Plaskett breaks with Bryan over recovery speed, backs FEMA review

Congressional Delegate Stacey Plaskett has distanced herself from Governor Albert Bryan Jr. over the pace of the US Virgin Islands' recovery from Hurricanes Irma and Maria, endorsing a federal review that the governor has characterised as less serious.

Plaskett, the Democratic nominee for governor, described FEMA's August 24 letter initiating enhanced compliance review as "a serious matter" and said the federal government's concerns about recovery speed warrant attention.

"Federal recovery dollars must be spent efficiently, and the people of the Virgin Islands and American taxpayers deserve to see results," she said in a statement.

The FEMA review scrutinised project status, pace, documentation, financial oversight, management costs, time-extension requests and contractor performance across the territory's disaster recovery work. Senior territorial officials were required to attend a Washington meeting, where FEMA and the White House Office of Management and Budget demanded a detailed accounting of federally funded recovery projects.

Gov. Bryan has taken a different view, telling the Consortium that federal officials found no problematic projects, agencies or contractors, imposed no new funding restrictions, and did not slow reimbursements or approvals. He said the main federal concern was whether the territory could convert obligated dollars into actual construction spending fast enough.

Plaskett concurred that speed is the central challenge but rejected the notion that federal system flaws alone explain the delays. Nearly nine years on, she noted, schools, hospitals, roads and utility systems across the islands remain incomplete.

"Nine years after Hurricanes Irma and Maria, too many of our schools, hospitals, roads, and utilities remain unfinished, and Virgin Islanders are still waiting to see the full results of this historic federal investment," she said.

The Bryan administration has cited environmental reviews, labour shortages, contractor availability and inflation as obstacles. Approximately 12 billion dollars in recovery work is currently navigating environmental-compliance processes, the government said.

Plaskett argued that the territory has entered a new phase where securing federal commitments is insufficient. "The focus now must be on execution: moving money out the door, getting projects under construction, and delivering completed schools, hospitals, and infrastructure to the people of the Virgin Islands," she said.

She also raised questions about the Super Project Management Office, the oversight firm managing the recovery portfolio. "We are spending tremendous dollars on a Super Project Management firm," Plaskett said. "We must have the confidence that the firm will execute and deliver on what our tax dollars have paid for."

Through Rebuild USVI, the government reports that 12 contracts covering 39 projects have secured approximately 13.7 billion dollars in obligated federal funding. The work spans schools, hospitals, power systems, water and wastewater infrastructure, roads and public facilities across St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John.