is necessary.

In announcing the latest grant, FEMA encourages the destruction of the current electrical grid and a move to solar, noting a “microgrid would maintain power generation by disconnecting from the traditional framework and operate on its own using local energy generation.”

FEMA and USVI know their solar pipe-dream is years away. The local boss of the utility even admitted it could even take “a year or two getting panels.” 

The scary part of FEMA’s emergency solar program in the USVI: A hurricane similar to Maria or Irma would decimate the grids, leaving the islands to depend on backup, baseload power.

It was widely reported that solar farms in the USVI were nearly all destroyed during the 2017 storms – a reality that now threatens to repeat itself as a result of FEMA actions. 

USVI is a Haven of Wasted Federal “Emergency” Aid Dollars

In traditional Washington, D.C. style, policymakers are using the guise of “emergency aid” to push the USVI to go to solar energy.

The USVI is sitting on over $2.6 billion from FEMA and over $1.6 billion from HUD that was allocated for recovery, but is yet to be spent. Nevertheless, President Biden’s FEMA is still showering the territory with what appears to be a $200 million check to start the transition towards 100 percent solar energy.

Rather than spend what was already allocated, Washington is more than willing to shovel away money that would otherwise be used to immediately help communities actually impacted by recent disasters, like Southwest Florida.

Doubling down on fiscal irresponsibility is the kind of action that has enabled our country to reach a federal debt level north of $31 trillion and generated historic inflation. 

In recent months, HUD announced two sweeping investigations into the USVI’s mismanaged disaster funds. The two audits look into whether the USVI effectively oversaw federal disaster aid to “ensure the national objectives and performance measures were met” and if it complied with its responsibility to match federal funding for projects.

However, HUD can do more, particularly as it relates to the Wartsila generators scandal we uncovered earlier this Summer. In this case, WAPA failed to properly spend $75 million from HUD on generators that are incompatible with the current Vitol-run Liquid Propane Gas facilities. 

It has been more than five years since Hurricanes Irma and Maria hit the USVI. There is no longer an immediate emergency that requires federal assistance. The only explanation is that the Biden administration is using FEMA money to push the territory towards its green energy agenda.

Both WAPA and the USVI cannot be trusted with more money, either for solar panels or “disaster” aid. Taxpayers deserve full transparency for Washington’s desire to continue to shovel dollars down to the Caribbean.