Tag: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)

Newest Tourist Attraction: Mountains of Trash Overwhelm St. Thomas After Two Category 5 Hurricanes

CHARLOTTE AMALIE — Even though he works at a dump, Kenneal Smith used to enjoy the coastal and mountain views offered from his guard shack at St. Thomas’ largest landfill. But after back-to-back hurricanes pinwheeled across the Capital island in September, Smith now feels like he’s working in a valley because piles of sheared metal roofs, […]

U.S. Army’s Top Engineer Not Happy With Amount of Time It Took To Get Power Back On In Puerto Rico

[ad name=”HTML-68″] [wpedon id=”23995″ align=”left”] WASHINGTON — It’s been 150 days since Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico, but the island still isn’t at a level of recovery that satisfies the U.S. Army’s top engineer. “I am not satisfied that people in Puerto Rico should have to wait that much time for power,” Lt. Gen. […]

PLASKETT OPINION: Virgin Islands Must Be Sober-Minded As We Execute Our Rebuilding

Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett (D-VI) poses with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) By STACEY PLASKETT, VIRGIN ISLANDS DELEGATE TO CONGRESS SPECIAL TO THE VIRGIN ISLANDS FREE PRESS In the early morning hours of February 9th, members of Congress approved a two-year budget package to fund the federal government.  The package also provided critical disaster relief to hurricane […]

Move To Brand-New Modular Hospitals On St. Thomas and St. Croix Can’t Move Fast Enough For Administrators

[ad name=”HTML-68″] [wpedon id=”23995″ align=”left”] CHARLOTTE AMALIE — Health care in the Virgin Islands remains in a perilous state, five months after Hurricanes Irma and Hurricane Maria smacked down the territory. The only hospital on St. Thomas, the Schneider Regional Medical Center (SRMC), serves some 55,000 residents between the islands of St. Thomas and St. […]

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Awards $1.2 Million In Contracts To Fix Puerto Rico’s Infrastructure

LAYING PIPE: Brig. Gen. Diana Holland, commander of south Atlantic division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, surveys Guajataca Dam, Puerto Rico, Oct. 23, 2017, which was compromised during Hurricane Maria. U.S. military assets support FEMA as well as state assets in the wake of Hurricane Maria. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Nicholas […]

Walla Walla USACE Volunteers To Continue Working in Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico

[ad name=”HTML-68″] [wpedon id=”23995″ align=”left”] WALLA WALLA, Washington – Volunteers from the Walla Walla District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continue to work to bring relief to the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico after a brutal hurricane season left the islands in shambles. The volunteers came as a response to Federal Emergency Management Agency’s […]

Plaskett Introduces ‘Marshall Plan’ for Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico After Devastating Hurricanes

[ad name=”HTML-68″] [wpedon id=”23995″ align=”left”] WASHINGTON — Virgin Islands Delegate to Congress Stacey Plaskett, ranking member on the House Subcommittee on the Interior, Energy and Environment, has introduced “The Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands Equitable Rebuild Act of 2018.” In a news release issued Tuesday, Plaskett said the two territories need the help. “Puerto Rico […]

BURN NOTICE: Mapp Warns Legislature That Only Governor Has The Authority To Call Off Debris Burn … No Matter What Their Law Says

WHO’LL GET BURNED? The manufacturer says that this incineration machine can be set on a city street and the street below the machine will not get hot as it burns tree, brush and shrubs from the storm. ESTATE LONGFORD, St. Croix –– The Texas-based owner of the $400,000 “Air Burners” incinerator unit arrived this afternoon […]

Former DPNR Commissioner Barnes Questions Senator Payne’s Logic On Banning The Debris Burn For The Territory … On Facebook

CHRISTIANSTED — Last Friday, the question about whether or not to burn tree and plant debris felled by the hurricanes reached federal court. This Friday, one of the senators connected to that lawsuit and former Department of Planning and Natural Resources (DPNR) Commissioner Alicia Barnes duked the issue out on Facebook. Virgin Islands Senate Vice President […]

TO SALVAGE OR DESTROY, THAT IS THE QUESTION: When It Comes To Abandoned Boats In The Territory

  [ad name=”HTML-68″] [wpedon id=”23995″ align=”left”] CRUZ BAY — The wrecks lie half-sunk in marinas, fully submerged in coves, tangled in mangrove roots, tossed akilter against trees, or piled atop one another, a jumble of punctured hulls, snapped masts and bent propellers. The hurricanes that raged through the territory in September, damaged or destroyed not only […]