With four generating units online, electrical service was restored to all customers in the St. Thomas St. John District at approximately 3:50 a.m. The restoration capped district wide outages that occurred at 12:28 pm Monday. A combination of fuel-related and other issues contributed to the problems for almost 16 hours Monday afternoon into Tuesday morning.
Funds from the federal CARES Act have been made available to children who participate in the school lunch program for extra food benefits, called Pandemic EBT, or P-EBT, and will be about $300 per child. Families will receive a P-EBT card for each eligible child to be used on food and groceries, and the program is administered through the Virgin Islands Department of Human Services. All children attending public schools are eligible to receive P-EBT cards.
Limetree Bay Refinery has been conducting “steam blows” for the past week, which has resulted in an extremely loud noise outside the facility. As part of the refinery restart project, all steam lines are being purged with steam, and vented to the atmosphere to remove debris. Limetree uses silencers to reduce sound levels, however, the recent blows were conducted on the high pressure steam system, resulting in the loud noise. Limetree is mainly conducting the steam blows during daylight hours, and reducing the noise level at night to minimize the impact to our neighbors.
All residents who wish to patronize any business must wear a face mask. The only exceptions are children younger than 2 or residents with acute respiratory issues. Ski masks are prohibited indoors and outdoors to address the need for a mask in commercial establishments. Taxis, safaris and cars for hire are considered commercial establishments and all occupants must have masks. Free “No Mask, No Service” signs for businesses will be available from the Department of Property and Procurement offices and Department of Consumer Affairs offices in both districts.