It will take an estimated $6 million to clean up hazardous wastes found on the grounds of the Caneel Bay Resort at Virgin Islands National Park/NPS file

Cleanup of hazardous wastes on the grounds of the Caneel Bay Resort at Virgin Islands National Park is estimated to cost $6 million, though additional studies are planned for the coming winter to ensure there are no other wastes that need to be removed from the property.

Earlier this year environmental testing detected a variety of wastes, some hazardous to humans, on nearly eight acres of the grounds of the once-tony resort. That testing found varying levels of arsenic, elevated levels of certain pesticides, and a "mixture of benign organic materials, plastics, metals, and CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act) hazardous substances, including the pesticide DDT and polychlorinated biphenyls."

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

Under the plan released this week, nearly 20,000 cubic yards of soils contaminated with pesticides and metals would be hauled off site, and another 4,000 yards of contaminant-free soils would be hauled in to support vegetation where contaminated soils were removed. Monitoring of the reclaimed areas would continue for five years.

During the winter months, studies will be undertaken to determine whether there was any groundwater contamination and whether hazardous levels of lead or asbestos have been released to the environment.

The forthcoming cleanup has put a hold on talks with CBI Acquisitions to reach agreement on an operations lease to the resort that could take effect in the fourth quarter of 2023. 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.

This past July the National Park Service announced that a competitive bid process would be used to find an operator for the beleaguered resort, which sustained extensive damage when back-to-back hurricanes pounded the Virgin Islands in September 2017. That process will be affected by the cost of the cleanup and who pays for it.

This fall the park intends to draft another environmental assessment "aimed at defining the stewardship, community, operational and other critical guidelines that will factor into the site’s lease development. Public input into the EA will help frame the vision for Caneel Bay." 

Back in July the Park Service said "the leasing program provides a pathway for parks to enter into public-private partnerships to revitalize park properties and make them available for public use. The Caneel Bay competitive lease process will include requests for qualifications and proposals, which are expected to begin rolling out by next summer. At this time, construction is projected to start in late 2024."