Op-Ed: Where Biden’s Disastrous Policies Rue the Day: U.S. Virgin Islands

This piece was originally published in RealClear Energy on August 12, 2022.

For months, the media has failed to report on how the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) has become ground zero for Biden’s wasteful policies, which have only served to promote the territory’s reliance on federal handouts while failing to meet obligations to taxpayers, consumers, and creditors.

In 2017, Hurricanes Maria and Irma ravaged the USVI, destroying vegetation and much of their energy infrastructure and leaving nearly 100,000 residents without power. To assist in recovery, the federal government sent billions of taxpayer dollars to the territory. Thanks to Biden’s inflation-inducing American Rescue Plan, the dollar amount given to the territory has increased by hundreds of millions.

Despite swimming in an ocean of federal funding, the USVI is still failing to meet its obligations to creditors and continues to be plagued by mismanagement, both of which have led to a laundry list of energy issues.

When I lived in St. Thomas in the 1970’s, power outages were a common occurrence.  More than 40 years and millions of dollars later, one would think that the power grid would be more reliable.  It is not. The government and public utility on the island have failed to keep the lights on for residents. In a period of less than two months, the USVI has experienced several power blackouts – even impacting essential equipment at one of the territory’s hospitals.

With the USVI owing approximately $5 million to GE for a new generator, the energy giant eventually decided to flip the switch and cut off the power – forcing the territory to use a faulty back-up generator that malfunctioned. As the power authority looks for ways to reduce additional outages in the future, the need for reliable generators is obvious.

Interestingly, the USVI recently received more than $75 million in a taxpayer-funded grant from HUD to purchase four generators intended to supplement their current baseload power, a state-of-the-art Liquid Propane Gas facility (LPG) constructed by Vitol, a Texas-based energy conglomerate.

Ironically, these new generators are unable to connect to the LPG facility – a reality either obscured by the USVI or ignored by HUD.

The territory’s power authority is now once again refusing to pay their bills – this time owing upwards of $160 million to Vitol for the construction of the facility. Despite being stiffed like GE, Vitol has chosen to continue providing energy and keeping lights on for families throughout the territory.

The USVI’s piling debt has not deterred Biden and other Democrats from wanting to send even more taxpayer dollars to the territory.

Just last week, Andrew Smith, CEO of the USVI’s power authority, made it clear that he would ask the Biden administration for more handouts from American taxpayers to the tune of $48 million per year to keep the utility running. This funding would come from the American Recovery monies. If that wasn’t bad enough, Smith also admitted to asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to pay for the utility’s fuel oil purchases.

Given the territory and the power authority’s abysmal track record, there is no justifiable reason for President Biden and Alejandro Mayorkas (Secretary of Department of Homeland Security) to waste tens of millions more in taxpayer dollars to continue to support a mismanaged and failing organization, especially after the billions of taxpayer dollars already spent by the federal government.

The Taxpayers Protection Alliance wrote a letter in June to congressional Republicans noting that on top of subsidizing the cost of electricity in the USVI, the Biden administration wants to assist in transitioning the USVI to solar energy, a project they expect taxpayers to fund.

Solar power currently accounts for just two percent of the islands’ power generation. Without a massive infusion of cash from the Biden administration, solar would be unable to supply the electricity needed to meet the territory’s energy needs.

Taxpayer dollars should not be used to fund the buildout of solar energy in the territory while they fail to pay their bills to private creditors. If successful, Democrats will be allowing the territory to continue their misguided policies – which have proven to be a massive waste of taxpayer dollars.