Update 24 Feb 2022 – Biden Administration designates $12 million to rebuild the grid with renewables (https://grist.org/beacon/12-billion-for-a-green-grid-in-puerto-rico/?) – Yay! See the updated petition at https://www.change.org/p/fema-rebuild-puerto-rico-s-power-grid-with-renewables-not-fossil-fuels.
Puerto Rico could rebuild its power grid with renewables, but FEMA plans to fund fossil fuels….
(Excerpts from Fast Company article by Patrick Parenteau and Rachel Stevens, 10/9/21)
FEMA has allocated $9.4 billion for rebuilding Puerto Rico’s electricity system after Hurricane Maria. The proposed plan would build new natural gas-fired power plants.
Puerto Rico adopted laws that called for generating 15% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020, 40% by 2025, 60% by 2040, and 100% by 2050.
But the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which controls relief funding for the island, appears ready to underwrite a rebuild of the old fossil fuel system — on a path that runs directly counter to the White House’s energy and climate policy.
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