WASHINGTON, DC - The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, chaired by Rep. Gregg Harper (R-MS), today held a hearing to receive an update on grid restoration efforts in storm ravaged Puerto Rico.
“This committee will continue working to ensure that everyone in Puerto Rico has access to clean drinking water, health care, reliable telecommunications, and electricity," said #SubOversight Chairman Harper. “The tragic circumstances in Puerto Rico provide us with an opportunity to build an electrical grid that is more reliable and able to withstand future storms."
Charles Alexander, Jr., Director, Contingency Operations and Homeland Security Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, spoke of the corps’ efforts to restore power thus far, stating, “Our priority is to safely restore power to the people of Puerto Rico as quickly as possible. As of April 4, 95.8% (1.41 million of 1.47 million) of customers that are able to receive power are energized. The Corps currently has 1,126 personnel on the ground, including more than 900 contractors, working to restore power to the people of Puerto Rico."
In his written testimony, Jeffrey Byard, Associate Administrator, Office of Response and Recovery, Federal Emergency Management Agency, echoed Mr. Alexander’s testimony, commenting, “Puerto Rico has 2,400 miles of transmission lines across the island and 30,000 miles of distribution lines with 300 sub-stations. As of April 9, PREPA reports more than 96 percent or approximately 1.41 of the 1.47 million pre-storm customers who are able to receive electric power have their service restored."
Bruce Walker, Assistant Secretary, Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, Department of Energy, discussed DOE’s ongoing efforts in Puerto Rico, stating, “In Puerto Rico, DOE continues to maintain close coordination with FEMA and three subject matter experts from the Power Marketing Administration remain deployed to provide technical support to USACE with restoration planning, cost estimates, validation, and quality assurance. DOE has also deployed a responder under the National Disaster Recovery Framework to support FEMA recovery activities and continues to coordinate with industry about ongoing mutual assistance to support restoration efforts."
Carlos Torres, Power Restoration Coordinator, Edison Electric Institute, spoke to the importance of the ‘mutual assistance network’ in disaster recovery, commenting, “To date, nearly 60 investor-owned electric companies and public power utilities have committed personnel, equipment, and materials to the effort. Overall, approximately 3,000 industry lineworkers and support personnel have been involved in the restoration effort on the island. The spirit of ‘mutual assistance’ is a hallmark of our industry. … The mutual assistance network - a voluntary partnership of electric companies from across the country and Canada - helps to speed restoration whenever and wherever assistance is needed, when it is safe to do so."
Eugene Shlatz, Director, Navigant Consulting, discussed recommendations from a working group to strengthen and modernize Puerto Rico’s grid, stating, “The Working Group recommends several short-term recovery objectives and longer-term design and rebuild objectives to be considered when building back the T&D [transmission and distribution] infrastructure, physical and structural improvements to lines, poles, towers, substations, and supporting facilities will be needed to make them less vulnerable to the damaging effects of hurricane winds and flooding."
Prior to today’s hearing, the committee held three other hurricane-related hearings:
* #SubOversight held a hearing on Oct. 24, 2017, examining the public health response and preparedness efforts related to the hurricanes.
* #SubEnergy held a hearing on Nov. 2, 2017, examining the federal and state response and recovery efforts.
* #SubEnvironment held a hearing on Nov. 14, 2017, examining the federal, state, and local response to the environmental damage.
A bipartisan delegation of committee members toured Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in early December of last year.
The Majority Memorandum, witness testimony, and an archived webcast are available online HERE.
