SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A $62 million project to dredge Puerto Rico’s biggest and most important seaport began Wednesday amid fierce opposition from environmentalists.
Crews with California-based Curtin Maritime will remove nearly 3 million cubic yards (76 million cubic feet) of marine floor to open the San Juan Bay to larger vessels including tankers that will serve a new liquid natural gas terminal on Puerto Rico’s north coast.
The dredged material will be deposited into the Atlantic Ocean two nautical miles (four kilometers) north of the U.S. territory in a move approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, officials said.
Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said the project overseen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is expected to give a $400 million boost to the local economy, adding that the dredging will be completed by October.
He dismissed concerns by environmentalists who have said the project would endanger wildlife and humans. “This already was authorized at all federal levels, including any environmental impact it might have,” he said.
In August 2022, the Arizona-based nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. government, saying the project threatens to destroy corals and seagrass beds and suck up turtles and other marine life.
The lawsuit is pending at a U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., with a hearing last held in January.
“We are hoping for a decision soon,” Catherine Kilduff, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a phone interview.
“The dredging itself causes sediment that can kill corals,” she said. “Those corals have been impacted by diseases and warming waters, and so we’re worried that this dredging project…could be a death knell.”
Kilduff said the center also is concerned about manatees that swim in the San Juan Bay, where they depend on seagrass for food and are struck by ships.
She said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last dredged the bay in the early 2000s, promising they would plant an acre of seagrass.
“They still haven’t done that,” she said.
Kilduff noted that the federal government held a public comment period on the dredging project when Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico as a Category 4 storm in 2017, leaving the island without power or passable roads.
A USACE spokesperson did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
As the governor shared details about the project on Wednesday, a dredging vessel began operations in the background.
Officials said it would dig up to 46 feet (14 meters), with some areas in the San Juan Bay currently at depths ranging from 36 feet (11 meters) to 42 feet (13 meters).
“San Juan harbor is an economic engine and vital lifeline for Puerto Rico,” U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Col. Charles Decker said in the announcement. “It’s a phenomenal investment in the future of Puerto Rico.”
The Corps is investing almost $45 million in the project, with the government of Puerto Rico providing the rest.
FILE - A bird flies over the San Juan Bay Estuary in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Oct. 26, 2013. A $62 million project to dredge Puerto Rico's biggest and most important seaport began Wednesday, April 3, 2024 amid fierce opposition from environmentalists. Crews will remove nearly 3 million cubic yards of marine floor to open the San Juan Bay to larger vessels including tankers that will serve a new liquid natural gas terminal on Puerto Rico's north coast. (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo, File)
HONOLULU (AP) — A judge on Friday forced the Hawaii attorney general's office to turn over to lawyers involved in the hundreds of lawsuits over last summer's Maui wildfires all documents, interviews and data collected by the outside team hired to investigate the disaster.
Attorneys representing plaintiffs suing over the August fires filed a motion last month asking a judge to compel the state provide them with the material gathered by the Fire Safety Research Institute, which was hired by the state to investigate.
The state refused, saying disclosing the records would “jeopardize and hinder” the investigation. In court documents opposing the motion, the state called the request “premature, baseless and frivolous,” and asked a judge to order that attorneys fees be paid to the state for defending against the motion.
Soon after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century ripped through the historic town of Lahaina and killed 101 people, Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez announced hiring outside investigators. Last month Lopez and representatives from the Fire Safety Research Institute released a report on the first phase of the investigation, which said the head of the emergency management agency dragged his heels about returning to the island amid the unfolding crisis, while a broad communications breakdown left authorities in the dark and residents without emergency alerts.
During a Friday hearing on the island of Maui, state Deputy Attorney General David Matsumiya told Judge Peter Cahill the state is concerned that releasing information could prompt the six people who haven't been interviewed yet to change their stories.
Cahill balked.
“Do you really believe that's going to be happening?” he asked, clearly upset. “And so what if they change their stories? Aren't they entitled to?”
Cahill seemed to indicate concerns with the investigation, including whether people interviewed were advised that they weren't obligated to answer questions.
“By the way, the taxpayers are paying for this,” the judge continued.
Lopez said last month the investigation contract was initially not to exceed $1.5 million, but because they are behind schedule, the contract was extended. According to an updated contract, the cost increased by $2.5 million, not to exceed a total of $4 million.
The judge's order is of “grave concern,” the attorney general's office said in a statement after the hearing.
“The independent, objective fact-finding process and analysis is critical to determining what county and state agencies must do to ensure that a tragedy like this never happens again,” the statement said. “Premature release of these materials may allow external factors to influence the analysis.”
The attorney general is reviewing options and will soon decide on an appropriate course of action.
Cahill told Matsumiya he understands the state's concerns, but not giving the information to the attorneys would delay litigation. The investigation is important, and it was a wise investment to hire an outside agency given the state lacks a fire marshal, he said, “but it's also important that people have their day in court.”
Cahill noted there are some 400 lawsuits involving thousands of plaintiffs.
“It's frustrating the process of litigation,” Cahill said, “which is also a truth-seeking mechanism.”
David Minkin, an attorney representing Maui County, suggested to the judge that the investigative process was tainted.
Investigators “showed up in Lahaina, said we're here from the AG's office and started talking to people,” without informing them of their rights, he said.
Matsumiya said the state is trying to “protect the integrity of the investigation, which is designed to create a better future for Lahaina, and all of those people in Lahaina."
But Cahill responded that “the past in this case, given what's occurred on this island, needs to be take care of as well,” and that litigation will determine whether there were any legal breaches of duty.
During a separate hearing later Friday to discuss coordination of the lawsuits, Cahill said a handful of lawsuits are scheduled to go to trial in November.
FILE - Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez and members of the Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI) hold a press conference on the Maui Wildfire Phase One Report findings on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in Honolulu. A judge on Friday, May 3, 2024, forced the Hawaii attorney general's turn over to lawyers involved in the hundreds of lawsuits over last summer's Maui wildfires all documents, interviews and data collected by the outside team hired to investigate the deadly disaster. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia, File)
FILE - The aftermath of a wildfire is visible in Lahaina, Hawaii, Aug. 17, 2023. A judge on Friday, May 3, 2024, forced the Hawaii attorney general's turn over to lawyers involved in the hundreds of lawsuits over last summer's Maui wildfires all documents, interviews and data collected by the outside team hired to investigate the deadly disaster. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
