from president donald trump controversially tossing some paper towels into a crowd to organizations offering relief, there has been a large effort to give aid to puerto rico. one of the organizations that has helped rebuild puerto rico is the american society of civil engineers, or asce. not only is the asce helping to rebuild puerto rico but they also are updating their infrastructure to last around 50 to 100 years and be able to handle hurricanes with the same wrath as maria according to their standards. 

during the asce-led briefing, the main topic was updating puerto rico’s infrastructure to last and withstand deadly tropical storms in the longworth house office building on capitol hill on sept. 24. the moderators of the briefing called on a joining of forces between the federal government and the asce.

going into the briefing informing people of the asce 7 hazard tool which informs people on how to deal and be prepared for harsh conditions like hurricanes, ice storms, blizzards, and other types of inclement weather was a big point to get across. since the document’s last update in 2017, it now has information on hurricane-prone areas, as well as wind debris.

leading the briefing were multiple high ranking members of the asce: executive director tom smith; héctor colón de la cruz, who is the head of puerto rico’s infrastructure report card; otto lynch, who is the president and ceo of power line systems; and josefa torres-olivo, who is the district iii director of the rural community assistance partnership.

later in the discussion the republican congresswoman of puerto rico jenniffer gonzález-colón to reinforce what was being presented by the asce.

smith described some financial benefits that can be seen when it comes to reinforcing and strengthening communities to be better prepared for disasters.

“according to the national institute of building sciences, every dollar spent on pre-disaster mitigation and preparedness saves 6 dollars in rebuilding costs after a storm,” smith said.

smith also describes what the asce-7 was and just how in depth the document that the asce has presented with their standards is, and just how many people have put the time and dedication necessary to put something like this together.

“asce-7 is an 800-page document,” smith said. “we have hundreds of engineers who work on this document analyzing infrastructure and how it has performed across the world and testing it in labs.”

throughout the briefing, asce pushed their standards and explained how that can benefit areas that deal with numerous types of harsh storms.

lynch discussed how the bahamas updated their infrastructure according to the asce guidelines.

“i’ve been told by more than one source that every pole on that line survived hurricane dorian. that’s a category 5 storm that stayed over the island for 36 hours. follow these!” lynch said, as he shook a copy of the guidelines in his hand.

colón de la cruz would go on to explain puerto rico’s infrastructure strain, the aid it is receiving from congress and a new problem facing puerto rico’s reconstruction.

“congress allocated $42.5 billion for reconstruction purposes,” colón de la cruz said. “as of may 2019, only $15 billion has been delivered to puerto rico. it is important that the american government and puerto rico work together to deliver a more resilient infrastructure.” 

“looking forward in specific infrastructure energy was a headline, the energy blackout but we are also facing a new emergency,” colón de la cruz said. “last year the epa estimated that we only have 5 years left of capacity remaining in our landfills excluding the amount of debris that is going to be a part of the reconstruction efforts. it is also important to mention that only half of the landfills are compliant to epa standards.”

torres-olivo would go on to stress how resources like clean drinking water have been affected by hurricane maria for an area that already struggles to distribute clean water to people living there.

“the reality is that in an island topography and an infrastructure cost investment it is not feasible to perform in for the entire island,” torres-olivo said while describing how difficult it is to distribute water. 

rep. gonzález-colón would not speak until later in the briefing, however she still took advantage of her time. calling on both the federal government and the private sector to work together to help areas like puerto rico.

“one of the biggest challenges i have as a member of congress is that i don’t even have the correct data,” gonzález-colón said. “i rely on the private sector and i rely on ngo’s to gather that information.” 

gonzález-colón also went on to state how important improving puerto rico’s infrastructure will be and she expressed her confidence in the asce guidelines to accomplish that.

“we need to use the american society of civil engineer’s standards,” she said.

asce has the means of doing that.

“this is the only way for people to know what is going on back home,” gonzález-colón said.

but all this information is just words unless you do something about it. it’s important to recognize that regardless of where you are, you can make a difference. it’s easy to complain about the large organizations for the role they play in relief, but what is more important is that we hold them accountable. some organizations approach disaster relief with ideas already in mind, but it is up to us to tell them what the needs of the community are. we have to insist that they build a relationship with the community first, and not after. people go on vacations and seldom realize the positive the impact that tourism could have, if done correctly. keep in mind where your money will go in the community and make sure you are supporting locals rather than corporations. its also important to realize the environmental impact of vacationing and adopt the “leave no trace” mindset. the island struggling to gain access to water and food, so consider bringing your own of both, and if you’re going to bring plastic, make sure you carry it off. the struggles are not over for vieques, as climate change is only causing storms to increase. after hurricane maria, it was said that the people of vieques were very resilient, and while i’ve found this to be true, resiliency is a term used to describe things over short periods. in addition, i believe the community to be resistant. each year they go through hurricanes and tropical storms, and they still have a thriving community and this is what it means to be resistant. if we all take this lesson and apply it to the way we approach environmental problems, we can begin not to only solve problems for the short term, but find permanent solutions for reoccurring problems.

these photos and the story represent the collaborative experience of the suny college of environmental science and forestry’s students, faculty, and friends. in january of 2019, each of the people in this picture wanted to make a difference and traveled out of their comfort zones to vieques. we spent a week asking the community what they needed and getting involved. while doing so we fell in love with the island, and continue to maintain a collaborative relationship in every way we can.

hence the ‘to be continued’ aspect of the poem, in attempts to propose a solution for the story, suny-esf has plans to gather soil samples from vieques which will then be tested in the soils lab on the syracuse campus. this is in order to provide a greater sense of clarity along with hope for the island of vieques. 

please take a listen below:

fern, the food and environment reporting network, thefern.org/
allison keyes, @allisonradio
icyclone footage from hurricane maria, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae96xf293dc

washington – the federal emergency management agency will end its efforts to build emergency energy infrastructure in puerto rico by may 18. but because of a federal law that prohibits updating infrastructure, the energy system that fema built is still inadequate for puerto rico’s needs, as wednesday’s island-wide power outage demonstrates.

before wednesday’s blackout, 50,000 customers remained without power, most in the mountainous regions of the island. 

fema intends to hand off the permanent restoration project next month to the puerto rico electric power authority, an agency with a $9 billion debt and insufficient rebuilding plans to ensure a stable grid. 

the robert t. stafford disaster relief and emergency assistance act prohibits modernizing equipment with federal funds, saying the money is designated for emergency aid, not long-term improvements. that means the infrastructure projects fema and other federal agencies replaced after hurricane maria are only temporary fixtures that resemble what stood in place before the storm.

“the stafford act does not contemplate, as it’s written, rebuilding an electric system,” said bruce walker, electricity delivery and energy reliability assistant secretary at the department of energy. “by virtue of the way the stafford act is written, it contemplates things being put back the way that they were.”

fema contracted the army corps of engineers for 42 hurricane maria-related assignments, with a budget of $3.4 billion. emergency recovery included installing over 2,000 temporary generators, but only 1,150 have been replaced with permanent power sources and four makeshift micro grids remain in service.

basav sen, climate justice project director at the institute for policy studies, said congress needs to overhaul the stafford act so that disaster recovery is easier in the future.

“in the short run you could save some money by not improving the infrastructure, but merely restoring it,” sen said. “but in the longer run, you are not learning lessons. you are not improving the infrastructure to be able to withstand a disaster in the first place and you are setting yourself up to do those same set of repairs in another three years.”

sen also said federal agencies should remain as the leaders of rebuilding infrastructure on the island. 

“this gesture of saying that the problem is solved before it really is is a way of sweeping it under the rug,” he said. “proclaiming that they are done, mission accomplished, when very clearly you have a problem, that in and of itself is an issue.”

charles alexander, the army corps of engineers’ director of contingency operations and homeland security, said the temporary power system is better able to withstand a storm than the pre-hurricane system, but a permanent replacement system is outside the bounds of stafford act regulations. it’s also outside the bounds of puerto rico, which has a $73 billion debt and is in the 11th year of a recession.

“it’s not the resilient grid that we all recognize is needed, but it’s in much better condition,” alexander said.

alexander said the corps will take on an advisory role to prepa after may 18. a spokesman said the energy department also will offer advice to prepa and the puerto rican government in the recovery process.

“we want to continue to provide and offer expertise from the department and national labs on ways that they can strengthen the resilience of their grid. we can’t provide bulldozers or cranes or anything, but we can provide expertise and provide studies with our partners over there,” the spokesman said.

at a recent house oversight hearing, rep. jimmy gomez, d-calif., said, “i’m concerned that these are temporary measures, and you guys are leaving. we haven’t fully restored yet, and i hope the transition is adequate.”

rep. susan brooks, r-ind, also inquired about plans to prevent further disasters. 

“what have we done in preparation for the next hurricane, or what kind of plans do we now have in place, because the plan we had was incredibly frustrating,” she said.

jeffrey byard, fema’s associate administrator for response and recovery, told the oversight hearing that the only way to provide funding for permanent energy solutions for puerto rico would be to authorize full federal funding – which would require changes in the law to avoid violating the stafford act.

even if that happened, walker said, prepa doesn’t have a model of a reliable, organized energy system.  

“we’re building it for them, but it’s a model that they (should) normally have,” he said.

puerto rico laid in ruins after the clouds and rain cleared. it first was hit by the outskirts of hurricane irma, a category 5 storm, followed by hurricane maria, a category 4 storm, which crossed directly over the center of the island. according to records, hurricane maria was the fifth strongest storm to hit the island in the last 80 years. the storm at first left more than 85% of the island’s population without power, and three months later there were still half who did not have power. the island was hopeful to reach 95% power by the new year, however, that deadline has since come and passed. it has been the longest and largest blackout in u.s. history, according to a report by vox.

a system in prior need of a re-vamp

even before hurricane maria, the status of puerto rico’s energy department was in shambles. it was highly outdated and in severe debt. puerto rico’s economy has been struggling over the past few years. many of the island’s skilled workers have opted to move to the u.s. mainland for better job opportunities. this has left the islands with few workers to take on the large-scale infrastructure overhauls that are needed.

furthermore, the island owes billions to bond holders and pension payments. the puerto rican electric power authority (prepa) was, and is not, an ideal source of power for the island. a centralized power system that relied on imported fossil fuels. due to the population distribution, the inefficiency was exasperated; most citizens live in a ring along the coast. the centralized grid relied on power grids that had to crisscross the island, further exacerbating the costs. ultimately, prepa declared bankruptcy in 2017 — and this was before the storms hit.

moving forward from rock-bottom

the future of the island’s energy came into the public eye in the wake of the hurricanes after a twitter exchange between puerto rico gov. ricardo rosselló and elon musk. the two pondered the plausibility of puerto rico adopting tesla’s newly acquired solar technology.

aside from tesla donating solar panels and a generator to a local hospital in puerto rico — which has been operating on the power provided by the generators since — little has come to fruition after the initial talks between musk and gov. rosselló. however, this does not mean it’s too late. after the unfortunate failure of whitefish, the montana power company who was awarded the contract of rebuilding the islands’ infrastructure, the company vastly overcharged the island and struggled to even get equipment on site, thus leaving the island in a worse state than after the storm initially hit.

a cheaper source of energy is not the only draw to solar for the island. solar would provide a source of national pride for the island. as an island that relies heavily on ecotourism and other similar industries, solar would be yet another attraction as well as another example of an island going green to become self-sufficient in its energy use.

other islands could be a model for puerto rico’s success 

the island of ta’u in american samoa went 100% solar just last year, although it is vastly smaller in territory than puerto rico. talks of the switch from diesel generators to solar started about two years ago, however, the grid was not fully operational until november of 2017. provided with 5,238 solar panels and 100 solar battery packs, the island of 600 residents can fully supply all of their power needs with solar power. the project was made possible by the american samoa economic development authority in a partnership with environmental protection agency as well as the department of interior. in total the project cost $8 million. once fully charged, which takes only seven hours, the packs can provide full power for 3 days. this is a large improvement in the eyes of many residents from the 109,500 gallons of diesel they were using in previous years, the delivery of which was often late and unreliable. the island has since seen a huge drop in price for energy as well as a more reliable and long-term solution to their energy needs.

additionally, the hawaiian island of kauai installed more than 50,000 panels and a 52-megawatt battery installation. this provides more than enough power for the island to function throughout the night without burning fossil fuels for the island of 66,000 residents. early projections from the tesla team has released statements saying that the solar installations will reduce the fossil fuel needs of kauai by 50% in 2019. this was desperately needed because hawaii residents paid the most for power of any u.s. states or territories, followed only by puerto rico.

a similar project in puerto rico just might provide the spark that they need to garner the economic interest in the country that they so desperately need. however, the window for focusing on long term overhauls is shrinking. but the benefits would be long lived. if solar were adapted, it likely would be in smaller local power grids, providing cities and communities with more autonomy. the solar arrays are far more durable and the country would avoid having to rebuild power lines across treacherous forested mountains as they are currently trying to do. solar would provide a local power source that would make importing expensive fossil fuels a thing of the past.

we have yet to see any boots on the ground in terms of any infrastructure being created in order to host solar panels and facilities. regardless, the door has been opened for solar in puerto rico; with moguls like elon musk showing interest in their future. hopefully we can see some real, concrete efforts before the window closes.

in alexi correa’s coastal town of loiza, puerto rico, families are raising their furniture on milk crates and building second floors onto their concrete homes to adapt to frequent flooding caused by sea level rise. they are witnessing a major impact of climate change right at their doorsteps.

“our community is quite scared. we’re not sure what’s going to happen on a day-to-day basis and not quite sure what is going to happen to our houses or the area if the erosion keeps coming,” said correa, one of loiza’s community leaders.

since 2010, the average sea levels around the island have increased at a rate 10 times faster than the historical rate — an increase of about 1 centimeter (0.4 inches) per year. while the change might seem small, the resulting coastal erosion has caused significant property damage and flooding.

“we feel that the islands are like a canary in the coal mine,” said environmental engineer ernesto díaz. “sadly, nature has been doing part of the job for us,” because now, he can point to tangible changes on the island to show the impacts of coastal erosion and sea level rise in addition to showing his scientific models and charts, he said.

what causes sea level rise? from medill reports on vimeo.

in loiza, a community on the outskirts of san juan, large sections of the town have fallen into the sea, including a road, a grove of trees, and much of the community’s beachfront park. there is a 5- to 7-foot vertical drop off between the town’s sidewalk and the beach area due to erosion.

scientists around puerto rico have been quick to address the changes occurring on the island, especially because people near the shore are already dealing with the consequences. maritza barreto and rafael méndez tejeda, researchers at the university of puerto rico, saw correa voicing his concerns on television and decided to investigate the changes occurring on the coastline.

“when we saw him, we decided to do something. we’re trying to figure out what’s happening because we fear for the people who live close by,” said barreto, a professor of geomorphology. “their houses could be destroyed.”

the team visits research stations each month to collect samples of sand, which they analyze to determine the sediment composition. this allows the researchers to determine the origin of the sand – from the sea or the land – and measure the coastal erosion at the beach. on a field visit to loiza, méndez tejeda pointed to the trees that had fallen within the past two years because of erosion.

“this tree was about 40 years old, which implies the beach was not like this 40 years ago,” méndez tejeda said. “there’s a reason why i came to this community — because it’s a real community, not just hotels and buildings, and no one was helping them. this is the human impact [of climate change].”

for coastal communities like loiza, the beach is often where people gather during weekends and celebrations. but due to the erosion caused by the rising seas, the beaches are quickly disappearing.

“our beaches are the safety valve for our poor people. that’s where they go, and slowly we’re losing that,” said aurelio mercado, a physical oceanographer at the university of puerto rico, mayaguez.

mercado has been recording monthly sea levels on the island for years to analyze how the levels differ from the past. he is concerned because the sea levels continue to surpass the historical averages, and have been especially high since 2010, he said.

“in the past we were talking about sea level rise on the order of 1 or 2 millimeters (0.04-0.08 inches) per year,  but now we are talking more on the increase of 1 centimeter per year (0.4 inches) — it has increased by a factor of 10,” mercado said. and the pace is accelerating.

“i noticed in 2010 that there was a sharp increase in sea level and that explains what has been happening since 2010 [with coastal erosion],” mercado said. “i thought sea level was happening and it was causing erosion and some flooding but i never thought that there were some communities that not only in 2015, but in previous years, were coping with inundation in their houses.”

in addition to affecting coastal communities, sea level rise has caused significant damage to hotels and beachfronts, which might impact the island’s tourism industry, said ruperto chaparro, director of the sea grant program for puerto rico. chaparro has been photographing the changes around the western edge of the island, especially near rincón, a popular surfing destination.

“if you’re located on the beach, it doesn’t care if you’re rich or poor,” chaparro said. “sea level rise is a big problem since it is putting a lot of communities in danger and the tourism industry because if we lose our beaches, then we won’t have a tourism industry.”

puerto rico’s noaa sea grant program director ruperto chaparro discusses sea level rise from msj reporter on vimeo.

sea level rise linked to global warming

global temperatures are rising because of the heat-trapping effect of carbon dioxide emissions collecting in the atmosphere as we burn fossil fuels. warmer temperatures contribute to the warming of ocean water and the melting of freshwater held in land based ice — two factors that increase global sea levels.

“we’re making the world warmer – we have very high scientific confidence of that. when we warm the world, ocean water warms. warmer water takes up more space. that’s sea level rise,” said richard alley, professor of geosciences at pennsylvania state university. “as we warm the world, mountain glaciers are melting, water that used to be on top of the alps is now in the ocean, that raises sea level.”

the warming of ocean water itself causes it to expand and rise more, because of the thermal or heat expansion property of water. this means that water takes up more space, or expands, as it heats up. water is unique in that it expands when it freezes, but it also expands incrementally once its temperature is above 4 degrees celsius, or about 39 degrees fahrenheit.

the melting of mountain glaciers is contributing to the rise, but the worry is that the ice sheets over greenland and antarctica might melt quicker than expected and contribute to rapid increases in sea level rise, alley said.

“over the 20 years leading up to the most recent [2013] united nations assessment, the ice sheets were shrinking at a rate that would have taken more than 100,000 years to go away completely. that’s the equivalent of me going on a diet and losing one third of one potato chip a year. and i could do with losing faster, but if the ice sheets lost faster it would be very bad. so, the question is if we make it really hot, do the ice sheets go on some crash diet, lose weight in a big hurry, and the sea level goes up a lot. and that is really possible,” he said.

scientists shift from research to action in puerto rico

in addition to damages from erosion and flooding, the island has experienced unpredictable rainfall, with intense storms and significant droughts that have led to water rationing in parts of the island, he said. to address the rapidly changing environment, díaz helped create the puerto rico climate change council (prccc), an organization that brings together scientists, engineers, health professionals and policymakers to address the impacts of and adaptive strategies for climate change around the island.

“people here can relate directly to the effects and impacts of climate change. maybe in the past they didn’t associate with it, but we have seen the worsening of coastal erosion and extreme events like droughts and floods, people are understanding that things are changing. the effects and impacts will be magnified if we don’t do something about it,” he said.

díaz also directs the island’s coastal zone management program through the national atmospheric and oceanic administration (noaa). his colleague amanda leinberger is developing an online “vulnerability self-assessment toolkit” to help coastal communities “assess their own hazard risk and then, based off that, offer or recommend feasible adaptation strategies,” she said. the goal is to increase communication between the coastal communities on the island so that more people can benefit from effective solutions to sea level rise and erosion.

coastal erosion is exacerbated by man-made changes to the shoreline, which include building new properties too close to the beach and building sea walls to prevent the ocean from destroying buildings. a coastal construction setback line to prevent new development on the coastline might be the best option for areas that have yet to be developed, because “at the end of the day you cannot fight mother nature,” said mercado.

but for communities already struggling on the coasts, the solutions are more complicated. concrete sea walls are common in puerto rico, and temporarily can protect houses and buildings. but eventually, the walls themselves can contribute to further erosion of the beach, chaparro said.

“you can either decide on having beaches or having walls. once you build the walls, you lose the beach. and if you don’t build the walls, you will lose the building,” he said.

beach renourishment, or adding sand to beaches, can increase the distance between buildings and the coastline, but it is too expensive to be feasible in puerto rico, the scientists said. relocating coastal communities further inland involves many complicated and expensive social issues, chaparro said.

“when you talk about removing people from coastal communities, they are reluctant,” because historically, communities have been relocated to construct large hotels or resorts, he said. “this is a very delicate problem and programs must be made with a multidisciplinary approach to these decisions and these social concerns must be taken into account.”

some communities have responded to the changing sea level with their own solutions, like raising their furniture on milk crates or cement blocks, moving to the second floor of their homes, or building homes with expandable stilts.

“moving to the second floor is becoming a very common adaptive strategy. a family will often build a second floor over time and start moving pieces of the house up to the second floor,” said katia aviles-vasquez, professor at the university of puerto rico in rio piedras. “in some houses, they’ll have living arrangements on the second floor and they’ll put anything they can lose on the first floor.”

these adaptations allow communities to temporarily cope with the flooding, but developing a long-term solution is more difficult, she said. aviles-vasquez directs the island’s bosque modelo (model forest) program, an organization which works to promote community-based sustainable development, tourism and conservation.

coastal conservation efforts have helped some communities avoid significant property damage. the corredor del yaguazo, a community-run conservation and ecotourism site near san juan, has reestablished the area’s natural wetland ecosystem in an area formerly used for housing. the wetland helps shield the community from the sea — it acts as a holding pond for excess water, and the roots of the coastal trees help prevent the land from eroding.

in yaguazo, the wetland currently has over 200 mangrove trees, and the group hopes to plant 800 more by march, said the organization’s director, don pedro carrion. mangroves are coastal trees that live right on the beach in tropical regions, tolerate salt water, and prevent sand from eroding from beaches. carrion’s own home, which serves as a research and learning center for the organization, is built with extendable stilts, which he can raise up in case of flooding.

“pedro designed his house on stilts, which is a very common strategy, but the stilts, the way that he designed them, they could literally raise the house entirely. he’s taught some of his neighbors to do that,” said aviles-vasquez. “that’s a community-based strategy for adaptation.”