Puerto Rico governor pledges to improve island's crumbling power grid after repeated outages

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Puerto Rico’s politician pledged Thursday to amended the island’s crumbling electrical grid and boost the system successful her archetypal code aft being elected past twelvemonth arsenic choler intensifies implicit chronic powerfulness outages and an summation successful cost-of-living expenses.

Gov. Jenniffer González Colón, of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party, spoke for astir 2 hours arsenic she listed her accomplishments since taking bureau successful January and announced multimillion-dollar investments to amended Puerto Rico’s health, acquisition and nationalist safety.

“Without a doubt, the roadworthy has been hard and afloat of lessons that we indispensable guarantee we don’t repeat,” she said.

González Colón said the upcoming fund includes funds to prosecute 800 caller constabulary officers, $12 cardinal to prosecute caller firefighters and $24 cardinal to enlistee nonmigratory doctors arsenic health professionals proceed to determination to the U.S. mainland, leaving Puerto Rico with fewer oregon nary specialists successful definite areas.

She noted that much than 60%, oregon astir $8 billion, of the upcoming wide money fund is slated for health, acquisition and nationalist safety. The fund has not yet been approved.

María de Lourdes Santiago, vice president of Puerto Rico's Independence Party, said aft the governor's code that the numbers announced are not capable fixed that thousands of definite authorities employees, including constabulary officers, are needed.

González Colón, a protagonist of U.S. President Donald Trump, decried national bureaucracy during her address, noting her medication would support pushing to escaped immoderate $18 cardinal successful national funds acceptable speech to amended Puerto Rico’s powerfulness grid, which Hurricane Maria razed successful September 2017 arsenic a Category 4 storm.

She besides renewed her pledge to cancel the government’s declaration with Luma Energy, a backstage institution that oversees the transmission and organisation of powerfulness successful Puerto Rico.

“The termination of this declaration volition beryllium a reality,” she said arsenic supporters stood up and applauded.

González Colón said reliable powerfulness is indispensable to pull concern arsenic she promised to support attracting much manufacturing to Puerto Rico. In upcoming months, she said she would denote the enlargement of 5 industries connected the island.

The magnitude of her code and the velocity astatine which she sometimes delivered it amazed some.

Political expert and assemblage prof Jorge Schmidt Nieto said it seemed similar a ploy to distract those who person criticized her medication of inaction and the authorities of truthful acold not approving galore laws.

“She tried to bring an optimistic code due to the fact that she knows she has received a batch of criticism," Schmidt Nieto said.

Another who criticized González was Pablo José Hernández, Puerto Rico’s typical successful Congress and president of the absorption Popular Democratic Party: “If 1 connection describes the commencement of this government, that connection is disorder."

He noted that successful the past 5 months, González has presented 3 candidates for Puerto Rico’s caput of state, 2 candidates for its justness section and different 2 candidates for its labour department. None of those positions person been filled arsenic González’s enactment has failed truthful acold to o.k. her nominees.