Former senator to lead Interior’s V.I. office
Published: June 7, 2010
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The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Insular Areas will be re-establishing its field office in the Virgin Islands this summer, with former V.I. Senator Basil Ottley Jr. at the helm as field officer.
Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Insular Areas Tony Babauta made the announcement in a statement the department released last week.
The Office of Insular Areas has not had an office in the territory since the federal government reorganized in 1995. At that time, the office was closed and the field officer position was abolished, according to the release.
Babauta was named last year to the long-vacant undersecretary post overseeing Insular Areas at Interior. Ottley has been stationed in Washington, D.C., as Insular Areas’ desk officer for the Virgin Islands since 2008.
Babauta concluded after conferring with senior staff that because of “increasing workload on various complex issues presently facing the USVI,” it was in the department’s best interest to re-establish the field office here, according to the release.
“If you have someone who’s on the ground, working with the groups, who understands the local politics, our efforts can be much more efficient,” said Rebecca Zepeda, a policy adviser in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Insular Areas. “We’re hoping it will strengthen our communications with the local folks in the Virgin Islands.”
Ottley will open and staff the field office, starting this summer, according to the release. The Office of Insular Areas has not yet determined where the field office will be located.
“We’re looking right now to see what kind of space is available,” Zepeda said. “But we wanted folks to know it’s coming.”
In the release, Babauta said that Ottley is “a valuable member” of the Insular Areas staff.
“He brings a real competency, depth of knowledge and strong capacity to get things done. I will miss having him in my Washington office but am confident he will better serve our Department as OIA’s field representative,” Babauta said in the prepared statement.
Ottley’s initial responsibility will be to lend more support to the Energy Development in Island Nations initiative, and he will also support other existing Insular Areas programs and new initiatives being considered with other federal agencies, according to the release.
Ottley said he is happy with the move.
“I’m happy to be coming back home and really being able to pay closer attention to some of the projects I’m involved with and looking to see we can better bring other federal programs to the territory and deal with some of the problems we’re facing right now,” Ottley said. “We thought it best that I be a little closer to the ground.”
Local officials also said they support the move.
Gov. John deJongh Jr. said in the release that the reopening of the local office is “great news” and will be a “tremendous help” in continuing to develop the working relationship between the territory and Interior.
Ottley will continue to take the lead for Insular Areas on all V.I. issues. Krystina Borja, a program analyst, will be the primary Virgin Islands contact for the office in Washington.
Zepeda said that Ottley would relocate to the territory early this summer but did not have a specific date.
— Contact Joy Blackburn at 774-8772 ext. 455 or e-mail jblackburn@dailynews.vi.
