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Gasoducto del Sur

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Gasoducto del Sur
Location
CountryPuerto Rico
General directionwest-east
FromPeñuelas
Passes throughPonce,
Juana Diaz,
Santa Isabel
ToSalinas
General information
TypeNatural gas
OwnerGovernment of Puerto Rico
OperatorAutoridad de Energia Electrica (AEE)
ContractorsSkanska
Construction startedNot started.
Technical information
Length42 mi (68 km)
Diameter20 in (508 mm)

The Gasoducto del Sur (English: Southern Gas Pipeline) was a pipeline to supply natural gas to Puerto Rico for conversion to electricity proposed by the administration of Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá. The pipeline would have run from Peñuelas, in Puerto Rico's south central coast to electricity-generating plants in Salinas, running in an easterly fashion along Puerto Rico's southern coast. The project aimed to supply a portion of Puerto Rico's electrical energy needs while lowering the cost of electricity in the island.

The Gasoducto del Sur project faced stiff opposition from the public, environmentalists—including Casa Pueblo—and others.

History

In 1993, the chairman of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (AEE), Miguel Cordero, proposed a natural gas pipeline as part of the Government of Puerto Rico's plan to diversify Puerto Rico's energy sources. However, the proposal did not proceed during the administration of the Partido Nuevo Progresista (PNP) governor Pedro Rosselló (1993–2000).[1] In 2001, the Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico (PPD) won the gubernatorial elections, put Sila Calderon in La Fortaleza from 2001 to 2004, and appointed Héctor Rosario as executive director of the AEE. The pipeline plan proposed by Cordero was shelved. In 2005, a natural gas pipeline project named Gasoducto del Sur (English: Southern Gas Pipeline) started construction under the PPD administration of Aníbal Acevedo Vilá.[1] The Gasoducto del Sur pipeline would have transported natural gas from the EcoEléctrica facilities in Peñuelas to the power plant at Aguirre in Salinas.[2][3] Acevedo Vilá managed to complete about 25% of the Gasoducto del Sur project before being defeated by the opposing party, the PNP, in the 2008 elections. When the PNP took back La Fortaleza in 2009 via Luis Fortuño as governor, Miguel Cordero was reappointed executive director of the AEE, and the Gasoducto del Sur project, though a quarter of its way completed, was abruptly cancelled.[4] The cancellation left the Government of Puerto Rico with a US$59 million debt to the contractor, Skanska, and opened the way for the PNP's alternative project, Gasoducto del Norte.[1][5] However, after strong environmental and popular opposition to the Gasoducto del Norte project, on 11 October 2012, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (AEE) withdrew the entire Gasoducto del Norte Gsoducto del Norte permit application from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers evaluation process, thereby stalling approval of the proposed pipeline indefinitely.[6]

In November 2013, the project was under reconsideration by the administration of Governor Alejandro García Padilla.[7]

Route

The proposed pipeline would distribute natural gas from the Costa Sur Sugar Plantation (Peñuelas/Guayanilla area) north to the Salinas plant. The proposed route would cut through Puerto Rico's southern region. It would cross 6 municipalities.

Technical features

The pipeline was to be operated by AEE. The gas to be transported by the pipeline will be supplied by EcoElectrica.

The pipeline will have a diameter of 20 inches (510 mm).[8] It would have a length of 42 miles (68 km).[7] Autoridad de Energia Electrica plans to convert several oil-fired plants to natural gas, starting with Costa Sur's units 5 and 6, which should be up and running December 2011. Subsequently, AEE plants at Salinas will convert to natural gas. Dr. Arturo Massol González,[9] professor at the University of Puerto Rico,[10] winner of the 2003 Goldman Environmental Prize,[11][12] and director of Casa Pueblo,[13] a community-based environmental watchdog organization in Puerto Rico, opposed the project on environmental, safety and technical grounds arguing that the project would run through highly populated southern coast areas and that it will not be capable of supplying the natural gas needed for processing in Salinas.

Controversies

The project has been highly controversial due to environmental, safety, and technical concerns.

Environmental impact

Some argue that the pipeline, should it be built, will negatively impact sensitive areas, hydrographic basins, and lands fit for agriculture. It will also represent further dependence on another form of fossil fuel that, while less polluting than the current oil-based system of electricity generation, will still contribute to global warming.[14]

Proper infrastructure

According to officials at EcoEléctrica, gas output at their facilities will not provide enough natural gas to power generators beyond Costa Sur, the first gas-to-electric conversion unit in the path of the pipeline and located in the municipality of Peñuelas.

Opponents argue that "building a pipeline when there is no gas, makes no sense" and are demanding that the government abandon the project altogether: the admission by a high-ranking officer of EcoEléctrica to La Perla del Sur is a decisive and unequivocal confirmation that what we have been stating for months.[15]

Safety concerns

The Puerto Rico director of the Caribbean Tsunami Alert Program, Crista Von Hillebrant, confirmed to a local news weekly that EcoElectrica – the only point of entry for the natural gas to be injected into the Gasoducto – was located in a tsunami risk zone.[16]

Ethical issues

Alternatives

Excelerate Energy signed a contract to supply liquid-to-gas natural gas conversion barges to the Autoridad de Energia Electrica's southern unit at Aguirre, proving that it is feasible to deliver gas directly to Salinas.[17] The government had claimed that off-shore barges were not a viable alternative. In an article titled Barcazas pueden sustituir Gasoducto del Norte (Barges can substitute Gasoducto del Norte) it was reported that barges are a viable alternative to gas pipelines.[18]

On 30 May 2012, the Puerto Rico Senate held hearings on the project and found that "the temporary transition to propane gas and the future delivery of natural gas via offshore vessels and submarine gas pipelines are viable alternatives, both from the technical as well as the financial perspectives", to pipelines.[19]

References

  1. ^ a b c Los hombres del gasoducto. Gerardo E. Alvarado León. El Nuevo Dia, San Juan, Puerto Rico. 7 April 2011. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. ^ A todo Vapor el Cambio a Gas Natural. Yanira Hernández Cabiya. El Nuevo Dia. San Juan, Puerto Rico. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  3. ^ No ayuda el gasoducto a una política energética saludable para Puerto Rico. Perla Franco. Claridad. San Juan, Puerto Rico. 16 July 2008. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  4. ^ Lo llaman "Vía Verde": De Peñuelas a Cataño el nuevo gasoducto. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. Retrieved 26 November 2013. (Includes the 27-page presentation by Gov. Luis Fortuño titled "Via Verde: Una nueva era energetica" and 7 images of visuals that include two charts by Daniel Pagan Rosa, principal project consultant, from a presentation made to the Penuelas Municipal Assembly.)
  5. ^ AAA paga $14,200 mensuales por almacenar tubos no usados de Gasoducto del Sur. Perla Franco. Claridad. San Juan, Puerto Rico. 18 October 2011. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  6. ^ Items of Interest: Via Verde Natural Gas Pipeline U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Jacksonville, FL. Website. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  7. ^ a b Absurdo revivir el Gasoducto del Sur. Reinaldo Millán. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  8. ^ INFORME ECOLÓGICO DE FLORA Y FAUNA, PROYECTO GASODUCTO DEL SUR: PEÑUELAS, PONCE, JUANA DÍAZ, SANTA ISABEL, SALINAS. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  9. ^ Crece en tamaño y factura el Gasoducto. Omar Alfonso. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 19 October 2011. Page 6. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  10. ^ Puerto Rican Governor Faces Opposition To Pipeline. Greg Allen and Marisa Peñaloza. National Public Radio (NPR) News. 25 August 2011. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  11. ^ Massol: 'El país necesita este sacrificio'. Omar Alfonso. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 7 September 2011. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  12. ^ Ilegales los emplazamientos de Vía Verde. Omar Alfonso. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 2 November 2011. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  13. ^ Conmueven amigos a Alexis Massol. Sandra Torres Guzmán. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. Volume 30. Issue 1482. Page 28. 25 April 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  14. ^ Bosques en la ruta del gasoducto. Gerardo E. Alvarado León. El Nuevo Dia. San Juan, Puerto Rico. Published 18 August 2010. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  15. ^ Ratifican las denuncias de Casa Pueblo. Omar Alfonso y Jason Rodríguez. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  16. ^ Daniel Pagán Rosa: Defiende a capa y espada el proyecto. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 23 March 2011. Page 6. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  17. ^ AEE: contrata barcazas para suplir gas. Omar Alfonso. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 28 December 2011. Year 30, Issue 1465. Page 10. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  18. ^ Barcazas pueden sustituir a Vía Verde. Omar Alfonso. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 7 February 2012. Year 30, Issue 1471. Page 6. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  19. ^ Sentenciado a muerte el Gasoducto. Omar Alfonso. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 6 June 2012. Year 30, Number 1488. Page 4. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
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