Gallego, Colleagues Criticize DOE for Illegally Cancelling Puerto Rico Energy Projects

WASHINGTON — Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ),member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, joined 19 colleagues in sending a letter  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 requesting 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.”
Read the full letterHERE.