SAIPAN — Senate President Karl R. King-Nabors pressed CUC Executive Director Kevin Watson on Wednesday to distinguish between confirmed facts and assumptions in the timelines the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation has given the public for restoring power to Tinian, drawing a concession from Watson that one key projection was “a thought” rather than what he knew to be true.
The exchange came during the Tinian and Aguiguan legislative delegation’s weekly public meeting with CUC, held in the Senate chamber and carried on the delegation’s livestream. The meeting was chaired by Sen. Jude U. Hofschneider.
Watson told the delegation that crews expected to complete transmission and distribution work on Tinian within about two weeks, and that the island had the generation capacity to meet its short-term demand. He said a private contractor, Polyphase, would arrive from Guam on June 7 with an additional bucket truck and line crew, joining crews already working on Tinian and Rota to set poles and restore feeders. CUC contracted the company for 30 days, Watson said, though he did not expect the work on Tinian to take that long.
Pressed by King-Nabors on how many transformers Tinian needs and how many are on the island, Watson said new transformers were still awaiting shipment from South Korea, with the load scheduled to leave June 8. King-Nabors noted that Watson had told another senator minutes earlier that the transformers Tinian needs were already on the island. Watson said he believed the island had what it needed but would follow up.
King-Nabors told Watson that the public would hold the delegation and the utility to account for any discrepancy in the dates given, and asked him to distinguish between what he knew to be true and what he assumed. When King-Nabors asked when all power would be restored on Tinian given that the timeline was an assumption, Watson said the transformers leaving Korea on June 8 would include some bound for Tinian but that he would have to check the delivery date.
Watson said CUC also rebuilds transformers daily at its Saipan power plant yard and does not necessarily have to wait for the new shipment to restore some customers.
On the Tinian power plant, Watson said a team of structural and mechanical engineers from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA arrived on the island to assess whether the storm-damaged plant building can be repaired or must be replaced, and whether its engines can be repaired or need replacement. He said the assessment is expected to be complete by the middle of June. The Army’s 249th Engineer Battalion is providing short-term generation, Watson said, and CUC is looking at bringing in newer, more energy-efficient Aggreko engines from Guam as a mid-term solution, potentially in place by late July.
Watson also addressed CUC’s financial position, telling the delegation the utility does not have the roughly $20 million it would have cost to engage an unsolicited contractor that could have mobilized quickly, a proposal he said FEMA reviewed but did not act on, with mobilization alone quoted at $27 million. He said CUC is “scraping the bottom” and is still awaiting a date for the Senate to consider authorizing it to borrow $40 million. King-Nabors clarified that the borrowing legislation must originate in the House of Representatives and cannot move in the Senate until the House acts, and said responsibility for any delay rests there rather than with the Senate.
Watson said CUC is still receiving reimbursements from Typhoon Yutu and is hopeful, though not guaranteed, of federal reimbursement for the current recovery work. He said FEMA approved categories C through G for the Sinlaku response in the past week.
The delegation recessed the meeting until 10:30 a.m. Thursday, with Hofschneider saying CUC would return with more information on the timelines, materials and other details the public needs.
