Puerto Rico, one of the planet’s most climate-vulnerable regions, will miss out on federal funds allocated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for climate adaptation, as the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DRNA, in Spanish) failed to apply for them, according to an investigation by the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPI).
Despite having a smaller population and land area, the neighboring U.S. Virgin Islands received $69 million in 2024 to address this urgent issue, thanks to their Department of Planning and Natural Resources request. However, during the previous administration, the DRNA did not request the funds, said two scientists from the Government of Puerto Rico’s Climate Change Experts and Advisors Committee (CEACC): Pablo Mendéz Lázaro and Rafael Méndez Tejeda. Former DRNA Secretary Anaís Rodríguez and former interim Secretary Roberto Méndez, who were in office in 2024, did not respond to CPI’s messages to confirm the information and explain why the request was not made.
NOAA did not respond to CPI inquiries about whether Puerto Rico applied for funds under the NOAA Climate Resilience Regional Challenge. The federal entity’s website does not list Puerto Rico among the beneficiaries.
The designated DRNA Secretary, Waldemar Quiles, did not answer questions about what actions, if any, the agency took to secure these funds. In written statements, he said he is “evaluating multiple projects, initiatives, and programs that were part of the work in the past four-year term, including their status and the necessary actions to expedite them.” He added that he would comment on the matter once he had completed his analysis of all the information.
The federal government awarded $575 million in NOAA funds to 19 projects in states and territories to address the climate crisis. According to Mendéz Lázaro, the island could have used part of this money to implement some initiatives contained in the draft of Puerto Rico’s Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation, and Resilience Plan, which was submitted to the Legislature last year.
However, this loss of funds is just one link in the chain of governmental inaction on the urgent issue of protecting the island and Puerto Ricans from the impact of the climate crisis, despite continuous warnings from local experts about its consequences. In the past 18 months alone, the previous Senate, under the leadership of former President José Luis Dalmau, decided not to consider the Plan submitted by the Expert Committee, which was created by law with the mandate to draft the document. Dalmau said at the time that he would not have time to read the more than 700-page document and would leave the responsibility to the next Legislature.
Three members of the CEACC resigned, including Méndez Lázaro, who left in October last year. The members who will fill these three vacancies in the scientific area of the CEACC have not yet been appointed, and it is uncertain precisely when the Legislature will begin to evaluate the Plan. Roy Torbet resigned first in 2023, followed by Méndez Lázaro and oceanographer Maritza Barreto.
Senator Marissa Jiménez, the new chair of the Joint Commission on Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation, and Resilience, said they are still hiring advisors to work on the issue. The other senators who will be part of the Commission have not yet been appointed. She said they will review what remains pending and what new issues they will address this week. She assured that addressing the Plan would be her priority.
“First, we want to know, in detail, the agreements reached during the past four-year term and at what stage of the process they are, to evaluate them with the urgency required,” said the designated DRNA Secretary in written statements to CPI.
“Our goal is to work with everyone to mitigate the effects of climate change on our archipelago. For that, we need a clear picture of where we are to develop a series of initiatives that implement the current public policy, which is contained in Act 33-2019,” added Quiles, referring to the Puerto Rico Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation, and Resilience Law.
The designated DRNA Secretary did not explain what he meant by saying that a “clear picture” is required, as the CEACC Plan specifies the current state and recommends actions to be taken. Additionally, the DRNA commissioned the firms Estudios Técnicos and Tetra Tech to conduct evaluations required by the Expert Committee.
Photo by José “Pipo” Reyes | Centro de Periodismo Investigativo
Senator Jiménez highlighted that “in the past four-year term, there were not many meetings with this Committee or with the Commission, so we are working to see how we can be more effective and comply with Act 33 of 2019.”
“When the Climate Change Plan was delivered, we attached some estimated costs to some strategies and actions, and the curious thing is that José Luis Dalmau and many of those who opposed the Plan complained that it was expensive, [saying] there was no money,” said Méndez Lázaro.
According to Méndez Lázaro, the federal government opened this NOAA funding call, and the DRNA should have applied for it and implemented the plan without taking money from the government of Puerto Rico.
“You have no right to complain and say the Plan is too expensive because you did not make any effort with the Plan,” added the associate professor of the Department of Environmental Health at the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus.
Méndez Tejeda, who is still a member of the CEACC, agreed with Méndez Lázaro that if Puerto Rico had received these NOAA funds, they could have been used to implement some of the actions suggested by the Plan, especially in climate education and preparation for the upcoming heatwave season. He also said that part of the grant could have been awarded to the University of Puerto Rico to work on the measures.
He assured that the Committee was unaware of the availability of these funds and that they found out when federal officials informed them that the opportunity to apply for them was missed.
The chairwoman of the Senate commission said she was unaware of the loss of federal funds by the DRNA but would be investigating it.
Barreto, a former member of the CEACC, pointed out that agencies must participate in every initiative to secure funds, especially federal ones, to address the climate crisis. She said that, for example, although the University of Puerto Rico supports her research as an oceanographer, her team is conducting coastal erosion studies because they compete and secure their funds.
“Every opportunity that arises to seek funds to move initiatives that promote the well-being and preparedness of communities in the face of extreme events and manifestations of climate change is important, and not only in the case of natural resources, but everything that is service, economic development… I believe the biggest problem in Puerto Rico is that climate change is seen as a purely environmental issue, and that is false,” said Barreto.
Despite Trump, a legislator says the Governor is “aligned” on climate change
Senator Jiménez expressed confidence that Governor Jenniffer González and the New Progressive Party Legislature will prioritize measures to tackle the climate crisis.
“I have eight coastal municipalities in the district. Loíza is being heavily affected by coastal erosion, and as its senator, I have to work on this with priority,” said Jiménez, indicating that there are several ways to correct the situation, “but the biggest problem is the money” or the lack of funds to implement the solutions.
“We know we have many federal funds to work with, but we will have to identify and even talk to the Fiscal Control Board to then identify our own funds, because it is a situation that harms life and property, so, it must be addressed urgently, and that is our public policy, and I know that from Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz, and we will address it. Most of our people affected by coastal erosion are not the wealthiest people, they are our most vulnerable people, our economically disadvantaged people, our disadvantaged communities, like Parcelas Suárez [in Loíza], among others,” said the Senator.
She said her Commission will work on several government plan administration projects presented by Governor González before the elections, which include the issue of climate change. She added that the Governor has directly communicated with her to address the situation in Parcelas Suárez.
Regarding climate change, González’s government platform only mentions that “they will support the initiatives of the Agricultural Experimental Station for the development of a new line of climate-resistant dairy cows.”
But Jiménez assured that “the Governor is aware and knows, since she was (Resident) Commissioner (in Congress), of the climate change situation, the concern and the problem we have with coastal erosion around Puerto Rico.”
Carl Soderberg, a member of the CEACC, said the bill presented on January 2 in the Senate to allocate funds to the Committee gives him hope that the Legislature will address the Plan. Senate Bill 78, presented by Senate President Rivera Schatz, amended the Puerto Rico Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation, and Resilience Law to allocate funds to the Climate Change Experts and Advisors Committee.
Soderberg highlighted that the Committee commissioned an economic study to the firms Estudios Técnicos and Tetra Tech to quantify the effects on Puerto Rico’s economy if no action is taken on the climate crisis. According to the study, the loss due to inaction would amount to nearly $1.5 trillion in productive infrastructure.
The study also estimates that Puerto Rico could experience economic losses of up to $379.2 billion by 2050 if global temperatures rise 2°C above pre-industrial levels. According to the United Nations, “2024 was the hottest year on record, with a global average surface temperature 1.55ºC above pre-industrial levels.”
“In other words, here we have another document that supports, from a strictly economic point of view, that investment is needed to face climate change. Hopefully, that will help the Legislature address the Plan,” Soderberg pointed out.
According to Soderberg, this Plan is not an environmental document. “It is a document whose purpose is to protect Puerto Ricans’ health, life, and property from the manifestations of climate change. It has some environmental elements, of course. But if you look at the more than 700 pages, less than 10% refers to the environment. The rest has to do with education, health, reforestation, agriculture, tourism, infrastructure,” he explained.
“Puerto Rico has already seen what it’s like to live, if you can call it living, when critical infrastructure is unavailable, [like] after (Hurricane) María,” said Soderberg. “I believe Puerto Ricans know the effects, know that climate change has already arrived in Puerto Rico, and these heat waves, that began to manifest in 2023, and that 2024 were more intense, and that will repeat now in 2025, will demand their political representatives take action because they are already feeling it,” he added.
On the other hand, Méndez Tejeda assured that the Legislature withheld information from the CEACC, as it did not disclose that the Legislative Assembly’s Budget Office (OPAL, in Spanish) had conducted an analysis recommending the discussion of the Plan. It was not until the DRNA transition hearing that the existence of this document came to light. The OPAL analysis concluded that climate action would benefit Puerto Rico and cited a study where it is established that public investments made by several federal agencies, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have generated a savings of $6 for every $1 spent on disaster losses.
Senator Jiménez said she was unaware of the OPAL analysis and assured she would be requesting it for evaluation.
The impact of U.S. public policy on climate change
Soderberg mentioned that one of the executive orders recently signed by U.S. President Donald Trump prohibits promoting offshore wind energy production, which will delay the transformation of U.S. and Puerto Rico’s energy to renewable energy. He indicated that Trump also signed a second order opening the sea for gas and oil exploitation, while a third order states that there is an energy crisis in the United States and, therefore, permits for that exploitation will be expedited. Additionally, Chris Wright, a staunch proponent of fossil fuel energy, has been confirmed as Secretary of Energy.
“What does that mean? What did I just tell you? The United States is going to emit more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere,” he said. Greenhouse gases are one of the main factors worsening the climate crisis.
“Furthermore, Trump initiated the process to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement. That takes a year, and when the year ends, the United States has a blank check to continue emitting greenhouse gases. Right now, it is the second country that emits the most greenhouse gases, and therefore, it is not obligated to reduce them by half by 2030, nor is it obligated to reach net-zero emissions by 2050,” Soderberg said.
He indicated that the consequence for Puerto Rico is that the impacts of climate change will intensify and accelerate.
“So, now more than ever, Puerto Rico has to approve the Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation, and Resilience Plan to be able to live as a society in the face of these effects that will be more intense and faster. In other words, the sea level will rise faster, hurricanes will be more intense, droughts will be more prolonged,” he said.
As an example, he presented the case of the community of Valencia, Spain, where a historic flood was recorded on October 29, which caused the death of more than 200 people and caused multimillion-dollar property damage. Soderberg recalled that in October 2023, Puerto Rico had an incident in the Metro area, “where cars floated and about four houses were damaged in [the urbanization] Jardines Metropolitanos [in San Juan]” due to heavy rains. Former Governor Pedro Pierluisi declared a state of emergency for San Juan, Loíza, and Guaynabo.
“So, we are going to have more of that and more intense,” he warned.
In this situation, he said that Puerto Rico’s leaders must convince the federal government that it must grant federal funds to face the climate crisis.
“Due to this new public policy that openly favors fossil fuels, Puerto Rico will disproportionately suffer a greater impact, therefore requiring federal funds to protect the health, life, and property of Puerto Ricans,” he warned.
