Bryan Calls EPA's Shut Down of St. Croix Refinery 'Illegal,' 'Bogus,' 'Malicious.' 'They Don't Give a Damn.'

On Thursday afternoon, Governor Albert Bryan Jr briefed local journalists on his week in Washington D.C thus far. A major point of discussion was the current state of the refinery on St. Croix, the reopening push for which the governor said the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was “maliciously” hindering.Mr. Bryan said he anticipated a lawsuit against the EPA would be brought forward sometime in the second quarter of the year, which would argue that the agency’s shutdown of the refinery in May 2021 was illegal and thus should be quashed.The foundation of that argument, the governor summarized, was two-fold. First, he says the EPA used an obscure, rarely used rule. In 30 years, Mr. Byran told reporters, “They've only used it twice. And one of the times was ours.” Secondly, he argues that the EPA could not claim imminent danger to the public ahead of their shutdown order, because “I had already told the refinery they had to shut down and they complied with my request.” He went on to...