US officials unveil $280K deal to help Puerto Rico face water and power crises

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani met with nonprofits in Puerto Rico on Friday as officials announced a $280,000 partnership to help the U.S. territory confront emergencies.

The partnership between Hispanic Federation and the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York comes as Puerto Rico struggles with chronic power outages and intermittent water shortages while it tries to rebuild from Hurricane Maria and other disasters.

The nonprofit Hispanic Federation said the money would equip 10 community-run resiliency hubs across the island with increased water storage capacity; some also would receive rain-collection systems, kitchen infrastructure and solar power with battery storage.

"Puerto Rico’s families have lived through more disasters than anyone should have to,” said Frankie Miranda, president and CEO of Hispanic Federation.

The Federal Home Loan Bank of New York is contributing $210,000 to the effort while Hispanic Federation raised an additional $70,000, officials said.

“Conversations about climate change and environmental justice are essential to the wellbeing and future of our communities,” said New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.

She and Mamdani are among a group of New York government officials in Puerto Rico for a four-day, annual conference.

The announcement comes months after the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump canceled solar projects in Puerto Rico that were supposed to help thousands of low-income families. One project, worth $400 million, would have seen the installation of solar and battery storage systems in low-income homes and those with medical needs.

The U.S. Department of Energy has said the money initially slated for solar projects would instead be used to help maintain Puerto Rico’s crumbling power grid, which was razed by Hurricane Maria in September 2017. The grid, however, was already weakened given a lack of maintenance and investment.

The decisions prompted outrage on the island as federal support for solar projects fades .

Last week, six Puerto Rico residents sued the U.S. Energy Department and its secretary, Chris Wright, following the scrapping of a $1 billion federally funded program to provide solar power and battery storage to those who most needed it.

“The cost of such systems remains out of reach for the majority of Puerto Ricans,” the lawsuit stated.

Among those suing is 63-year-old Arecibo resident Ileana Ríos, who is diabetic and needs to refrigerate her insulin. Meanwhile, her son has asthma and needs to use a nebulizer, which requires electricity.

The lawsuit noted that Ríos “regularly loses power when the weather is stable and always loses power during storms, sometimes for several weeks at a time.”

The other residents who sued also have serious health conditions and need equipment or medications that rely on electricity.

The lawsuit requests that a judge order the U.S. Energy Department to reinstate the grant program, among other things.

The U.S. Department of Energy did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

The funding loss has been a blow to nonprofits and others who faced months of uncertainty and confusion as they awaited the Trump administration’s decision on whether and how it would continue the program.

“We had a lot of uncertainty. ... At some points it just felt like we were talking to no one," said Sybelle Rodriguez del Valle, director of operations at the energy resilience nonprofit Barrio Eléctrico, which was part of the U.S. Energy Department program.

Barrio Eléctrico provides electric service to more than 500 families across 12 municipalities in Puerto Rico and was poised to provide resilient energy for 1,200 families with funds from the federal program. It had only completed about one-third of its projects before the program ended, losing an estimated $16 million to $20 million in funding.

Associated Press reporter Gabriela Aoun Angueira contributed to this report.