An environmental study has detected a variety of wastes at the Caneel Bay Resort at Virgin Islands National Park/NPS

A variety of wastes, some hazardous to humans, have been discovered by environmental sampling at the Caneel Bay Resort in Virgin Islands National Park, according to a draft report on the work. 

While the report is open for public comment, the National Park Service's intent is to remove the contaminated soils, and also conduct further investigations into the possibility that asbestos, lead paint remnants, and underground fuel storage tanks remain on the grounds and need to be dealt with. The cost to perform the work is estimated at $6 million, though that figure could change depending on the toxicity of the wastes found during removal work, the report noted.

The testing, which took place in February, covered approximately eight acres at the 150-acre Caneel Bay Resort. Back in 2014 the Park Service tried to gain access to the resort grounds to do more detailed environmental testing, but Gary Engle, the principle behind CBI Acquisitions, LLC, that runs the resort, declined permission for that work to proceed. Talks last December led to an agreement to allow the testing to go foward.

According to the draft report made public Thursday, the latest sampling showed:

• Arsenic in concentrations "above human health-based risk levels." (The report did note that "naturally occurring arsenic is often found in soil at concentrations that are higher than the calculated human risk level; therefore, cleanup levels require consideration of natural background concentrations.") 
• Elevated levels of certain pesticides that "may pose an unacceptable ecological risk and human health risk;"
• "(A) mixture of benign organic materials, plastics, metals, and CERCLA hazardous substances, including the pesticide DDT and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). NPS concluded that the ecological risk from pesticides and metals in Area 3 are above acceptable levels."

Virgin Islands National Park Superintendent Nigel Fields turned down a Traveler request to discuss the findings Thursday. 

How the results of the testing might affect efforts by CBI Acquisitions to reach agreement with the Park Service on managing the resort beyond September 2023 remains to be seen. The company has operated Caneel Bay Resort since 2004 under a Retained Use Estate agreement, or RUE, that the late Laurence S. Rockefeller dictated back in 1983. Under Rockefeller's wishes, the resort was to revert entirely to the Park Service in September 2023, though Engle has tried multiple times to find away around that end date.

The Virgin Islands Daily News reported Thursday that a new organization, the Caneel Purpose Group, had organized in a bid to operate the resort as a "boutique luxury eco-resort" after the RUE expires.

"We aim to rebuild a world-class resort in collaboration with the local community. The resort will honor the natural environment while improving the well-being of its team members, local businesses and other community stakeholders," the group said on its website.

The 100+-page environmental report traced much of the history of the resort's grounds, going back to 1938 when the West Indies Company "built seven small rental cottages on the former sugar plantation; the resort had been developed with a small hotel and eight rental cottages by 1952, when the owner at that time, Rhode Island Charities Trust, sold the property to Laurance Rockefeller."

The resort for all practical purposes isn't operational at this point, as no substantive repairs have been made since hurricanes Irma and Maria struck St. John in 2017 and flattened many of the facilities. However, Zozo’s, a fine-dining restaurant, and Bikinis on the Beach, a small bar and grill, have resumed operations, the report noted.

Among the areas surveyed during the most recent environmental testing was an area used for decades as a landfill to hold "all types of wastes from the resort, including sewage sludge."

"Prior to the advent of environmental regulation in the 1980s, it was typical for unregulated landfills to include both nonhazardous and hazardous wastes, including paints, pesticide containers, used oil, batteries, cleaning supplies, and other items. It is possible such materials were disposed of at this landfill," noted the report. Sampling this year detected "both PCBs and DDT" in the landfill, it added.

More studies were needed to determine whether wastes in the landfill were migrating offsite, the report said.

Under the preferred alternative cited by the report, thousands of cubic yards of soils would be removed, down to bedrock in some instances. Any hazardous wastes would have to be taken to the continental United States for disposal at an accredited hazardous waste disposal site. Thousands of yards of clean soil also would have to be brought to the site to restore natural conditions, which would be aided through the planting of native vegetation, the report said.