The pipeline would have run from Peñuelas, on Puerto Rico's southern coast,[3] to electricity-generating plants in Arecibo, Cataño and San Juan, crossing the island's Cordillera Central.
After much opposition, on 11 October 2012, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (AEE) withdrew the entire Vía Verde permit application from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers evaluation process, thereby stalling approval of the proposed pipeline indefinitely.
[21] In 2001, the Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico (PPD) won the gubernatorial elections, put Sila Calderon in La Fortaleza from 2001 to 2004, and appointed Héctor Rosario as executive director of the AEE.
[21] The Gasoducto del Sur pipeline would have transported natural gas from the EcoEléctrica facilities in Peñuelas to the power plant at Aguirre in Salinas.
When the PNP took back La Fortaleza in 2009 via Luis Fortuño as governor, Miguel Cordero was reappointed executive director of the AEE, and the Gasoducto del Sur project, though a quarter of its way completed, was abruptly cancelled.
[24] The cancellation left the Government of Puerto Rico with a US$59 million debt to the contractor, Skanska, and opened the way for the PNP's alternative project, Gasoducto del Norte.
[28][29] On 11 June 2011, a group of environmentalists from Casa Pueblo, National Puerto Rican Coalition, Sierra Club, Earth Justice and Greenpeace presented their opposition to the project in Washington, DC.
[30] On 29 September 2011, Illinois Congressman Luis Gutierrez formally requested that President Barack Obama investigate the project citing "serious concerns over the existence of a 'close relationship' between the [Request for Comments|RFC] solicitor and its agents and the consultants who review and present formal comments about the Via Verde permit applications" to the Government, as well as an over concerns that Governor Luis Fortuño was using his influence to intervene in favor of the project when he asked to speak to the U.S. Secretary of the Department of the Interior, Ken Salazar, about Via Verde "in a process that its already following its course and which did not correspond him to intervene.
"[31] On 5 October 2011, AEE started the process of land expropriation, "even though the Puerto Rico government does not yet possess the necessary permits [from the Federal authorities] for the construction of the Gasoducto.
"[32] On 19 February 2012, a crowd numbering about 6,000 persons held a march in the capital city of San Juan, Puerto Rico, to protest the construction of Gasoducto del Norte, a.k.a.
[11] On 11 October 2012 AEE officially withdrew the entire Vía Verde permit application from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers evaluation process, thereby stalling approval of the proposed pipeline indefinitely.
[41][42] The Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica plans to convert several oil-fired plants to natural gas, starting with Costa Sur's units 5 and 6, which should be up and running December 2011.
Fish and Wildlife Service, the proposed route for the Gasoducto del Norte crosses 235 rivers and brooks, in addition to 1.4 million square meters of wetlands.
The administration of governor Luis G. Fortuño maintains that the Vía Verde Pipeline will supply the island with a cleaner energy source while at the same time reducing the cost of generating electricity by up to 30%.
[51] Some argue that "Via Verde" will negatively impact forest areas, hydrographic basins, lands fit for agriculture, and the all-important and endangered karstic region of northern Puerto Rico.
He stated, "Around the world, the fossil-fuel industry is carrying out its last desperate attempt to avoid the arrival of renewable energy and to ensure the existence of its dirty fuels.
They seem to be using their standard strategy in Puerto Rico as well: to act quickly and with a minimum amount of review before the opposition has time to organize and bring out the truth.
[58] The ex-head of the Puerto Rico Department of Natural Resources, Daniel Pagan Rosa, added that only one endangered species, the guabairo, will be affect by the construction of the pipeline.
Opponents argue that "building a pipeline when there is no gas, makes no sense" and are demanding that the government abandon the project altogether: the admission by a high-ranking officer of EcoEléctrica to La Perla del Sur is a decisive and unequivocal confirmation that what we have been stating for months.
[57] University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez engineering professor Pedro Jiménez, expressed concerns over the safety of the project and its cost: "The pipeline will not be built to withstand a large earthquake, let alone [a tsunami] like Japan's.
Nevertheless, the executive director of Puerto Rico's Office of Energy Affairs argues that "AEE has been very open with the people in discussing the project and that within the available alternatives the gas pipeline is the one that makes most sense.
[4] In April 2012, Congressman Luis Gutiérrez Olmedo qualified the actions of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE) as corruption and asked that any evaluation related to the Gasoducto project be immediately halted: "[The USACOE] does not have the moral capacity to supervise any permit for the Gasoducto...they contaminated the process when the Government of Puerto Rico hired as an advisor BC Peabody, a firm whose director is the former director of the Jacksonville Office of the Corps of Engineers".
When Mr. Pantano hides information from other federal agencies regarding the [planned] existence of 20 other hidden valves for [the addition of] other branch pipelines, then he raises more suspicion, greater mistrust, and gives the appearance of a total fabrication.
"[72] On 11 November 2011, an investigation by the Ponce, Puerto Rico-based La Perla del Sur newsweekly found that allegations made to Noticentro by Governor Fortuño on 27 October (2011) which stated that it was necessary for his government to appropriate lands before qualifying for the permit by the U.S.
"[75] The fact that Excelerate Energy signed a contract to supply liquid-to-gas natural gas conversion barges to the Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica's southern unit at Aguirre, says Casa Pueblo founder Alexis Massol González, defeats the government's efforts to sell this "absurd" Gasoducto idea to the people.