U.S. SENATE News:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and U.S. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Vice Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations and Ranking Member of the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee, and Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner Pablo Hernández (D-Puerto Rico), sent a letter alongside 17 lawmakers to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) slamming the agency for illegally cancelling energy projects designated under the Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund and requested that the cancelled awards be reinstated.
“We write to express strong opposition to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) decision to cancel the remaining projects under the Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund (PR-ERF),” the lawmakers began.
After making clear that the “cancellation of the obligated contracts was illegal,” lawmakers stated, “Congress recognized that centralized grid investments alone failed to reach vulnerable households—and that distributed energy resources were necessary to protect the lives, health, and economic security of all Puerto Ricans when outages occur. This was enshrined in statute, which explicitly says funding shall be made available ‘including grants for low- and moderate-income households and households that include individuals with disabilities for the purchase and installation of renewable energy, energy storage, and other grid technologies.’”
In conclusion, the lawmakers asked the Department of Energy to “immediately reverse course and reinstate the cancelled PR-ERF awards so that projects proceed as Congress intended.”
In addition to Heinrich, Murray, and Hernández, the letter was signed by U.S. Sen. s Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii.), and U.S. Representatives Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.).
Read the full letter here.