A bad day for Puerto Rico (and the fight continues for Culebra)

This is a long post, but an important one. Unless you who are interested in things Culebra have been deep in a turtle nest, here is a reminder of why the fight for Saving What's Left is so important. Otherwise, we might as well, as has been suggested to me, change the saying to Enjoy What's Left (because it won't be here for long). Mary Ann from Coralations sent this today. If you want to help, please contact her.

PR gov't approves 25 wind turbines for forest

By: The Associated Press | 10 Mar 2010 | 07:20 PM ET

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Puerto Rico's government has approved a plan to build 25 wind turbines capable of generating electricity for 20,000 households in the U.S. territory.

Planning Board President Hector Morales said Wednesday the wind farm will be built by the Puerto Rico-based Windmar Renewable Energy Inc. and is designed to produce an estimated 120,000 kilowatts a year.
The Caribbean island of nearly 4 million people now gets nearly all of its electricity from oil-burning plants. The government-owned power utility is planning to boost investment in natural gas generators, wind, wave and other kinds of alternative energy, but has made little progress.
Morales said the turbines will be erected on a 45-acre (18-hectare) parcel of dry forest in the southern coastal town of Guayanilla. He said his agency had crafted a balance between sustainable development and conservation of natural resources, saying most of the developer's 290-acre (117-hectare) property will be set aside for conservation.
Roughly "83 percent of the total property will remain always in its natural state," Morales said.
But environmental activists have tried to block the project, arguing that several endangered bird species in nearby forest could lose some of their habitat. The land abuts Guanica State Forest, where endangered nightjars and other creatures breed and nest.
Francisco Saez, spokesman of the Pro Bosque Seco Ventanas Verraco Coalition, said the wind energy project belongs elsewhere and activists will try to block construction permits. "We are not going to yield," he said.
Skip Van Bloem, an assistant professor at the University of Puerto Rico's Department of Agronomy and Soils who has objected to the proposal, said the island has very little native forest left. He said a better option would be to build wind turbines alongside cultivated fields.
"If this were the only viable site for wind development on the island, it might be a different story, but wind farms and agriculture are compatible land uses," Van Bloem said in an e-mail. "Better yet would be for Puerto Rico to invest in solar systems."

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/35806051

Neither will Culebra yield.... I hope Culebra does not have to learn from experience that placing an industrial windfarm on top of Mt. Resaca is about as environmentally sustainable as planting endangered trees in the middle of a public access road. Actions meant to confuse, privatize and profit...not to "restore." 

Since 2005:

• The un-permitted destruction of the boulder forest around the helipad,

• The relentless installation of large metal poles sunk in concrete...the chains...Jurassic park sized gates blocking the historic public access roads...and placed to dramatically maximize alleged property boundaries.
• The 16 inch thick poured concrete wall,
• The illegal concrete bird tower built over the access road
• The boulders blocking access
• The illegal / un-permitted construction of steep coastal roads dumping mud into "protected" coastal waters,
• The illegal / un-permitted fill of a beautiful shoreline boulder forest to construct a road along the shore,
• The predictable demise of introduced and endangered trees planted in a public road,
• The predictable demise of trees planted in the center of a powerful dry river bed on the shore, 
• The direct fill of a lagoon spill -over river bed located in coastal barrier for a dysfunctional and unsustainable turn around for cars....as a sustainable historic access is blocked by trees, chains, huge tree trunks, boulders, benches sunk in concrete and guards. 
• The lies and insults,
• The threatening phone calls and emails,
• The multiple criminal law suits against members of the community,
• The law suit against ACDEC for defending public access.

While four towering bird Cuisinart's apparently proposed for ecologically and culturally important Mt. Resaca means nothing spatially in terms of carbon offset...the price to the island will be the direct and irreparable harm to the water quality of  Flamenco Bay, to the corals, to the nesting sea turtles...to the endangered endemic species impacted on that mountain with steep ancient volcanic soils supposedly protected by a special zoning. This could forever tank Flamenco beach tourism.

That lone flamenco may be nature's RED FLAG!  Imagine finding her in the piles of  bird and bat carcasses that accumulate under industrial wind mills. 

It prompts the very serious questions...why are these agencies blatantly ignoring the best available scientific information in the planning?
Why are they blatantly ignoring social justice concerns?
Why do they take action on Gonzalez's behalf, but ignore the many complaints against Gonzalez?
Why are they defending illegal actions in direct contradiction to their own non-discretionary duties of oversight?  

Mary Ann Lucking
Director
CORALations