The Oversight Hearing held by the Indian and Insular Affairs Subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources on December 31, 2024, focused on the critical energy challenges facing Puerto Rico. The meeting highlighted the urgent need for reliable and affordable electricity on the island, which has been plagued by outages and inefficiencies.

The session began with discussions on the outdated and poorly maintained energy infrastructure in Puerto Rico. Witnesses emphasized that the current technology is not only old but also unsuitable for the demands placed on it by renewable energy sources. This situation has led to a significant lack of reliable power generation, which is essential for the residents of Puerto Rico.

A key point of contention raised during the hearing was the impact of regulatory hurdles, particularly the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and historical preservation requirements. Participants unanimously agreed that these regulations have hindered efforts to provide consistent electricity to Puerto Rican citizens. The consensus was clear: without fundamental changes to these regulations, the energy crisis in Puerto Rico would persist.

Congressman Torres underscored the severity of the situation, noting that while residents in Washington, D.C., might expect to be without power for one day every decade, Puerto Ricans face outages averaging two days each month. He inquired about immediate solutions to increase power generation, to which representatives from Anera responded that installing 560 megawatts of temporary generation could significantly alleviate the problem. They indicated that such a project could be operational within 120 days, leveraging existing contracts with the Army Corps of Engineers.

The discussion also touched on the issue of vegetation management, which has been identified as a major contributor to power outages. Luma, the utility company, estimated that clearing vegetation could take up to three years, with regulatory approvals accounting for at least one year of that timeline. This delay was criticized as prioritizing red tape over the urgent energy needs of the island's residents.

The hearing concluded with a stark comparison of Puerto Rico's forced outage rate, which stands at approximately 30%, to that of Florida, where the rate is only 3%. This disparity highlights the critical need for immediate action to improve the reliability of Puerto Rico's energy supply.

Overall, the meeting underscored the pressing energy crisis in Puerto Rico, the need for regulatory reform, and the potential for rapid implementation of temporary power solutions to address the ongoing challenges faced by the island's residents.