Unfortunately, the recently announced closing of the Hovensa oil refinery means two thousand employees on St. Croix will be without a job as early as next month. This announcement is just another setback for the already economically woed Virgin Islands’ government. Virgin Islands’ Governor John de Jongh Jr. told reporters “Given what we’re going through right now, this is the last bit of news that I wanted to hear”.
Governor de Jongh is working to seek out remedies that may mitigate the impact especially to those 2,000 displaced employees. “This is all I know,” said a worker who had been with the plant for more than 30 years. “I don’t know what I am going to do now.”
