Hurricane Fiona Exposes Incompetence in Puerto Rico
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Hurricane Fiona was just the latest hurricane to pound Puerto Rico and its more than 3 million residents. Five years after Maria caused a power outage that lasted nearly a year for some residents, the island remains woefully under-restored. Even though Maria should have served as a stark warning, corruption, neglected infrastructure and red tape have all conspired to make the island more susceptible to storms like Fiona than ever before.
How Hurricane Fiona Brought Past Indiscretions to the Forefront
Hurricane Fiona caused approximately 1.5 million residents to lose power in Sept. 2022, and tens of thousands of people also lost water. The consequences of this storm were more problematic than they should have been, and that is a function of how the aftermath of Maria was mis-handled.
In case you’ve forgotten, Hurricane Maria was devastating. In addition to the near-yearlong outage situation for some, about 3,000 people lost their lives. But instead of making swift and efficient recovery decisions, the entire process got bogged down.
Capitol Hill lawmakers, FEMA, and President Trump fell prey to bickering, indecision, and unnecessary bureaucracy. Recovery aid was delivered too slowly, so Luma Energy, a U.S.-Canadian private consortium, was hired to modernize and harden the island’s grid. Unfortunately, Luma has failed miserably, and the island’s residents still endure regular outages.
Ultimately, Congress allocated $12 billion to revamp the grid, but this did not help much because the entity responsible for putting these funds to good use – the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) – went bankrupt. The Biden administration also stepped in to implement tactics designed to reduce red tape, but at this point these actions have not moved the needle in a meaningful way.
The people of Puerto Rico deserve better, plain and simple. As a U.S. territory filled with U.S. citizens, the government has an obligation to deliver a certain quality-of-life standard there. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to be the reality the politicians are living in, which means it’s just a matter of time before another storm like Hurricane Fiona or Hurricane Maria devastates the grid in Puerto Rico yet again.
