In September 2003, the Senate voted to rezone 120 acres of environmentally sensitive land at Great Pond on St. Croix for what was described as a 400 room hotel and an 18 hole golf course resort and conference centre.

Although environmentalists pointed out that it could damage Great Pond, one of the few remaining wetlands on the Islands, senators, although sympathetic to the concerns, said that they could not ignore the dismal state of the Islands' economy and reject a project that stood to offer 800 jobs in its construction phase and 1,200 permanent ones after its completion in November 2005.63

Concerning the latter, the governmental Bureau of Economic Research report cites, among others, the following planned or ongoing capital investment projects the Hovensa 400 million desulphurization unit and the 45 million Carambola Convention Centre on St. Croix the 150 million Yacht Haven Hotel and Marina, which is expected to create 600 new jobs when completed and the 16 million Enighed Pond development.26