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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://theintercept.com/2020/02/09/puerto-rico-energy-electricity-solar-natural-gas/">https://theintercept.com/2020/02/09/puerto-rico-energy-electricity-solar-natural-gas/</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Officials in Puerto Rico Are
Undermining a Rooftop Solar Movement in Favor of Natural Gas</h1>
<div class="credits reader-credits">Alleen Brown - February 9,
2020</div>
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<p><u><span data-shortcode-type="dropcap">T</span>remors
began shaking</u> Puerto Rico just before New Year’s
Eve, causing anxiety but only minimally disrupting
festivities. On Three Kings Day, January 6, families
across the island observed one of its most important
holidays, with children awakening to gifts left by the
biblical kings. In the predawn hours after the
celebration, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake hit, jerking
people out of their beds. Its epicenter on the
southern coast was mere <a
href="https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/losdanosacostasurcomplicaranelrestablecimientodelservicioelectrico-2539639/">miles
from</a> the Costa Sur power plant, which provides <a
href="https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/losdanosacostasurcomplicaranelrestablecimientodelservicioelectrico-2539639/">about
a quarter of</a> the island’s electricity by burning
natural gas and oil. The jolts knocked giant boilers
off their bases, opened a fissure in one of the
turbines, and destroyed the control center where the
computers that run the system operate. Another natural
gas plant, EcoEléctrica, was also damaged.</p>
<p>Despite the fact that the vast majority of the
physical damage on the island was isolated in the
south, all of Puerto Rico was plunged into darkness.
It was déjà vu for many who had withstood months
without electricity after Hurricane Maria, when a <a
href="https://weather.com/news/news/2019-03-21-puerto-rico-power-restored-hurricane-maria">year
and a half</a> passed before power was fully
restored.</p>
<p>The earthquake’s impact on Puerto Rico’s power grid
was the opposite of Maria’s. During Maria, it was the
transmission lines that were destroyed across the
island. With the earthquake, it was the power plants
themselves. But in both situations, the problem was
essentially the same: Puerto Rico’s electric grid is
too centralized to be resilient. While about <a
href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/environment/puerto-rico-earthquake-power-outages-prepa-news">70
percent</a> of power is generated in the south, 70
percent of demand is in the north.</p>
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<p data-reactid="229"><span data-reactid="230">Earthquake
damage at the Church of Immaculate Conception in
Guayanilla, Puerto Rico, and inside a U.S. Postal
Office in Yauco in January.</span><span
data-reactid="231">Photos: Christopher Gregory</span></p>
</div>
<div data-reactid="232">
<p>In the rural community of Adjuntas, located in Puerto
Rico’s mountainous interior, residents struggled with
boredom and anxiety as they endured aftershocks in
darkness. As the days passed, many were forced to
throw away refrigerators full of rotting food. But,
unlike elsewhere on the island, some of the most
vulnerable community members kept their electricity
on, thanks to rooftop solar panels installed after
Maria.</p>
<p>Thirty-one-year-old Shandia Pérez has three children
with autism. Her 11-year-old daughter’s specialized
diet requires refrigeration, and her 8-year-old son
fears the dark, an anxiety that can induce asthma
attacks, which Pérez manages using a machine for
respiratory therapy. But electricity was one thing the
family didn’t have to worry about after the
earthquake. In the wake of Hurricane Maria, the nearby
environmental nonprofit Casa Pueblo had identified her
family as having significant electricity needs and
installed solar panels on her roof.</p>
<p>“We have the security that we’ll at least have
light,” Pérez said. “As a mother, it gives me peace
psychologically and emotionally.”</p>
<p>Immediately following the hurricane, Casa Pueblo’s
solar-fueled headquarters buzzed with community
members trying to cope with the power outages. After
the earthquake, “we were not as busy,” said the
organization’s board president, Arturo Massol Deyá.
The homes of aging residents who require dialysis, a
restaurant that supplied meals in the aftermath the
storm, and a barbershop that functions as a community
hub are just a few of the 150 locations where Casa
Pueblo installed panels after Maria. The earthquake
proved that the system worked.</p>
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<p><img
src="https://theintercept.imgix.net/wp-uploads/sites/1/2020/02/CTG5241-1581090657.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90&w=819&h=1024"
alt="Adjuntas, Puerto Rico - 8/8/19: Shándia Perez
with her daughter Aleysha age 4 and Daish age 10.
Casa Pueblo installed solar panels in her house.
Casa Pueblo has teamed with the Honnold Foundation
to energize the town center as proof that small
solar grids are a sustainable way to relieve
dependence on fossil fuels.CREDIT: Christopher
Gregory for The Intercept" moz-do-not-send="true"
width="819" height="1024"></p>
<p class="caption">Shandia Pérez with her two
daughters, Aleysha, 5, and Daysha, 11. Casa Pueblo
installed solar panels on her roof after Hurricane
Maria.</p>
<p class="caption">
Photo: Christopher Gregory for The Intercept</p>
</div>
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<p>The federal and local governments were not as
successful in rebuilding a resilient power
infrastructure.</p>
<p>Within a week of the earthquake, officials were
bragging that power had been restored on most of the
island, but it was a fragile recovery. An <a
href="https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/sobre7000personaspermanecenrefugiadasenelsurporlossismos-2541395/">estimated
20,000</a> people remained displaced, with 7,000
living in refugee facilities — many of them informal
camps, since the schools that have historically been
used in emergency situations do not meet modern
building codes designed to withstand earthquakes. The
Costa Sur plant will remain out of commission for at
least a year, <a
href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/puerto-rico-earthquake-costa-sur-power-plant-severely-damaged-hindering-efforts-to-restore-power-to-island/">according
to</a> the publicly owned power authority, PREPA.
And the electricity enjoyed by 99 percent of residents
was little comfort for the 3,564 who remained without
power. Occasional blackouts continued.</p>
<p>The earthquake “highlights the fragility of the
system in general and that we haven’t done much in
terms of moving from fossil fuels to renewables” or
shifting to a decentralized grid, said Sergio
Marxuach, an expert in energy policy at the Puerto
Rican think tank Center for a New Economy. “If we had
done that, we wouldn’t have seen outages across the
island.”</p>
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<p>For now, Puerto Rico’s electric grid is running on
backup units, burning dirtier, more expensive diesel.
This summer will be a dangerous time. Not only does
energy demand go up by around 10 percent as the
temperatures rise, but hurricane season will start in
June with Puerto Rico running on a compromised system.</p>
<p>If PREPA is unable to pay for new generators, it will
have to begin forced blackouts throughout the island
when summer hits. “I would have to suspend service to
20 percent or 25 percent of the customers every day,”
the island’s top energy official, José Ortiz, said in
an <a
href="https://www.elnuevodia.com/english/english/nota/femadeniesprepasinitialrequest-2545502/">interview</a>
with the Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Día. The
Federal Emergency Management Agency denied an initial
application for assistance.</p>
<p>That’s not the way it was supposed to go. Nearly a
year ago, the governor of Puerto Rico signed a law to
much fanfare committing the island to 100 percent
renewable energy by 2050. The press emphasized that
the system would rely on solar arrays powering
distributed microgrids, so that if infrastructure went
out on one part of the island, it wouldn’t impact
other areas.</p>
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<blockquote data-reactid="247"><span data-reactid="248"></span>
<p>“Whatever we do now might affect the next two
generations.”</p>
</blockquote>
<div data-reactid="250">
<p>But critics say the pledge was smoke and mirrors.
Buried in the same legislation was a road map for
building out natural gas infrastructure likely to lock
in consumption of fossil fuels and a centralized grid
for decades to come. That plan has already begun to be
implemented. Natural gas infrastructure has gone up
seemingly overnight. “They’re obviously prioritizing
natural gas over everything else,” Marxuach said.</p>
<p>At least eight U.S. states and territories have set
mandates that local energy systems move to 100 percent
renewable or clean energy over the next 30 years. But
whether the ambitious commitments will be met with
meaningful action is yet to be seen.</p>
<p>There are few places where the stakes are so high and
the margin of error so thin as in Puerto Rico. If
electricity becomes too expensive and unreliable — as
it is poised to with the impacts of climate change
intensifying — Puerto Ricans will be forced to abandon
the island.</p>
<p>“The important thing is to get it right,” said
Marxuach. “Whatever we do now might affect the next
two generations.”</p>
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<p><img
src="https://theintercept.imgix.net/wp-uploads/sites/1/2020/02/puerto-rico_CTG5316-1581090847.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90"
alt="Adjuntas, Puerto Rico - 8/8/19: Arturo Massol
photographed on a farm and education center run by
Casa Pueblo. It is also the sight of a solar
powered radio tower for Casa Pueblo’s radio
station. Arturo has lead the fight against the
push for natural gas infrastructure, including
pipelines on the island. CREDIT: Christopher
Gregory for The Intercept" moz-do-not-send="true"
width="2500" height="1666"></p>
<p class="caption">Arturo Massol Deyá at a farm and
education center run by Casa Pueblo. Massol Deyá is
a leader in the movement for community solar on the
island.</p>
<p class="caption">
Photo: Christopher Gregory for The Intercept</p>
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<h3>A Transition From the Bottom Up</h3>
<p>In the wake of Hurricane Maria, the power system’s
failure was a key factor in the <a
href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/29/us/puerto-rico-growing-death-toll/index.html">estimated</a> 4,645
deaths associated with the storm. Hospitals and senior
homes lost air conditioning and refrigeration. Vital
communication networks stopped functioning in part due
to a lack of power. Illnesses and injuries that would
normally be manageable spiraled into health crises.</p>
<p>In response, a movement demanding an island-wide
shift to rooftop solar energy was born. For Massol
Deyá and his parents — Alexis Massol González and
Tinti Deyá Díaz, who founded Casa Pueblo — a vision
evolved of an Adjuntas that relied on itself for
electricity and disaster management, not the local or
federal governments. In addition to installing solar
panels, Casa Pueblo expanded a farm project to enhance
the community’s food security.</p>
<p>It wasn’t just resiliency that emerged. Much of
Puerto Rico’s politics have been defined by lines
dividing those who want statehood for the island and
those who want the island to be independent of U.S.
governance. It’s a fight that has at times overlooked
the immediate needs of the people. But another kind of
politics was developing in Adjuntas. “The people are
different. They’ve learned to break the energy
dependence. They are people who run their own system,”
Massol González said. It’s a concept known as <em>auto-gestión</em>,
which roughly translates to “self-management,” and
which many islanders view as key to breaking the
colonial relationship between Puerto Rico and the
United States.</p>
<p>As Massol González put it, “Inside a colony, energy
independence is revolutionary.” Casa Pueblo began to
call for no less than an “energy insurrection.”</p>
<p>At face value, the momentum for renewable energy
seemed to extend to the island’s government. In the
wake of the storm, Puerto Rico’s legislature <a
href="https://sutra.oslpr.org/osl/esutra/MedidaReg.aspx?rid=124926">introduced</a> a
bill to shift 50 percent of the island’s power to
renewable energy by 2050. Potential seed money for the
new energy system appeared around the same time. The
U.S. Congress set aside $2 billion to restore and
modernize the power grid.</p>
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<p><img
src="https://theintercept.imgix.net/wp-uploads/sites/1/2020/02/CTG6991-1581091174.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90"
alt="Adjuntas, Puerto Rico - 8/15/19: The town
center of Adjuntas. Casa Pueblo has teamed with the
Honnold Foundation to energize the town center as
proof that small solar grids are a sustainable way
to relieve dependence on fossil fuels.CREDIT:
Christopher Gregory for The Intercept"
moz-do-not-send="true" width="1500" height="1000"></p>
</div>
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<div data-reactid="259">
<p><img alt="Adjuntas, Puerto Rico - 8/15/19: The
town center of Adjuntas. Casa Pueblo has teamed
with the Honnold Foundation to energize the town
center as proof that small solar grids are a
sustainable way to relieve dependence on fossil
fuels.CREDIT: Christopher Gregory for The
Intercept"
src="https://theintercept.com/wp-uploads/sites/1/2020/02/CTG7006-1581091270-819x1024.jpg"
data-reactid="261" moz-do-not-send="true"
width="819" height="1024"></p>
<p><img alt="Adjuntas, Puerto Rico - 8/15/19: Here
Adjuntas town center. Casa Pueblo has teamed
with the Honnold Foundation to energize the town
center as proof that small solar grids are a
sustainable way to relieve dependence on fossil
fuels.CREDIT: Christopher Gregory for The
Intercept"
src="https://theintercept.com/wp-uploads/sites/1/2020/02/CTG7074-1581091273-819x1024.jpg"
data-reactid="263" moz-do-not-send="true"
width="819" height="1024"></p>
</div>
</div>
<p data-reactid="264"><span data-reactid="265">The town
center of Adjuntas. Casa Pueblo has teamed with the
Honnold Foundation to energize the town center as
proof that small solar grids are a sustainable way
to relieve dependence on fossil fuels.</span><span
data-reactid="266">Photos: Christopher Gregory for
The Intercept</span></p>
</div>
<div data-reactid="267">
<p>But there were other forces at play. Puerto Rico had
been in a recession for more than a decade, and the
island’s debt ballooned as Wall Street <a
href="https://www.npr.org/2018/05/02/607032585/how-puerto-ricos-debt-created-a-perfect-storm-before-the-storm">took
advantage</a> of tax breaks and lax regulations. In
2016, Barack Obama’s administration appointed
a Financial Oversight Management Board, known locally
as “the junta,” to control the island government’s
spending and come up with a plan to pay back
creditors. PREPA, the power authority, was responsible
for a large proportion of the debt: $9 billion.</p>
<p>So in January 2018, then-Gov. Ricardo Rosselló
announced that he would privatize PREPA. Many Puerto
Ricans viewed the move as the latest in a series of
austerity measures meant to appease debt-holders at
the expense of the people. Although it’s true that the
agency had long been plagued by corruption and
mismanagement, under-regulated capitalism had wreaked
havoc on the island — and many doubted that the free
market would offer rates and resiliency favorable to
the island’s population. Duke Energy, PSEG Services,
and a consortium of utility companies soon <a
href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/puerto-rico-picks-bidders-for-ailing-power-utility-11548000001">emerged</a> as
top contenders to take over the transmission and
distribution system. The privatization would give the
winner’s shareholders a disproportionate say in the
island’s future.</p>
</div>
<blockquote data-reactid="268"><span data-reactid="269"></span>
<p>“Inside a colony, energy independence is
revolutionary.”</p>
</blockquote>
<div data-reactid="271">
<p>Meanwhile, despite the growing momentum within the
government for a transition to renewable energy, it
was clear that government officials did not view
organizations like Casa Pueblo as a partner in the
shift. “With PREPA, we have never been invited to talk
about it or discuss an alternative,” said Massol Deyá.
“We’ve had no support or dialogue at all.”</p>
<p>In fact, Casa Pueblo has long been at odds with the
Puerto Rican government. Massol González founded the
organization to fight plans for an open-pit mine, and
its early history is recorded in a foot-high stack of
police files. For decades until the mid-1980s, with
the support of the FBI, Puerto Rican police
intensively surveilled anyone who could be framed as
an adversary of the government — including
environmental activists. The files, which Massol
González and his family accessed after such political
surveillance was outlawed, revealed that nearly every
meeting the organization held had been reported in
detail to the police. One of Massol González’s closest
confidants, it turned out, had been working for law
enforcement. Massol Deyá, a child at the time, is
mentioned repeatedly in the documents.</p>
</div>
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<div data-reactid="273">
<div data-reactid="274">
<p><img alt="Adjuntas, Puerto Rico - 8/15/19: Here
Alexis MassolÕs Puerto Rico Police Division of
Intelligence file. For 40 years the Puerto Rico
Police and the FBI surveilled individuals and
organizations in Puerto Rico as part of a mass
surveillance program aimed at dismantling the
Pro- Independence movement. Other political
speech was also targeted as was the MassolÕs
environmental activism. CREDIT: Christopher
Gregory for The Intercept"
src="https://theintercept.com/wp-uploads/sites/1/2020/02/CTG7131-1581091569-819x1024.jpg"
data-reactid="276" moz-do-not-send="true"
width="819" height="1024"></p>
<p><img alt="Adjuntas, Puerto Rico - 8/8/19: Alexis
Massol González photographed at Casa Pueblo in
Adjuntas, Puerto Rico. Alexis is the founder
along with his wife Tinti of Casa Pueblo a
community organization promoting sustainable
energy and environmental protection.CREDIT:
Christopher Gregory for The Intercept"
src="https://theintercept.com/wp-uploads/sites/1/2020/02/puerto-rico_CTG5173-1581091575-819x1024.jpg"
data-reactid="278" moz-do-not-send="true"
width="819" height="1024"></p>
</div>
</div>
<p data-reactid="279"><span data-reactid="280">Left/Top:
The Puerto Rico Police intelligence division file
for Alexis Massol González. For 40 years, the police
department and the FBI conducted a mass surveillance
program in Puerto Rico aimed at dismantling the
pro-independence movement. Right/Bottom: Massol
González at Casa Pueblo in Adjuntas.</span><span
data-reactid="281">Photos: Christopher Gregory for
The Intercept</span></p>
</div>
<div data-reactid="282">
<p>The mine was ultimately canceled, and Casa Pueblo
went on to beat back a natural gas pipeline proposal
in the early-2010s. Throughout the fight, Massol Deyá,
who had also been pushing the U.S. Navy to clean up
contamination from bomb testing on the island of
Vieques, was routinely detained by the U.S. Department
of Homeland Security when he flew. Although Casa
Pueblo’s purpose continued to evolve, it’s not clear
that the government’s view of the organization ever
changed. In the summer after the hurricane, Rep. Nancy
Pelosi paid a visit to Casa Pueblo, a signal that the
organization’s goals were becoming increasingly
mainstream. Later that day, as Massol Deyá returned
home with his daughter after sharing a meal at a local
pizzeria, he was handcuffed and arrested by police who
claimed that he had been driving drunk.</p>
<p>No fewer than three prosecutors from Puerto Rico’s
Justice Department, which was led at the time by
current Gov. Wanda Vázquez, attended his trial. A
receipt and testimony from the pizzeria owner would
show that Massol Deyá had consumed only a Coca-Cola,
and the judge dismissed the case. To Massol Deyá, it
was obviously a smear attempt by Puerto Rican
officials meant to discredit Casa Pueblo’s work by
framing him as a drunk and a criminal. Puerto Rico’s
Justice Department did not respond to a request for
comment.</p>
</div>
<div data-reactid="284">
<p>The government’s hostility did little to slow the
movement for community solar. In October 2018, a
coalition of activists, engineers, and academics <a
href="https://www.elvocero.com/actualidad/presentan-propuesta-para-transformar-sistema-el-ctrico/article_ffc7b87e-c588-11e8-8b0c-eb7566d67453.html">released</a> a
proposal titled “<a
href="https://www.queremossolpr.com/">Queremos Sol</a>,”
or “We Want Sun.” The plan called on elected officials
to double the renewable energy goal to 100 percent
renewables by 2050. Rather than building solar
installations on land that could be viable for food
production, the panels would be constructed on dead
spaces: rooftops, landfills, brownfields, parking
lots. The proposal suggested some of the investment
money could come out of federal hurricane recovery
funds.</p>
<p>Queremos Sol allowed for the temporary use of fuels
like natural gas but demanded a moratorium on new
fossil fuel plants. And it called for a full audit of
the debt and the elimination of commitments that
passed on the debt burden to PREPA customers.</p>
<p>Power in Puerto Rico is more expensive than in any
U.S. state outside of Hawaii. Over the lifetime of a
rooftop system, it’s cheaper for the average energy
user to disconnect from the grid and rely on solar
panels than it is to pay PREPA’s rates, said Agustín
Irizarry Rivera, a University of Puerto Rico
engineering professor and member of the coalition that
developed Queremos Sol. Within five years, the cost of
rooftop solar is likely to drop lower than the rates
associated with imported natural gas.</p>
</div>
<div data-reactid="285">
<div data-reactid="286">
<p><img
src="https://theintercept.imgix.net/wp-uploads/sites/1/2020/02/puerto-rico_CTG5378-1581091861.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90"
alt="Adjuntas, Puerto Rico - 8/8/19: A bodega
powered by solar power installed by Casa
Pueblo.CREDIT: Christopher Gregory for The
Intercept" moz-do-not-send="true" width="2306"
height="1845"></p>
<p class="caption">A bodega in Adjuntas, powered by
solar panels installed by Casa Pueblo.</p>
<p class="caption">
Photo: Christopher Gregory for The Intercept</p>
</div>
</div>
<div data-reactid="287">
<p>However, installing solar involves a steep initial
investment. Without sufficient public support, only
individuals or communities that have money to invest
will be able to buy panels. As those with resources
abandon the grid for cheaper and more resilient solar,
the power grid’s client base will shrink, forcing
rates to rise. The gap between the rich and the poor
will widen, and Puerto Rico’s most impoverished will
be left with more expensive, less reliable power. When
storms hit, the poor will be left alone in the dark —
and those who can will simply move away, further
shrinking the power authority’s revenues.</p>
<p>“There are no technical barriers here,” said Irizarry
Rivera. “Political will is the impediment to
developing renewables around the world, and Puerto
Rico is no exception.”</p>
<p>Within a few weeks of the energy proposal’s release,
Rosselló <a
href="https://twitter.com/ricardorossello/status/1052590550069710848">tweeted</a> that
he supported the goal of 100 percent renewables by
2050. But when the governor signed the renewable
energy legislation, the Energy Public Policy Act, last
April, advocates for Queremos Sol were not impressed.
“They did take on the 100 percent renewable energy
goal for 2050, but that’s where the similarities end,”
said Ruth Santiago, another collaborator on the plan
and an organizer with the <a
href="https://idebajo.wordpress.com/">Jobos Bay
Eco-Development Initiative</a>, which is <a
href="https://www.latinorebels.com/2017/10/09/dispatch-from-the-frontlines-of-puerto-rico-in-a-post-maria-world/">developing</a> a
community solar system in the south.</p>
<p>Massol Deyá agreed. “They are setting goals they are
not intending to comply with,” he said. “It’s a means
to stop the transition that is being pushed from the
bottom up.”</p>
<h3>A Caribbean Liquid Natural Gas Hub</h3>
<p>Another vision of Puerto Rico’s energy future was
emerging in parallel to Queremos Sol. Last February,
PREPA <a
href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesellsmoor/2019/02/12/puerto-ricos-utility-prepa-plans-to-divide-island-into-renewable-energy-microgrids/#2f4aab2d55fc">released</a> a
first draft of its $15 billion Integrated Resource
Plan, prepared by the multinational industrial firm
Siemens, which divided the island into eight
minigrids, and included a significant investment in
solar battery storage. It also proposed an array of
new liquid natural gas import facilities, pipelines,
and natural gas-fired power plants.</p>
<p>PREPA’s head, José Ortiz, <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/RepJenniffer/videos/803703289964201/">explained</a> the
plan to an audience of executives from the liquid
natural gas industry a month later at the American LNG
Summit, held in Puerto Rico only days before the
renewable energy legislation passed. Over the next two
years, natural gas infrastructure would be placed in
locations along the four cardinal directions of the
island, he said, replacing oil-fueled generation.
Renewables would come later, “as quick as the price
dictates.” It would be unwise to invest in them now,
Ortiz added, when in a few years, they would become
significantly cheaper.</p>
<p>PREPA’s history of mismanagement was not proving to
be an impediment to the natural gas buildout, he
assured. Investors were already lining up, including
Singapore-based Puma Energy, a company with <a
href="https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/pumaenergysenalaquecortovinculosconeliassanchezenoctubre-2507720/">ties</a> to
Elías Sánchez, a notoriously corrupt political
powerbroker on the island; New Fortress Energy, whose <a
href="https://therealnews.com/columns/democratic-donor-gets-natural-gas-bomb-train-permit-from-trump-admin">co-founder</a> is
a major Democratic Party donor; and AES, owner of the
island’s only coal plant, for which Pedro Pierluisi, a
top contender for the island’s 2020 governor’s race,
once <a
href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pedro-pierluisi-puerto-rico_n_5d4637c9e4b0aca3411edbd9">lobbied</a>.</p>
</div>
<div data-reactid="288">
<div data-reactid="289">
<p><img
src="https://theintercept.imgix.net/wp-uploads/sites/1/2020/02/puerto-rico-17-1581092012.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90"
alt="The Palo Seco Power Plant seen from across
the bay of San Juan. This power plant was
decommissioned 6months before Hurricane Maria hit
the island. Its rehabilitation has come under
scrutiny because it was contracted out to private
parties. Local power workers argued that while
outdated the plant could still be activated to
power areas near the San Juan metropolitan area
instead of relying on lines to be repaired from
the main power plants in the south of the island."
moz-do-not-send="true" width="3000" height="2400"></p>
<p class="caption">The Palo Seco Power Plant, which
officials plan to rebuild to burn natural gas.</p>
<p class="caption">
Photo: Christopher Gregory for The Intercept</p>
</div>
</div>
<div data-reactid="290">
<p>PREPA did not respond to requests for comment, but a
hint as to why the power authority would encourage
such investment lies in the campaign contribution
records of Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González
Colón, the island’s only elected representative in
Washington, D.C. Her two top contributors since 2016
are Crowley Maritime Corp., which donated a total of
$12,900, and Saltchuk Resources Inc., which donated
$15,500.</p>
<p>Crowley is a major <a
href="https://microgridknowledge.com/lng-microgrids-puerto-rico/?utm_content=71093555&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook">shipper</a> of
liquid natural gas between Jacksonville, Florida, and
Puerto Rico and a contender for supplying PREPA’s
proposed gas-powered microgrids with LNG. Meanwhile,
Saltchuk’s subsidiary TOTE is <a
href="https://www.saltchuk.com/saltchuk/tote-maritime-puerto-rico-successfully-performs-first-lng-bunkering-at-jacksonville-port">responsible</a>
for the world’s first LNG-powered container ships, two
of which operate between Florida and Puerto Rico. The
company hopes to <a
href="http://www.toteinc.com/lines-of-business/maritime/">spark</a> “the
proliferation of natural gas as a transportation
fuel.” The other two such ships operating out of
Jacksonville, named <a
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLJNN-rBWao">El
Coquí</a>, after a small frog whose song is
ubiquitous in Puerto Rico, and <a
href="https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20190108/jacksonville-based-crowley-maritime-launches-second-lng-ship">the
Taíno</a>, after the Indigenous people of the
island, are owned by Crowley. A booming LNG business
in Puerto Rico would be a boon for those companies —
and many others. The resident commissioner did not
respond to a request for comment.</p>
<p>It’s no mystery why the companies donated to González
Colón. The resident commissioner is an evangelist for
LNG on the island. She co-hosted the 2019 American LNG
Summit with Florida Rep. Ted Yoho, and the pair has
co-sponsored <a
href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/4370?s=1&r=6">a
bill</a> to make LNG export easier. At the summit
last march, González Colón and some of Puerto Rico’s
top officials stood up one by one asserting support
for a common vision: Puerto Rico as a Caribbean hub
for liquid natural gas. It’s an idea that’s been
around since before Hurricane Maria — gubernatorial
candidate Pierluisi, for example, <a
href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-114hhrg98270/html/CHRG-114hhrg98270.htm">advocated</a> for
it when he served as resident commissioner — but it
gained new traction after the storm, picking up <a
href="https://theintercept.com/2018/05/05/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-natural-gas/">Republicans</a> in
the States as well as Puerto Rican policymakers.</p>
</div>
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<div data-reactid="292">
<p><img
src="https://theintercept.imgix.net/wp-uploads/sites/1/2020/02/Resident_Commissioner_Jenniffer_Gonzalez-1581092338.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90&w=768&h=1024"
alt="Resident_Commissioner_Jenniffer_Gonzalez-1581092338"
moz-do-not-send="true" width="768" height="1024"></p>
<p class="caption">Resident Commissioner Jenniffer
González Colón.</p>
<p class="caption">
Photo: Kristie Boyd/U.S. House Office of Photography</p>
</div>
</div>
<div data-reactid="293">
<p>In welcoming <a
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmrwtJoPCsI">remarks</a> at
the conference, Rosselló urged attendees from the
industry “to at some point see [Puerto Rico] as a
connector of the Americas where we can not only use
the LNG, but also become an important hub toward
transporting it.”</p>
<p>“After the storm there is opportunity,” he said.
“There is a government that is willing to make policy
changes. There is a clear path of where we want to go
with LNG.”</p>
<p>Beyond the laudable goal of 100 percent renewable
energy, much of the rest of the Energy Public Policy
Act is in line with that vision. The law demands that
all existing and future power plants that process
fossil fuels become capable of handling at least two
types of fuel, one of which must be natural gas. It
also lays out a pathway for PREPA’s privatization.</p>
<p>Like Massol Deyá and the authors of Queremos Sol, the
public officials advocating for natural gas saw the
power transition required in the wake of the hurricane
as a means to develop a new kind of economy. But while
Massol Deyá’s vision looked inward, toward communities
empowered to support themselves and their neighbors,
the Puerto Rican government’s plan was to use the grid
rehabilitation to attract outside investors and become
a key node in a global fossil fuel economy.</p>
<p>Another proposal that will define Puerto Rico’s
energy future came in April: the junta’s proposed debt
restructuring agreement. The junta’s vision of Puerto
Rico’s future is grim. According to a spokesperson for
the Financial Oversight Management Board, Matthias
Rieker, it’s inevitable that people will continue to
divest from the grid. “We don’t think the Puerto Rican
economy is going to grow very robustly. We think the
population is going to continue decline in Puerto
Rico,” he explained. The grid is notoriously
unreliable, he continued, and businesses in particular
are beginning to disconnect and operate on their own
systems.</p>
<p>The unelected board members proposed raising rates
for all energy consumers via a “<a
href="https://grupocne.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/PREPA-Debt-Restructuing-3.0-FINAL.pdf">transition
charge</a>,” which would start at 2.7 additional
cents per kilowatt hour and eventually rise to 4.5
cents. PREPA customers who installed rooftop solar
panels would pay the creditors’ fee on all energy they
used, including what they generated themselves, a
highly unusual arrangement.</p>
<p>Most people who install solar panels stay connected
to the grid to ensure consistent access to power. To
disconnect entirely and avoid any outages would
require individuals to purchase an excess of battery
storage, which can be expensive. Utilities typically
charge customers for the amount of energy they consume
from the grid, minus the amount they contribute from
their solar panels. A meter measures the amount of
energy a house is taking in, as well as the amount it
is adding to the grid.</p>
<p>The restructuring plan would eliminate at least a few
of the dollars rooftop solar users save every month on
energy — which for some could be enough to render
solar unfeasible. It would also require PREPA
customers with rooftop solar to install a second meter
to measure the energy traveling between the solar
panels and the home, since standard meters do not
measure how much power a home system is pulling from
solar. The meter could cost as much as $1,000 per home
— essentially a regressive tax, since it would most
impact those with small systems.</p>
</div>
<blockquote data-reactid="294"><span data-reactid="295"></span>
<p>The government’s plan was to use the grid
rehabilitation to attract outside investors and become
a key node in a global fossil fuel economy.</p>
</blockquote>
<div data-reactid="297">
<p>Mike Henchen, an expert in utility systems from the
nonprofit Rocky Mountain Institute, said he’s unaware
of any utility in the U.S. that charges rooftop solar
operators fees on the solar energy they consume
themselves. The policy conflicts with the renewable
energy legislation, Henchen and <a
href="https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2019/10/seia-u-s-district-court-reject-charges-puerto-rico-solar-customers/">others</a> have
pointed out, which states that the system must
facilitate and not hinder rooftop power producers’
ability to connect to the grid.</p>
<p>Rieker, the oversight board spokesperson, told The
Intercept that the Energy Public Policy Act applies to
PREPA and not to the junta, and so it doesn’t govern
the junta’s transition charge. Although the board
thinks PREPA should stop using expensive diesel, it is
agnostic about what kind of power the agency should
substitute. The charge for solar energy consumption is
a “matter of fairness,” Rieker argued. “Without that
requirement, customers who do not have the financial
means to install their own energy generators or solar
panels, or customers who cannot install their own
systems because they live in apartment buildings,
would bear higher costs.” He didn’t mention that the
charge would incentivize wealthier people to leave the
grid entirely, after which they would bear no
transition fees at all.</p>
<p>Marxuach called this “typical BS from the board” and
pointed to a report from the consulting company <a
href="https://creditorspr.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Redacted-LEI-Report-filed-version.pdf">London
Economics International</a> that found that the
transition charges will only speed up the decline in
electricity demand, increasing the burden on those
forced to continue relying on PREPA, the lowest-income
Puerto Ricans.</p>
<p>Overall, Marxuach takes a more conservative view than
the Queremos Sol advocates. He argues that placing
solar on most of the island’s rooftops could be a
“logistical nightmare,” and that Puerto Rico may need
large solar arrays. But he says the plans put forward
by the government and the junta are both illogical.</p>
<p>Hypothetically, you could operate microgrids with a
mix of energy, which might include small natural gas
plants, he told The Intercept. But Puerto Rico is
running on a shoestring budget, and to be as efficient
as possible, natural gas plants have to be big and
located on the coast, so they can access imported
liquid natural gas.</p>
<p>PREPA’s integrated resource plan does not account for
<a
href="https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/movidasparamantenerlaaeeaflote-2544756/">sea
level rise</a>. Furthermore, “Those plants work with
a specific kind of grid,” Marxuach said. “That
forecloses in a way on the smaller producers
connecting to the grid.” Puerto Rico simply does not
have the resources to build out one energy grid only
to replace it with another a few years later. When
renewable prices drop, Puerto Rico will remain locked
into a natural gas energy economy.</p>
<p>“The tradeoff of doing it that way is the resilience
component is not there,” Marxuach said.</p>
<h3>Changing the Facts on the Ground</h3>
<p>Both PREPA’s integrated resources plan and the debt
restructuring plan still await approval, yet natural
gas infrastructure is already being built.</p>
<p>Last March, a groundbreaking <a
href="https://www.lngworldnews.com/new-fortress-energy-breaks-ground-for-san-juan-micro-fuel-handling-facility/">ceremony</a> was
held in the capital of San Juan for a facility that
will deliver imported natural gas to two new
generators for the San Juan power plant. Soon
afterward, officials signed an agreement to widen the
San Juan Harbor’s channels, allowing for bigger
shipments of liquid natural gas.</p>
<p>At another plant in the San Juan area, called Palo
Seco, two new gas-compatible generators have been
installed, and the government is in the midst of <a
href="https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/laaeecompletalainstalaciondetresmegageneradoresenlacentralpaloseco-2531783/">accepting
bids</a> for the construction of an entirely new
gas-fired plant. On the west side of the island, in
Mayagüez, the conversion of another power plant to
natural gas is <a
href="https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/lacentralhidro-gasenmayaguezsustituiraelusodedieselporgasnatural-2480978/">underway</a>.</p>
<p>“My guess is their strategy is, let’s change the
facts on the ground, and once we get things started
it, will be hard to turn back,” Marxuach said.</p>
<p>Lydia Díaz Rodríguez helps manage a <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/proyectoyucae/about/?ref=page_internal">community
farm</a> in the devastatingly beautiful southeastern
municipality of Yabucoa. Lemon trees, yuca, and
pineapple grow high on a mountain with a stunning
vista of the turquoise sea. If the government’s plans
come to fruition, Díaz Rodríguez may someday have a
view of a floating offshore LNG import facility and a
corresponding natural gas plant on land.</p>
</div>
<div data-reactid="298">
<div data-reactid="299">
<div data-reactid="300">
<p><img alt="Yabucoa, Puerto Rico - 8/16/19: Here
agricultural and environmental group YUCAEÕs
farm. They are vocally protesting the
installation of natural gas infrastructure in a
deep sea port in Yabucoa.CREDIT: Christopher
Gregory for The Intercept"
src="https://theintercept.com/wp-uploads/sites/1/2020/02/CTG7436-1581092972-819x1024.jpg"
data-reactid="302" moz-do-not-send="true"
width="819" height="1024"></p>
<p><img alt="Yabucoa, Puerto Rico - 8/16/19: Here
agricultural and environmental group YUCAEÕs
farm. They are vocally protesting the
installation of natural gas infrastructure in a
deep sea port in Yabucoa.CREDIT: Christopher
Gregory for The Intercept"
src="https://theintercept.com/wp-uploads/sites/1/2020/02/CTG7459-1581092975-819x1024.jpg"
data-reactid="304" moz-do-not-send="true"
width="819" height="1024"></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div data-reactid="306">
<div data-reactid="307">
<p><img
src="https://theintercept.imgix.net/wp-uploads/sites/1/2020/02/CTG7514-1581093050.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90"
alt="Yabucoa, Puerto Rico - 8/16/19: Here
agricultural and environmental group YUCAE's farm.
They are vocally protesting the installation of
natural gas infrastructure in a deep sea port in
Yabucoa. CREDIT: Christopher Gregory for The
Intercept" moz-do-not-send="true" width="1500"
height="1000"></p>
<p class="caption">The YUCAE project, which stands for
Yabucoa United for Culture, Self-Management, and
Ecology, is a community farm in the southeast corner
of Puerto Rico. The agricultural and environmental
group that runs it is organizing to stop the
construction of natural gas infrastructure.</p>
<p class="caption">
Photos: Christopher Gregory for The Intercept</p>
</div>
</div>
<div data-reactid="308">
<p>For years, Díaz Rodríguez pushed for chemical and
fossil fuel companies operating in the area, such as
Union Carbide and Sun Oil, to cut air emissions and
water pollution and take responsibility for the
rampant respiratory issues researchers had linked to
heavy industry. With the recession, many corporations
have since left. “We already paid our quota. Why do
they want to sacrifice us again?” she wondered. The
organization she leads, called the Yabucoan Committee
for Quality of Life, is holding community meetings and
organizing to stop the natural gas infrastructure.</p>
<p>If anywhere is ripe for a popular movement around
energy transformation, it’s Puerto Rico. Last July,
Puerto Ricans poured into the streets, forcing
Rosselló to resign after the <a
href="http://periodismoinvestigativo.com/2019/07/las-889-paginas-de-telegram-entre-rossello-nevares-y-sus-allegados/">Center
for Investigative Journalism</a> published private
text messages revealing corruption as well as callous
jokes about the bodies that had piled up in morgues
after the hurricane. The importance of the power grid
and the unelected junta was lost on no one. “Ricky
resign and take the junta with you” became a rallying
cry.</p>
<p>It’s a connection that will remain essential if the
movement for renewable energy is to be successful.
After the earthquake, unused hurricane relief
supplies, including dozens of cases of bottled water,
were discovered in a warehouse in the
earthquake-ravaged south, propelling people into the
streets yet again, this time demanding the resignation
of Rosselló’s replacement, Wanda Vázquez. But many of
those present were aware of the limitations of that
demand.</p>
<p>In the coming months, the fate of Congress’s $2
billion in energy aid will be determined, but it’s not
Vázquez who will have the final say in where the money
goes. The funds will be overseen by a former banker
named Robert Couch, <a
href="https://www.hud.gov/press/press_releases_media_advisories/HUD_No_20_008">appointed</a> by
the Trump administration, and a team of <a
href="https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/eeuu/nota/huddicequevaaliberarahoraotros1000millones-2541037/">10
to 15</a> people newly dedicated to overseeing
Puerto Rican recovery funds. Once a plan gets through
the fossil fuel-friendly administration, it will also
likely have to <a
href="https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/vazquezgarcednotenemostemoraquevengaunmonitor-2541271/">obtain
approval</a> from the junta.</p>
<p>To Massol Deyá, it’s an example of why the fight for
energy independence is about more than just
electricity. “We’re calling for a goal of energy
independence for Puerto Rico as a means to start
decolonizing island,” he said. Massol Deyá doesn’t see
Casa Pueblo’s purpose as figuring out how to fix
PREPA. But the natural gas infrastructure cannot be
allowed to move forward, he says. “This is forever if
they let them do this. This is a colony forever.”</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
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415 863.9977
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