40 Puerto Rican companies, churches and groups support a multi-billion dollar solar energy allocation
Washington D.C. – More than 40 businesses, organizations and churches from Puerto Rico and the Diaspora today advocated before Congressional leadership for a $5 billion appropriation for the installation of solar panels and energy storage systems on the roofs of residences on the island.
In this way, they have embraced the proposal of the chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, Democrat Raul Grijalva, three dozen other congressmen and a dozen senators to allocate the money to the U.S. Department of Energy, which would be in charge of the plan to place solar panels and storage batteries on roofs of residences of low-income and/or disabled people.
Grijalva’s initiative was welcomed by President Joe Biden, although the White House’s recommendation to Congress – which must prepare a budget bill in December with allocations for disaster mitigation – is that the funds to be granted be $3 billion.
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“It’s been five years since Hurricane Maria and we still suffer from frequent power outages. It is time to solve this problem. Solar power and battery storage is the solution. This will save Congress billions of dollars in the future every time we are affected by a storm.” stated David Ortiz, director of the United Neighbors Puerto Rico Solar Program.
The letter – addressed to the leaders of the Senate and House Appropriations committees – is signed, among others, by Latino Justice, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the Coalition of Anti-Incineration Organizations, UTIER, the National Institute for Energy and Island Sustainability (INESI), Boricuas Unidos en la Diaspora and Power4PuertoRico.
Also signing the petition are businesses such as Park Gardens Bakery, Villa Andalucía Supermarkets, Manny’s Pizza, Trujilllo Alto Pharmacy, Agroval Supermarkets in Guaynabo, Alexis Barber Shop in Guaynabo, Greenville Restaurant, and Ferreteria y Agrocentro Dejaos Comercial, in Bayamón.
They indicated that “Congress has the ability to create a climate-resilient distributed energy system that saves lives that are needlessly lost with every severe weather event.”
“Five years after Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico’s power grid continues to have regular setbacks that affect those with the least resources. The Puerto Rican government’s privatization initiative, which led to a contract with LUMA Energy, resulted in significant service problems and poor service restoration after Hurricane Fiona,” the organizations, businesses and religious institutions noted in the letter, which is addressed to, among others, the chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations committees, Democrats Rosa DeLauro (Connecticut) and Patrick Leahy (Vermont), respectively.
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The petition has also been sent to the Republican leaders of those committees, Congresswoman Kay Granger (Texas), and Senator Richard Shelby (Alabama), among others.
“As religious organizations that provide places of worship, meeting spaces and community offerings to our congregations, non-profit organizations that operate every day to improve the lives of Puerto Ricans, and businesses that provide goods and services to affected households, we have seen firsthand the struggles that hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans go through every time there is an extreme weather event or the grid has problems, which unfortunately happens regularly on the island,” the petitioners added.
