This morning, Governor de Jongh, along with members of his cabinet and senior staff, held a teleconference with reporters to address the news that Hess Corporation has decided to close the HOVENSA refinery on St. Croix. The text and audio of the governor's statement are posted below.

Governor John P. de Jongh, Jr. meets with members of both his senior staff and cabinet to assess the impact of the announcement by HOVENSA that it will cease operations at the refinery on St. Croix. The meeting was held at Government House, St. Thomas on January 18, 2012.

Listen to the Governor's Statement .mp3 (5MB)

Statement by Governor John P. de Jongh, Jr. During
a Teleconference with Reporters

January 18, 2012

On Tuesday night, I was informed by John Hess, Chief Executive Officer of The Hess Corporation that the management of the HOVENSA oil refinery on St. Croix would be meeting with its employees at 8:30 this morning to announce that the St. Croix refinery will be closed. 

Mr. Hess stated that after losing over a billion and a half dollars, over the last three years, the Hess Corporation has decided that the refinery would cease its refining operations and close in the next 90 days. The HOVENSA workforce includes over 2,000 men and women on the island of St. Croix who will be affected. The workforce includes both refinery employees and sub-contractors.

Even after the terrible economic realities of these past several years, it is hard to imagine any single piece of economic news worse for this territory than that delivered by Mr. Hess. Now more than ever, the residents of our Virgin Islands will be tested. We must come together as a people and as a community, and we must work together, first to support those workers who will be immediately affected by these actions, as well as the rest of our community who will suffer the economic and social consequences of the loss of our territory’s largest private employer. 

To begin the process of responding to this news, this morning, I convened an emergency meeting of key government officials who will be charged with assessing both HOVENSA’s actions and identifying what actions we can take to mitigate its impacts. Present at the meeting this morning were the leaders of the VI Water and Power Authority, Office of Management and Budget, Bureau of Internal Revenue and the departments of Justice, Labor, Planning & Natural Resources, Finance and Human Services. 

Additionally, I have spoken to Senate President Ronald E. Russell and I have asked him to organize an immediate meeting of the full membership of the 29th Legislature with me. I have also urged him not to postpone, or delay, Senate action on the agenda items set for their consideration at their session scheduled for this Friday. The last thing our territory needs at this time is to endure the dismissal of more government workers on top of the 2,000 people who make up the HOVENSA workforce. I have also had initial talks with the leadership of the St. Thomas-St. John and St. Croix Chambers of Commerce about how we can work together to counter the effect of the loss of the HOVENSA refinery and how to immediately stimulate economic growth on St. Croix. I will be meeting with these business leaders later this week.

The coming days will be challenging for our community. I pray that all Virgin Islanders will see that our way forward can only be found if we work together for each other, not against each other, for our common good and for our common future.