Energy Justice for Puerto Rico! Seven Years After Hurricane María
by samarys seguinot medina
Seven years after Hurricane María, more than 5,000 lives were lost after its passing through the Borikén archipelago (Puerto Rico (PR)). Lives and quality of life are still being lost in the Caribbean country. Extreme and more frequent weather events, decades of political corruption and misuse of public funds, the colonial state, dependence on oil, and a destroyed electrical system present serious challenge to the Puerto Rican population and their health. Associations have been seen with the increase in visits to the emergency room for mental health issues in months. With greater drought and high temperatures, we see an increase in the population that develops neurological diseases and PTSD after the weather events of 2017, and with the passage of each system during hurricane season. We are experiencing an exodus of professionals of all kinds, especially health professionals, who add to the challenge of an archipelago that lacks a stable or reliable energy system.
It is outrageous to see our elderly men and women crying because they are taking care of a bedridden relative who needs electricity to keep medication and to see how the medicine and the survival of the patient are lost in front of their family. Very harsh realities of energy injustice that are not talked about enough. In heat waves of 110- and 120-degrees Fahrenheit there are thousands, and sometimes millions, of Puerto Ricans without electricity to be able to turn on a fan for a bedridden elderly person. The Puerto Rican people are outraged. The Financial Oversight and Management Board, or FCB, brought a foreign company to PR to manage the electricity supply without having good dialogue and without effective participation in the negotiations and decision-making about this important infrastructure. There is no transparency. Thus, FCB begins to clash with unions, tired residents, politicians anxious about the elections and even with the elderly who have taken to the streets to protest.
Foreigners have PR in their sights as a tropical business destination. Young entrepreneurs and communities fight not to lose their homes, land and the country where we were born. For the Boricua in PR, every day is a struggle without knowing if there is electricity and water, since many of the plants that provide drinking water need electricity so that the precious liquid can be pumped. Thus, public schools are destroyed, services in health centers are lacking, small businesses and local businesses suffer considerable losses, and many have had to close their doors because the system is no longer reliable.
Energy justice for Borikén must include ensuring that the archipelago’s energy system is affordable, reliable and accessible to all and must include a fair transition plan to clean and renewable energy. We must demand from our legislators, elected officials and those who represent PR in Congress a commitment that demonstrates clear and immediate steps to make a just transition with the needs of the people as a foundation and with participation in the entire process. It is important to support the communities and leaders who fight for environmental and energy justice in Borikén. We must also support non-profit groups like Queremos Sol Coalition, and the Alliance for Renewable Energy Now (AERA), and Earthjustice who are currently working, representing environmental groups, unions and PR civil society to accelerate the transition away from oil and its derivatives and moving in favor of a renewable energy distribution system that ensures access to clean energy for everyone in Borikén.
Dr. Samarys Seguinot-Medina is a Boricua from PR and director of public-environmental health at Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT). She resides in Dena’Ina lands, Alaska.
