Here’s your chance NYC Ricans and those that love us. Today there will be a rally in front of 26 Federal Plaza, Downtown Manhattan, where the Army Corps of Engineers has an office. The rally will be a show of solidarity and unity against the way the proposed Gasoducto is being pushed on the people of Puerto Rico.

Thursday, June 9 · 12:00pm – 1:30pm
26 Federal Plaza (on Broadway between Worth and Duane Streets)

From the organizers:

On Thursday, June 9, 2011 at 12 pm in front of 26 Federal Plaza, local Puerto Rican leaders, activists and supporters of the Puerto Rican people and the environment, including the National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights-NYC Chapter, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, Union Theological Seminary, Greater NY Labor-Religion Coalition, East Harlem Preservation, and Lafayette Presbyterian Church, will rally and demand that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers deny the permit requested by the PR Electric Power Authority (PREPA) in which they propose to construct a dangerous natural gas pipeline over 92 miles long.

The gathering will take place just days before the National Puerto Rican Parade which has been dedicated to the natural environment of Puerto Rico. Ironically, it’s a natural environment that is threatened by this costly, unnecessary and destructive project.

Public opposition to the project is strong. Polls indicate that 70% of the citizens of Puerto Rico oppose the construction of the pipeline (El Nuevo Día – March 2011). On May 1, 2011, over 30,000 people marched together to protest the ‘Vía Verde’ gas pipeline. Different sectors of Puerto Rican society have manifested their opposition to this project, including Casa Pueblo in Adjuntas (which has been invited to participate in the parade), church groups, cultural organizations, academics, labor unions, community groups, and Puerto Rican citizens in the U.S. mainland

Recently all documentation pertinent to the evaluation of the natural gas pipeline project was transferred to US Army Corps of Engineers Offices in Florida. This disingenuous act represents yet another step to hide from public scrutiny and avoid an open and transparent public discussion of the projects merits and costs.

The Puerto Rico Electric and Power Authority (PREPA) proposes to construct and install a 24-inch diameter steel gas pipeline approximately 92 miles long with a construction right-of way of 150 feet wide. The pipeline will transverse Puerto Rico from the EcoEléctrica Liquid Natural Gas Terminal to the northern thermoelectric power plants that only produces 20% of the total electric energy of the island.

To avoid compliance with basic regulatory standards and ignore procedural safeguards for the construction of such a high-risk project, the governor of Puerto Rico, Luis Fortuño, declared a state of energy emergency designed to maintain secrecy, fast-track the permit process and thwart full public participation in the discussion of the project. The implications of this proposal for the future of Puerto Rico are too detrimental to accept. We need to break the dependency on fossil fuels while promoting economic development of the island with self-sustaining resources.