Puerto Rico is staring down a dirtier, and potentially darker, future — with little say over what happens.
In 2019, two years after Hurricane Maria sent the island into the second-longest blackout in world history, the Puerto Rican government set out to make its energy system cheaper, more resilient, and less dependent on imported fossil fuels, passing a law that set a target of 100% renewable energy by 2050. Under the Biden administration, a gas company took charge of Puerto Rico’s power plants and started importing liquefied natural gas (LNG), while the federal government funded major new solar farms and programs to install panels and batteries on rooftops across the island.
Now, with Donald Trump back in the White House and his close ally Jenniffer González-Colón serving as Puerto Rico’s governor, America’s largest unincorporated territory is on track for a fossil-fuel resurgence.
Source: techreview