Controversial St. Croix refinery ceases operations given 'extreme financial constraints'



Juliet Eilperin and Darryl Fears

WASHINGTON POST
Mon, June 21, 2021

Limetree Bay, a massive oil refinery in the Caribbean, announced Monday that it is ceasing operations following a number of catastrophic errors that rained oil droplets on St. Croix, sent residents to emergency rooms after noxious gas releases and raised fears among homeowners that their drinking water was laced with toxic chemicals.

The plant, which had closed a decade ago under a previous owner after toxic spills helped push it into bankruptcy, was plagued with problems from the start after the Trump administration granted it permission to reopen in February.

"Limetree had a very high rate of environmental violations over a very short period of time," said Judith Enck, a former Environmental Protection Agency official who monitored the plant under the Obama administration. "It was an environmental catastrophe unfolding in real time."

The refinery's pollution impacts on Black and Brown people in communities that surround it quickly emerged as a priority under President Joe Biden, who made environmental justice a major focus of his climate agenda. In May, the EPA ordered the refinery to suspend operations for 60 days as it weighed whether it had become "an imminent threat" to people's health.

Now the island stands as a critical test for the president, who has promised to devote 40% of federal spending on the environment to disadvantaged communities. Even as many residents welcomed the plant's closure Monday, they questioned how the territory would recover from the harm it has already caused.

Monday's announcement suggests that the refinery, which now owes tens of millions of dollars to contractors and faces multiple class-action lawsuits from residents, might never restart. The company, which will continue to operate an adjoining oil export terminal, told all 271 refinery employees that they will be terminated as of Sept. 19. On Friday, many of the remaining contractors were sent home. On Monday, contractors moved some of their equipment outside of the plant's fence line.

There are objections to the name because J'ouvert is the name of a festival celebrating Caribbean culture held annually in Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada during Carnival — and celebrated internationally.