Much is unknown about the physical, environmental, and economic status of the Caneel Bay Resort/Carolyn Sugg via flickr

Nearly two years since a one-two hurricane punch pounded Virgin Islands National Park and ravaged the high-end Caneel Bay Resort, secrecy shrouds not just the future of the resort but the extent of environmental contamination of its grounds.

National Park Service authorities acknowledge there is some environmental contamination at the resort that requires following the guidelines of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980. But they have been silent as to what, if any, progress has been made in determining the extent of the contamination and whether any cleanup has occurred.

For its part, CBI Acquisitions, LLC, the subsidiary of Stoneleigh Capital that operates the resort, not only wants to wash its hands of the storm-battered resort, but wants $70 million in compensation and indemification from any environmental problems there. 

The late Laurance S. Rockefeller, who donated the land for the national park and in 1956 built the 170-acre resort within the park's boundaries, intended for the resort to revert to full National Park Service ownership in 2023. In 1983, the Jackson Hole Preserve, which Rockefeller had established, donated the land to the park; but it came with a Retained Use Estate agreement that gave the Preserve free use of the property and its facilities for 40 years. At the end of that four-decade period, September 2023, the RUE document dictated that the buildings and their improvements be donated to the Park Service.

In 2010, Congress passed a law directing the Interior Department to weigh whether it was better to keep the facilities under the RUE or create a concessions agreement for the resort, which CBI Aquisitions assumed from the Preserve in 2004. Three years later the Park Service, after studying which management approach made the most sense for the agency via an environmental assessment, recommended that the operating agreement be redefined as a long-term lease more in line with typical concessions agreements. 

The resort occupies a relatively small footprint on a peninsula on the island's northwestern shore, an area rich in cultural and archaeological resources.

"Culturally, Caneel Bay contains historic resources, and it reflects Rockefeller’s vision of a close community of man and nature," the Park Service said in the EA. "It also contains numerous archaeological resources and is under consideration by NPS for listing in the National Register of Historic Places as an historic district."

Among the archaeological resources is a site "noted for being one of the largest villages on the island," and there are historic remains associated with the Caneel Bay Plantation complex that dates to the early 1700s and which, during the Slave Rebellion in 1733, "served as a refuge for the plantation owners during four to six months" of the revolt, according to the Park Service.

The EA said there could be impacts to land use, archaeology, cultural and historic resources, and species such as sea turtles and corals if the RUE remains in place. However, it also said there could be negative socio-economic impacts if the property was managed as a concession and a new concessionaire reduced employment levels.

Until recently, CBI has fought to see the RUE extended by six decades, and has worked with U.S. Rep. Stacy Plaskett, D-Virgin Islands, to land that extension. Gary Engle, the CEO of Stoneleigh Capital, has said a 60-year term is the minimal amount of time needed to "redesign and rebuild, and ... reestablish a resort in a highly competitive marketplace."

Those extension efforts, unsuccessful so far and possibly facing greater headwinds now that Democrats control the House of Representatives, have overshadowed what, if any, efforts the National Park Service has made to see the property revert to its oversight as Rockefeller intended.

Also out of the public's eye is the environmental condition of the property. When Rockefeller structured the RUE that allowed the Caneel Bay Resort to be operated for private profit, among the provisions he saw inserted was the requirement that the operator use and maintain the grounds in a way that is "consistent with the preservation of such outstanding scenic and other features of national significance, and preseve the Premises to the extent feasible in their natural condition for the public benefit, enjoyment, and inspiration..."

Whether that has been done is questionable. 

Initial documents Traveler obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request included a 2014 environmental assessment of the Caneel Bay Resort property that raised questions of contamination from SVOCs -- semivolatile organic compounds -- often related to pesticides, and arsenic. "In addition, there are concerns for leachability of SVOCs, arsenic and mercury to groundwater," the report noted.

The surveys also found concentrations of total petroleum hydrocarbons and diesel range organics above acceptable levels set by the Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources.

While the assessment called for more extensive testing to determine the extent of these contaminants -- both across the ground surface and to determine depth of contamination -- records Traveler obtained said CBI had refused to allow a contractor for the Park Service to access the grounds to perform further testing.

Those May 2017 briefing notes made by Gordy Kito, the Park Service's leasing program manager, pointed out that "(T)he Department of Interior Solicitors Office believes that the NPS has the right to access the property to drill test wells." But at the time, no follow-up request for access had been made.

While Traveler's FOIA request has not been answered completely  by the Park Service -- it was delayed by the partial government shutdown earlier this year and, more recently, by litigation involving a different orgnization's FOIA request -- agency Service personnel in Washington, D.C., and the Park Service's Southeast Regional Office have been unable to say whether additional testing has been done.

But the specter of serious environmental contamination of some extent to the resort property that fronts its namesake bay with its sugar-sand beaches and turquoise waters was raised by Rep. Plaskett late last month when she announced in a press release that CBI has asked to be paid $70 million to be released from the RUE and wants to be indemnified "from any environmental claims ... " (emphasis added.)

Plaskett issued the release on May 30 to inform her constituents that she had written Interior Secretary David Bernhardt to formally request that Interior provide her with "full transparency" concerning Caneel Bay Resort, CBI's request that it be allowed to terminate the RUE and walk away, and Interior's response to that request.

The Park Service and CBI Acquisitions supposedly have been trying for years to reach a lease agreement to succeed the RUE. While Engle told a congressional committee a year ago that the Park Service has never engaged in "substantive discussions" about a successive lease agreement beginning in 2023, Traveler has learned that Jo Pendry, the former chief of the Park Service's concessions program, had made trips to the Virgin Islands as long ago as 2010 to discuss a lease with CBI.

How extensive those talks have been is unclear, as the Park Service has not responded substantively to Traveler requests about them, other than to say "high-level discussions on the matter continue." The agency also so far has not fully responded to Traveler's March 2018 FOIA request for any and all documents and records relating to negotiations and correspondence pertaining to a lease for the Caneel Bay Resort. 

Meanwhile, the resort remains closed and no reservations are being accepted through 2020. Engle has said he needs $100 million to rebuild the resort. Exactly how much insurance funds he has received to pay for the hurricane damage itself, as well as business interruption insurance, is unknown.