{"id":32238,"date":"2015-12-04T21:13:09","date_gmt":"2015-12-04T21:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/viconsortium.com\/?p=32238"},"modified":"2015-12-04T22:09:47","modified_gmt":"2015-12-04T22:09:47","slug":"neville-james-decries-gun-to-head-approach-to-approve-hovensa-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=32238","title":{"rendered":"Neville James Decries &#8216;Gun To Head Approach&#8217; To Approve HOVENSA Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ST. CROIX &#8212; Senate President Neville James does not like the idea of rushing through a far-reaching deal as the operating agreement between the Government of the Virgin Islands and ArcLight Partners, LLC, one with consequences well past two decades. Mr. James, in a press release issued this afternoon, said,&#8221; the Legislature as an institution always seems to be put in this position on negotiated contracts submitted to review to the Body.<\/p>\n<p>Governor Kenneth Mapp, during a press conference held at Government House in St. Thomas on Tuesday morning, told The Consortium that the agreement was time-sensitive, and that the Senate had until December 31, 2015 to ratify it, or face losing the entire accord altogether.<\/p>\n<p>The agreement would see, among other things, the GVI netting $220 million upon ratification, for a 25-year deal (with a 15-year renewal option) &#8212; allowing ArcLight to operate the terminal portion of HOVENSA, and turning it into a <span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><a style=\"color: #3366ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/viconsortium.com\/business\/arclight-sees-hovensa-as-new-hub-for-oil-storage-marketplace\/\" target=\"_blank\">world class oil storage facility<\/a><\/span> by\u00a0putting a new ship unloading component that is able to accommodate what is called very large crude carriers (VLCCs), according to company officials. The firm has also been <span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><a style=\"color: #3366ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/viconsortium.com\/business\/arclight-has-identified-potential-partners-to-restart-some-refining-units-at-hovensa\/\" target=\"_blank\">in talks with parties<\/a><\/span>\u00a0who are interested in restarting some refining units on the east side of the plant.<\/p>\n<p>But the deal also includes great incentives for ArcLight, including the wavering of most taxes, and Mr. James says the review process should be &#8220;meticulous.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile I&#8217;m aware of the governor\u2019s stated desire for us to be cognizant of the December 31st deadline given by the current owners Hess and PDVSA, I have never been comfortable with the \u201cgun to the head\u201d approach,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>And Mr. James was hoping for a deal that included refining because of the greater amount of jobs associated with it. But, he said, &#8220;at the end of the day, the governor negotiates and proposes, and the legislature scrutinizes and disposes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The governor said he would call the Senate into session on December 17 to begin the ratification process.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Feature Image: From left to right: Senator Neville James and Department of Planning and Natural Resources Commissioner Dawn Henry at the Earl B. Ottley Legislative Hall in St. Thomas.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Image Credit: 31st Legislature.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ST. CROIX &#8212; Senate President Neville James does not like the idea of rushing through a far-reaching deal as the operating agreement between the Government of the Virgin Islands and ArcLight Partners, LLC, one with consequences well past two decades. Mr. James, in a press release issued this afternoon, said,&#8221; the Legislature as an institution [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[228,11,191,2474,147],"tags":[919,4031,4030],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Neville James Decries &#039;Gun To Head Approach&#039; To Approve HOVENSA Deal - V.I. Consortium<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Find Virgin Islands new, opinion, politics, lifestyle, business and more\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=32238\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ernice Gilbert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=32238\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=32238\",\"name\":\"Neville James Decries 'Gun To Head Approach' To Approve HOVENSA Deal - V.I. 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I've been the Editor-In-Chief at my videogames website, Gamesthirst, for over 5 years, writing over 7,000 articles and more than 2 million words. I'm also very passionate about where I live, the United States Virgin Islands, and I'm intent on making it a better place by being resourceful and keeping our leaders honest. VI Consortium was birthed out of said desire, hopefully my efforts bear fruit. Reach me at ernice@viconsortium.com.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/ernicegilbert.com\/\"],\"url\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Neville James Decries 'Gun To Head Approach' To Approve HOVENSA Deal - V.I. 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