Six-year-long efforts to do additional environmental testing at Caneel Bay Resort at Virgin Islands National Park have come to fruition, and the results are expected to be available a little later this spring.

Back in 2014 the National Park Service wanted to have a contractor do more extensive soil sampling for potential environmental contamination on the resort grounds, but the resort operators refused to allow that work to proceed.

Talks late last year, however, succeeded in allowing consultants to survey for buried waste and visually inspect buildings for signs of asbestos. In February environmental consultants were allowed onto the resort grounds, and the work was completed by February 25. Those samples currently are "being analyzed by an accredited laboratory," the Park Service said.

What that analysis discovers, and how expensive it might turn out to be to address, could determine whether CBIA, LLC, which has operated Caneel Bay since 2004, is able to work out a concessions lease with the National Park Service once the existing Retained Use Estate expires in September 2023.

The Retained Use Estate agreement, or RUE, was dictated by the late Laurance S. Rockefeller back in 1983. It specifically called for the resort to be turned over to the federal government in September 2023. Gary Engle, the principle behind CBIA, has tried for years to circumvent Rockefeller's intent.

In 2010 Congress passed a law pertaining to the long-term operational fate of Caneel Bay. It specified that once the RUE expires, CBIA "shall transfer, without consideration, ownership of improvements on the retained use estate to the National Park Service" unless a lease agreement is finalized.

A release from the national park said that after analyses are concluded, the Park Service will present the investigation results, the calculated risks to human health and the environment, and response action alternatives (if required) in a draft Environmental Evaluation and Cost Analysis for public review and comment. A public Notice of Availability of the report will be published in the Virgin Islands Daily News and on the project website.

During the environmental assessment comment period, the Park Service will hold a public meeting on June 10 to help convey its findings and proposed cleanup actions and to answer questions. After the comment period ends, the agency will select an alternative, inform the public and stakeholders of its decision, and provide responses to significant public comments in an Action Memorandum.

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