USVI Testifies on the Critical Need for Energy Diversification in Face of Congressional Division

On Thursday, representatives of the U.S. Virgin Islands went before the Indian and Insular Affairs Subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources to testify on the ongoing and future impacts the Biden administration's energy policy is having on the territory. There, they met a Congressional body deeply divided on how the nation should address energy security in a changing world.  Kyle Fleming, director of the Virgin Islands Energy Office and chair of the Water and Power Authority’s Governing Board, began his testimony by painting a picture of the USVI’s energy picture: reliant on imported fossil fuels and required to maintain an expensive and marginally reliable transmission and distribution grid over a geographically complex territory.  According to Mr. Fleming, the solution to the challenges borne out of the territory’s energy profile would be to harness plentiful renewable resources and simultaneously implement sensible energy storage solutions to provide stable, ab...