The Virgin Islands have already shown us what happens when cane alcohol production sits close to our homes and coastlines. Black rum fungus has crept over roofs, trees and road signs on St. Croix. Distillery effluent has presented major wastewater issues.
That is why Bill No. 36-0211 should concern every senator and every resident who cares about clean beaches, clean water, uncontaminated aquifers and soil, food security and livable neighborhoods.
On its surface, the bill sounds harmless. It is presented as a way to support “micro” breweries and distilleries and to fold them into “agricultural processing.” It defines microbreweries and micro distilleries as smaller operations and wraps it in the language of local entrepreneurship.
But here is what it actually does. The bill rewrites the definition of agricultural processing so it explicitly includes microbreweries and micro distilleries. It then adds “MICRO BREWERY/MICRO DISTILLERY” as a conditional use in A-1 Agricultural, A-2 Agricultural and R-1 Residential Low Density, R-2 Residential Low Density one- and two-family zones and tells our planning and agriculture agencies to write the detailed rules later.
In plain language, it opens core agricultural land and at two residential zone to new industrial alcohol uses first, then asks the agencies to figure out the guardrails second.
We know the risks. Distilleries generate a liquid waste called vinasse or stillage. It is not rinse water from a farm stand. It is a concentrated, high strength effluent that can strip oxygen from rivers and coastal waters and damage soils if it is not treated and contained properly. On St. Croix, government and industry have already spent significant money on wastewater fixes because earlier practices were not good enough.
We also know what happens when ethanol vapors from aging spirits vent into the air. Residents on St. Croix have taken rum producers to court after black fungus coated their homes, cars, trees and street signs. DPNR has had to respond to those complaints and consider violation orders. That same fungus will not care whether the spirits come from a large distillery or a smaller one.
This is not an argument against local craft beverages. Many of us want small entrepreneurs to succeed. This is an argument about where these uses belong and what should come first.
Agricultural zones exist for a reason. In a territory that imports most of its food, we cannot treat farmland as if it were just another real estate play. Every acre that shifts from food production to industrial alcohol production is an acre that is much harder to bring back into farming later.
People who buy or build in R-1 and R-2 zones do not expect to wake up a few years later and find a micro distillery or brewery with visitors, trucks and storage structures operating next door under a conditional use. When that happens, there will be conflict, resentment and devaluation of their properties.
Supporters of the bill will say regulations are coming and that we should trust the process. The problem is that the process here runs in the wrong order. First, we change the law to allow new uses in sensitive zones. Only afterward do we debate the rules that might make them safe. Once the zoning change is in place, it becomes much harder to impose strong buffers, strict wastewater standards or real limits on where and how these facilities can operate.
It does not have to be this way. If senators want to support value added agriculture, there are options that do not involve putting new distillery and brewery uses into A-1, A-2 and R-1, R-2 zones. They could support farm based processing that does not produce high risk effluent or ethanol emissions and invest in infrastructure that helps farmers get products to market. Any proposal to site distillery or brewery uses outside industrial zones should go through full rezoning and coastal review, with public notice and a chance for neighbors to be heard (public hearings).
Most importantly, lawmakers could insist that, before any expansion of zones, DPNR and the Department of Agriculture complete a transparent rulemaking process for micro distilleries and microbreweries, grounded in our local experience with rum fungus and wastewater.
Until that happens, the responsible vote on Bill 36-0211 is no.
For senators from St. Croix, St. Thomas, St. John and Water Island, the message from many of your constituents is simple. We value clean bays where our children can swim. We value farms that can feed us in times of crisis. We value neighborhoods where people do not have to scrub rum fungus off their walls and have their soil contaminated.
We do not oppose entrepreneurship. We oppose sacrificing long term health and land security for a short-term policy shortcut. If you share those values, urge your senators to vote no on Bill 36-0211.
The Legislature has a chance to learn from our past instead of repeating it. Senators should take that chance and reject this bill.
This is an opinion piece from the author, not a news report. It does not reflect the views of the station.
