Don't Forget About Puerto Rico

Much of Northern Puerto Rico was cast again into darkness as a major transmission line failed.  Whitefish Energy had worked on this powerline according to Huffington Post.  According to FEMA 43% of the island's population had their power restored and when this transmission line went down that dropped to 18%.  By the end of Thursday, that number had increased to 25%, but that means that three fourths of the population did not have power.

The meek Governor of Puerto Rico was on 60 Minutes this last week.  This has got to be tough for Governor Ricardo Rossello.  He has to walk a tough line between insulting his patrons from the federal government and sticking up for his people.  From this interview, it seems he has made the calculation not to criticize the federal government for the inability to establish water or electricity.  This seems to me to be a good strategy after a week or maybe two weeks, but nearly two months later is crazy.  His people are being treated as second class citizens and he does not seem to care.  Governor Rosello has to be concerned that he is going to be the Ray Nagin of this disaster if he is not careful.  The San Juan Mayor is regularly complaining about the slow response and will most likely end up on the good side of history.  If Governor Rossello does not step up his game, he is going to look like an apologist for federal ineptitude.

FEMA is helping to clear out the island.  Many papers ran story about FEMA relocating people to the mainland.  Remember, people in NYC after Sandy spent years in hotels.  There is some debate if this is new or just seems new because people have to travel so far off the island. This should help reduce the population which some estimates has more people on the mainland than currently live on the island.  How would living in a motel in New York City help?  They would have to get a job in NYC and then why would those individual return to Puerto Rico.

The US Army has said that they are beginning to draw down the number of troops in Puerto Rico which is strange since not everyone has power or electricity.  The military officials were assuring the public that their job was over--clearing roads. I guess we know now why it took so long to fix Iraq after we broke it with our fool hearty invasion.  The military does not have the capability to rebuild a community.  They can only clear roads and everything else is up to someone else.  They must have no ability to fix water systems or restore power to a city.  When I was in Puerto Rico, I saw the US military sitting around the convention center drinking coffee, talking and riding around with their emergency lights on.  I thought the military was not supposed to leave until the job is done.  The New York Times also reported that Abner Gomez, the commissioner of the Puerto Rico Emergency Management Agency had resigned.   "It was unclear whether Mr. Gómez’s resignation was an indication that the government had recognized a failure in its response to Hurricane Maria, or that he had simply lost influence at the agency. Mr. Gómez’s profile had diminished this year when the governor created a cabinet position over him."

Don't forget to send your care packages to Puerto Rico since they are now down to 75% of the island without power.  They need your help.