Republican House Members Demand Probe of HUD Spending in the U.S. Virgin Islands

Representative Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) and senior Republican members of the House Oversight Committee want to know what is going on in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

In a letter sent last week to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Inspector General, Rae Oliver Davis, leading Republican members of the House Oversight Committee, led by Donalds, demanded an inquiry into why four taxpayer-funded propane generation units are still not working. 

The four members of Congress wrote, “There appears to have been a woeful lack of preparation on the part of WAPA, in addition to a lack of oversight by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) pertaining to the acquisition of these four generators.”

The generators, purchased by USVI’s Water and Power Authority and paid for by a $75 million grant to the public utility by HUD, were scheduled to be operational in early 2022.

The generators, from Finnish-based company Wartsila, have been sitting on the Island of St. Croix for almost a year and remain not connected to the Vitol propane system. WAPA executives have offered a series of confusing, bumbling explanations as to why the generators are still not operational.

TPA exposed this egregious example of government waste earlier this year.

“No Plans to Correct These Mistakes”

WAPA’s executives won’t publicly admit it, but they know they ordered the wrong units, which currently are unable to integrate into the Vitol propane system.

After all, it wasn’t until November 2021—nearly 16 months after the contract was signed—that policymakers first learned of these mistakes. As the Representatives note in their letter to HUD Inspector General, “shockingly, there is no plan to correct these mistakes.”

HUD’s Ongoing Investigations into Waste, Fraud and Abuse in the USVI

HUD’s Inspector General has opened two general audits into the USVI’s mismanagement of its federally allocated funding. The investigation aims to determine if the territory oversaw its HUD- funded activities effectively. Ms. Rae Oliver Davis should look no further than the Wartsila generators for her answer. 

Federal waste is a grave disservice to hardworking taxpayers across our country. Rep. Donalds’ letter is essential in achieving accountability into this generator fiasco occurring in the USVI, and could begin the process of recouping any wasted spending. HUD must get to the bottom of this concerning debacle, and TPA applauds Reps. Donalds, Grothmann, Cloud, and Gibbs for their support on this important issue.