Business

Citing Possible Collusion Between Governor Mapp And ArcLight, Judge Pushes HOVENSA Case To December 17

ST. CROIX -- Governor Kenneth Mapp, speaking on Tuesday in St. Thomas during a conference on pesticides at the Charles W. Turnbull Regional Library, organized by the Department of Planning and Natural Resources and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, veered off message to announce that a settlement between the Virgin Islands Government, PDVSA and Hess Oil would soon be reached that would make Virgin Islanders "proud." "The days of eating crumbs are behind us," Mr. Mapp declared, stating that there had been "fast development on the HOVENSA transaction," and that he spent much of his time in Florida last week "at the negotiating table, back and forth, and we're all wrapping differences up." Those plans appear to have come to a screeching halt on Thursday, when a Delaware bankruptcy court judge was turned off by what she described as possible collusion between the Mapp administration and ArcLight Capital Partners, LLC, after Buckeye, the other company seeking to secure its bid ...