ST. CROIX - Several divers, fishermen and environmentalists filed legal complaints this week asking a Superior Court judge to halt construction on improvements to the Anguilla wastewater treatment plant because they claim the territory's permitting process has not been followed.

In April 2004, Gov. Charles Turnbull signed a $123 million contract with Veolia Water North America Caribbean to design, build, and manage two wastewater treatment plants on St. Thomas and St. Croix. The contract includes $71 million to manage the plants for 20 years. The St. Croix plant is on the island's south shore.

The federal government has mandated that the territory build treatment plants to bring its sewage systems into compliance with the Clean Water Act. The Virgin Islands has been operating under a consent decree since 1985. Under that agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Justice Department, the territory must follow a strict timetable for providing effective secondary wastewater treatment. Construction of the St. Croix plant must be completed by Oct. 30, 2006.

The complaints - filed by attorney Edward Barry for the St. Croix Ocean Defense Group, recreational scuba diving club C.R.A.B.B.S., the St. Croix Fisherman's Association, the St. Croix Environmental Association, and individuals Edward Buckley, Molly Buckley, Elizabeth Goggins, Sharon Prudoff, Michelle Pugh, Edward Schuster Sr., Margo Wesley and Robert Wesley - claim that construction of the plant is under way without the necessary permits.

Gov. Charles Turnbull, Department of Planning and Natural Resources Commissioner Dean Plaskett, Acting Public Works Commissioner George Phillips, DPNR, Public Works, the V.I. Waste Management Authority, VWNA Caribbean and the EPA are named as defendants.

After the construction at the Anguilla plant is finished, the suit says, it will release twice-treated sewage effluent into the ocean off of St. Croix's south shore, more than 8,000 feet from land. This is the same disposal method the treatment plant currently uses.

The Department of Planning and Natural Resources must issue permits for construction or modification of any system that discharges wastes into the territory's waters, according to the V.I. Code. To receive this permit, according to the lawsuit, there must be public notice of the project, information about the waste discharge must be available, and the public must have the chance to comment on the project at a hearing and with written comments.

DPNR has not issued a permit for the facility, the lawsuit states, and as of a month ago VWNA Caribbean's application for the permit was not complete.

"The Department of Public Works' illegal circumvention of the DPNR preconstruction permitting process, its unlawful avoidance of public scrutiny, and its exclusion of 'appropriate agencies' from the Veolia service contract has resulted in a fundamentally flawed decision making process and, consequently, a fundamentally flawed decision," the motion states.

The motion also states that some required federal paperwork also was not completed. No environmental impact statement - required for projects using federal funds - has been filed.

The place where effluent will be discharged is over a coral reef, in ocean waters less than 40 feet deep, the complaint states. This reef is the habitat of endangered hawksbill and green sea turtles. Because of this marine life, the motion states, the V.I. government and VWNA Caribbean should have obtained with permits through the National Marine Fisheries Service for the "incidental taking" of the endangered species through the construction and operation of the plant.

"You can't be cutting legal corners for a deal that will lock us into one choice for something that will be used for 30 years," Barry said. "They've got to dot all the 'I's and cross all the 'T's."

Several defendants contacted on Thursday were not aware of the motion, but were aware of the issue. Most refused to comment. VWNA Caribbean Vice President of Marketing Communications Christie Kaluza said that they are in full compliance with their contract with the government and believe the lawsuit is without merit.

- Contact Megan Poinski at 774-8772 ext. 304 or e-mail to mpoinski@dailynews.vi.