Governor deJongh and Interior Secretary Kempthorne tour St. Croix and St. John, Announce $2.5 million in grants

August 22, 2008

GOVERNOR DEJONGH AND INTERIOR SECRETARY KEMPTHORNE TOUR ST. CROIX AND ST. JOHN, ANNOUNCE $2.5 MILLION IN GRANTS

Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne and Governor John deJongh. At press conferences on the islands of St. Croix and St. John, Kempthorne awarded more than $2.5 million in grants to the USVI from Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs. Photo Credit: Tami Heilemann/DOI

On Thursday, Aug. 21 and Friday, Aug. 22, Governor deJongh welcomed Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne to U.S. Virgin Islands for a series of meetings and other events.

During the secretary's first official visit to the USVI, part of a tour of all U.S. Territories, deJongh and Kempthorne announced an agreement to form a Working Group to identify steps necessary to complete a land swap between the Government of the Virgin Islands and the National Park Service to provide a usable site on the island of St. John for the construction of a high school.

DeJongh, Kempthorne, and Delegate to Congress Donna Christian Christiansen also visited Estate Grange (Alexander Hamilton’s boyhood home) and Castle Nugent, both properties discussed as suitable for acquisition by the National Park Service as part of the proposed land swap and toured the 10-acre site within the park that has been proposed as the location for the new school.

At press conferences on the islands of St. Croix and St. John, Kempthorne awarded more than $2.5 million in grants to the USVI from Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs. The grants include:

$981,000 for beginning construction of a potable water system at Coral Bay, a small population hub on the eastern end of St. John;

$350,000 to support the design of the Salt River Bay Marine Research and Education Center, which will support research and education to address the rapidly declining health of coral reef ecosystems throughout the Caribbean and in other tropical areas of the world;

$985,000 to help pay for construction of the $2 million University of the Virgin Islands Wellness Center, a state-of-the-art facility for dance, aerobics, weight training and general wellness for the university’s students, faculty, staff and alumni;

$200,000 to assist the USVI in funding a survey that will provide demographic information on the territory’s uninsured population; and

$100,000 to the USVI Department of Finance to help complete audits necessary for access to additional federal funds.