The
U.S. Virgin Islands' environmental agency plans to file a violation order
against two rum producers on St. Croix as residents of several communities
complain of a black mold persistently staining their properties, cars and
boats. Jamal
Nielsen, spokesman for the Department of Planning and Natural Resources, said
authorities are "in the process of crafting a violation order"
against Cruzan Rum and Diageo USVI, a subsidiary of global liquor giant Diageo
PLC that produces the rum for the Captain Morgan brand. It's
not yet clear if any corrective action will be ordered.
Exasperated
residents in several St. Croix communities say a sooty-looking fungus has been
accumulating in their neighborhoods, including on water cisterns and fruit
trees. They blame it on the ethanol from neighboring rum facilities. Andrea
Daley, the president of the Enfield Green Estates owners association, said the
mold started growing on exterior surfaces exposed to sunlight several years ago
when Diageo built a rum storage facility. "It's been tough. We have a
red-and-white boat that is parked up in our yard, but now it's black. We had a
soursop tree but the leaves got so covered in black fungus that we had to cut
it down," she said Sunday during a phone interview.
Like
residents around Scotland whisky storage sites and bourbon-making sections of
the U.S. state of Kentucky, they believe the mold is "Baudoinia," a
natural-occurring growth created by a chemical reaction involving emissions of
ethanol. St. Croix residents are pursuing a class-action lawsuit demanding the
two companies install technology to capture ethanol emissions and pay damages
to homeowners. William
F. McMurry, a lawyer in Louisville, Kentucky, who is representing the St. Croix
residents in one of several lawsuits he has filed against distillers, said a
judge is expected to rule soon on an effort by the rum companies to have the
action dismissed.
In a
joint letter sent to acting DPNR Commissioner Dawn Henry, lawyers for Diageo
USVI and Cruzan said the companies are committed to working with authorities. But
they said mandating new technology to capture ethanol "would threaten the
viability of aging rum on St. Croix." "This technology is untested
and expensive. It would impact the quality of the rum and drive up the cost of
making it," said the June 2 letter, which was sent to The Associated Press
when the companies were asked for comment. Daley said residents want the rum
companies to stay on St. Croix, where the industry employs about 125 people. But they
also don't want to live with the mold nuisance, which she says has roughly
quadrupled home maintenance costs. "We are not anti-business. We just want
them to take care of this problem responsibly," Daley said.
