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U.S. House to hold hearing Tuesday on status of ‘Rebuilding and Privatization of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’

By on April 8, 2019

(Screen capture of www.naturalresources.house.gov)

See the hearing live at 10 a.m. here

SAN JUAN – The U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources will hold a hearing Tuesday on the status of the “Rebuilding and Privatization of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority” (Prepa).

Natural Resources committee Chairman Raúl Grijalva and Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, the vice chairman for Insular Affairs, will preside the 10 a.m. oversight hearing at the Longworth House Office Building.

The hearing follows a Grijalva-led congressional delegation to Puerto Rico in March to focus on hurricane recovery and the “damaging effects of economic austerity,” when island residents participated in a public listening session on March 15.

“Updating the agency’s management and infrastructure is necessary to provide reliable, low-cost power for the Puerto Rican people and to support long-term recovery efforts,” a House release reads.

The House delegation visited the Toro Negro community in Ciales, the first solar community on the island that owns and manages its renewable energy system, which includes 20 micro-grids powering 28 homes.

Among those invited to testify in Tuesday’s hearing is the executive president of Puerto Rico Community Foundation, Nelson I. Colón Tarrats, whose nonprofit provided technical and legal assistance and support with donations from the nonprofit Somos Solar as well. The community was also the first to submit a registration application to the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau. It also received support from Duke University’s Nicholas School of Environment.

See the hearing live here: http://bit.ly/2UzCQoz

The following is the hearing witness list:

Panel 1

Bruce J. Walker

Assistant Secretary, Office of Electricity

U.S. Department of Energy

José Ortíz

Executive Director

Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority

Sergio M. Marxuach

Policy Director

Center for a New Economy

Marla Pérez Lugo

Professor of Sociology, Department of Social Sciences

University of Puerto Rico

Noel Zamot (minority witness)

President

Atabey Group LLC

Panel 2

Rodrigo Masses Artze

President

Puerto Rico Manufacturers Association

Nelson Colón

President and Chief Executive Officer

Puerto Rico Community Foundation

Ramón J. Cruz

Board of Directors

Sierra Club

Tom Sanzillo

Director of Finance

The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis

Ángel Figueroa Jaramillo

President

Electrical Industry and Irrigation Workers Union

Douglas Holtz-Eakin (minority witness)

President

American Action Forum

Tomás J. Torres (minority witness)

Executive Director

Puerto Rico Institute for Competitiveness and Sustainable Economy

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