Puerto Rico has a unique challenge and opportunity in wake of Maria

On Oct. 24, Congress approved more than $35 billion in emergency relief for Puerto Rico and other parts of the United States that have been ravaged by recent natural disasters, from hurricanes to flooding to fires.

While the devastation in Puerto Rico presents many challenges — with the U.S. Virgin Islands included, the post-Maria power failure was the largest in U.S. history, and the storm caused 1.25 billion hours of electricity disruption — it also presents a vital opportunity to rebuild the island’s energy infrastructure smarter, greener, and more resilient.

{mosads}There is no stronger argument for a new energy approach in Puerto Rico than the devastation on the island itself. It is critical that we not miss this opportunity to build a better future for the people of Puerto Rico.

Because of outdated and poorly maintained infrastructure and an increasingly volatile climate, a staggering 80 percent of Puerto Rico’s residents are still without power and more than one third still can’t access clean water. Puerto Rico, as it recovers, must rebuild an infrastructure that can withstand powerful, destructive Maria-like hurricanes.

Currently, Puerto Rico lacks diversity in terms of its energy mix. Renewable energy makes up only about 2 percent of the island’s electricity generation, while 47 percent comes from petroleum, which is a heavy polluter and is costly because it is shipped in.

Alternatively, Puerto Rico has a great potential for both solar and wind generation and, therefore, should take advantage of these energies, which are seeing significant drops in their costs.

To effectively and securely distribute this clean energy, the island should install a series of microgrids, which are less reliant on long-range transmission of electricity and are cleaner, cheaper and more efficient than long-range grids.

Puerto Rico also needs to explore cutting-edge technologies for storing power. This could be an economic boost for Puerto Rico and could spur an industry that could offer new jobs and make the island less reliant on tourism.

Combined, these efforts would make energy significantly less expensive for island residents who now pay about twice as much as consumers in the continental United States. Additionally, this cleaner energy would find its way to homes and businesses through a more resilient and efficient distribution system that would ensure widespread power outages become a thing of the past.

We should not have to wait for another natural disaster to spur investment in a cleaner and more durable energy infrastructure. This applies for both for Puerto Rico and the continental U.S. San Juan and other local U.S. governments need to be working with a strong, apolitical federal partner willing to put forth and invest in forward-looking climate and energy policies. Unfortunately, that kind of federal partner is absent today as Trump administration policies — e.g. pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement and rolling back the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan — will ultimately make disasters like the one still unfolding in Puerto Rico even more frequent and devastating.  

As the president of the National League of Cities, I see what is happening in Puerto Rico as a microcosm of what we may soon face nationwide. Crumbling infrastructure, lack of national leadership and bitter partisanships have set the stage for many more destructive disasters to come.

We only need to look as far as the unprecedented forest fires in northern California, as well as storm devastations in Texas and Florida, to realize we are possibly facing more powerful and numerous climate events. And that means more destruction.

We must be proactive in our efforts to defend against such destruction. The city of Greensburg, Kansas, should be a model. In 2007, the city was destroyed by a tornado, leaving some residents wondering if their community could recover, but it did. According to USA Today, just six years later, Greensburg was “the world’s leading community in LEED-certified buildings per capita.” We need to do something similar in Puerto Rico and turn destruction into an opportunity to successfully improve the island’s infrastructure.

But for Puerto Rico to be the next Greensburg and to avoid more destruction and loss of life and property. We must put politics aside and act swiftly on all levels of government, municipal, state, and federal, to get energy policy right. And we need to start in Puerto Rico. I want to congratulate Tesla’s Elon Musk, who has stepped up to ship solar battery packs to the island that can be paired with solar panels. It’s a first step.

Councilman Matt Zone represents Ward 15 on the Cleveland City Council and serves as president of the National League of Cities (NLC).