Four St. Croix environmental and civic groups have said they are overwhelmed by seemingly needless legal requests from the former owners of the St. Croix oil refinery.
Representatives of the nonprofit organizations told a federal judge that 19 records-request subpoenas issued in November were beyond their capabilities to produce in the 30 days required — and that the sought-after files were largely unrelated to the underlying legal matter.
The organizations made the court filings themselves, claiming they didn’t have the money for attorneys and that a large number of Virgin Islands attorneys were ineligible to hire because they had represented refinery owners in the past.
The Virgin Islands Good Food Coalition, Crucian Heritage and Nature Tourism, St. Croix Environmental Association, and St. Croix Foundation for Community Development leaders asked the Virgin Islands District Court to whittle the 19 documents requests down to four, and allow them until late January to compile and deliver them to the Christiansted offices of Carl Beckstedt, one of the attorneys representing Limetree Bay Ventures and other entities named in a 2021 lawsuit.
The four leaders also told the judge they and their organizations were not among the 24 people who sued seven or more companies associated with the St. Croix oil refinery for allegedly showering their property with toxic substances in spring 2021. The separate suits were rolled into one but did not involve the nonprofits, according to court records.
“The organizations have no financial or other direct interest in the outcome of any of the above-captioned cases. The organizations have no direct or indirect relationship with any of the parties to these cases …” the four nonprofit groups’ Dec. 23 court filing states. “The organizations have not promoted or advocated for or against the positions of the parties in the context of these cases.”
Most of the records requested related to the Terra Ay Ay Project, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-funded effort to study St. Croix’s air, water, and soil, especially around industrial areas like the Limetree Bay refinery. Testing and unbiased reporting on environmental conditions in industrial areas would give local residents much-needed information on the area in which they live and its potential health impacts, according to the Terra Ay Ay website, which lists all four groups subpoenaed by the Limetree Bay Ventures defendants as collaborative organizations.
The Terra Ay Ay website said the program has or intends to install air monitoring equipment, test cistern and well water, partner with farmers and gardeners to test soil for contaminants, host town halls and other meetings to raise awareness about environmental issues, and use collected data to advocate for augmented guidelines and regulations.
Representatives of the environmental groups did not immediately respond to requests for comment or said they were not at liberty to comment.
Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. has been a vocal advocate for reopening the refinery, saying this month he expected the incoming Donald Trump administration and a less-stringent EPA might help the refinery on St. Croix restart.
Bryan has said the EPA “maliciously and illegally” shut down the plant after failed restart attempts spewed airborne plumes of oil and other contaminants onto people’s homes nearby.
Current refinery owners, Port Hamilton Refining and Transportation, dispelled recent rumors of an imminent restart earlier in December. The company issued a statement saying: “Current preparations for a restart, including routine maintenance, inspection, cleaning, and testing, do not mean that startup is imminent. Nor do they change our plans to ensure the resumption of operations in a safe and environmentally compliant manner.”
