FREDERIKSTED — Early dismissals were announced for three St. Croix District schools today due to a gaseous odor affecting the air quality on the campuses, Education officials said. Schools impacted included Eulalie R. Rivera K-8, Arthur A. Richards K-8, and the St. Croix Career and Technical Education Center, the Virgin

CHRISTIANSTED — The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to send experts and staff to a recently reopened St. Croix refinery as soon as this week to conduct an investigation, the agency said in a Tuesday statement after some residents said an odor coming from the refinery caused them to feel

CHRISTIANSTED — Responding to a series of refinery mishaps that has exposed St. Croix residents to nauseating fumes for a period of hours to days, a coalition of environmental advocacy organizations has asked U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan to send an emergency response team to Limetree Bay to

CHRISTIANSTED — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Virgin Islands officials are investigating a second accident at a controversial refinery in St. Croix after it emitted noxious fumes that prompted some schools to close on Friday. The release of sulfuric gases from the facility, which caused nausea and eye irritation

FREDERIKSTED — Commissioner Jean-Pierre L. Oriol of the Department of Planning and Natural Resources (DPNR) is advising the community that the department is aware of a foul, gaseous smell permeating throughout the Frederiksted area for the past few days.  DPNR’s Air Quality Management Program staff has responded to citizen’s complaints

CHRISTIANSTED — The U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency modifying its 2011 consent decree with HOVENSA, the prior owner of St. Croix’s troubled oil refinery, now owned by Limetree Bay Ventures and ArcLight Capital. The motion requires Limetree to assume some of

CHRISTIANSTED — The finance chief and two other top executives at Limetree Bay Ventures, operator of a long-stalled local oil refinery, are stepping down, according to an internal letter reviewed by Reuters. The 200,000-barrel-per-day refinery in St. Croix recently halted processing after “a mishap,” according to people familiar with the

CHRISTIANSTED — Governor Albert Bryan issued the following statement about the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to withdraw one of the Limetree Bay permits: “As many of you are aware, under my predecessor, the Government of the Virgin Islands entered into a series of operating agreements with Limetree Bay to restart operations

KINGSHILL — Two hours after midnight in St. Croix last month, a filmy vapor rose from a gargantuan oil refinery and floated over nearby homes as quietly as a jumbie in the night The fine mist of oil and water from Limetree Bay refining rained down on the community of

CHRISTIANSTED — Amid concerns raised by and appeals filed by non-governmental organizations, members of the community and the company itself, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has withdrawn its Clean Air Act “plantwide applicability limit” (PAL) permit for the Limetree Bay Terminals and Limetree Bay Refining facility on St. Croix originally