Challenging USDA’s Backing of Waste Incinerator Project in Puerto Rico

Community members and municipalities across Puerto Rico are against the proposed incinerator, a facility which would lock in the most expensive and polluting means to control waste and the most expensive and polluting means to generate electricity—all while exposing communities already suffering from unsafe lead levels and other toxic emissions to even more pollution.

Clients

Comité Basura Cero AreciboSierra Club de Puerto Rico

Attorneys

Jonathan Smith

Regional Office / Program

Case Overview

A polluting waste incinerator project will not only put communities in danger, but will also put iconic endangered species in harm’s way, including the Puerto Rican Crested Toad, Puerto Rican Boa, manatees, and the Puerto Rican Parrot. 

The United States Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service has been considering the proposal to fund a waste incinerator in Arecibo, Puerto Rico for Energy Answers since 2010. Groups are concerned the move would pave the way for generating dirty energy for decades, sending high volumes of waste to incineration and high volumes of air pollutants into an area that already exceeds safe concentrations for lead in ambient air. 

Community members and municipalities across Puerto Rico are against the proposed incinerator, a facility which would lock in the most expensive and polluting means to control waste and the most expensive and polluting means to generate electricity—all while exposing communities already suffering from unsafe lead levels and other toxic emissions to even more pollution.

A view of the verdant landscape of Puerto Rico through an opening in the rocky mountainside.
Outside of Arecibo, Puerto Rico, the construction of a 2,100-ton-per-day municipal solid waste incinerator may begin despite a poor environmental impact evaluation. (Sharkhats / CC BY-NC 2.0)

Case Updates

The post-Hurricane Maria landscape in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, where Energy Answers, Inc., wants to build a trash incinerator.
December 15, 2017 Article

How a Polluter Is Capitalizing on Disaster in Puerto Rico

As Puerto Rico and its residents reel in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, Energy Answers, the company that has been trying unsuccessfully for a decade to construct a solid waste incinerator in Arecibo, has been hard at work capitalizing on the chaos of recovery to push its unpopular project through.

March 6, 2017 document

Comments on Arecibo Waste-to-Energy and Resource Recovery Project FEIS

Comments on “Arecibo Waste-to-Energy and Resource Recovery Project Final Environmental Impact Statement”

Destiny Watford, above, organized a movement opposing the nation’s largest trash-burning incinerator slated for her neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland.
September 20, 2016 Article

Justice for Maryland—but What About Puerto Rico?

In Maryland and Puerto Rico, activists have taken to the streets in an effort to keep polluting trash incinerators at bay.