The proposed route of the 92-mile long pipeline (see image below) begins in Guayanilla, on the south side of the island, and crosses the interior north to Arecibo, where it then heads east and ends in San Juan.
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| Proposed route of the pipeline. |
The problem lies completely in the construction of the pipeline. Puerto Rico’s interior is mountainous and the proposed route will see the pipeline cut through several other protected, delicate and important ecosystems — rivers, wetlands and through more than 60 miles in the karst region specifically. It is also supposed to run through areas where sinkholes are known problems.
This video is from the media outlet El Vocero and features aerial views of the pipeline’s proposed route.
The opposition Via Verde faces is not the transition away from dependency on petroleum but rather the change in dependency from one fossil fuel to another and the way the government is proposing to do that.
“I think this is the worst idea that someone can propose to deal with the energy situation in Puerto Rico,” said Arturo Massol Deya, president of the Board of Directors and spokesperson for the Scientific and Technical Commission at Casa Pueblo (the main opposition).
Many feel that there are other alternatives to building the massive pipeline that the government has not given enough attention to. These include having ports and power plants in both the north and southern regions (thus negating the need for the pipeline at all), using existing plants to their full capacity, cut back on energy consumption and investing more money in renewable resources.
“I don’t know what world they (the government) live in because I expect natural gas to be priced very high soon,” said Neftali Garcia Martinez, an expert on environmental and social issues in Puerto Rico. “There is a tremendous capacity here to ignore what is going on in the world and even what is going on in the U.S.”
