
Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón
By The STAR STAFF
The federal House of Representatives approved $12.9 million for Puerto Rico, advocated by Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón, within the Budget Project for Fiscal Year 2025 for agencies related to the Department of the Interior and environmental affairs.
The measure includes language that prevents the loss of federal funds approved after Hurricane Maria for historic preservation projects.
HR 8998 includes two community projects presented by the congresswoman, which would provide federal funds directly to the municipality of Bayamón, for improvements to the stormwater management system on Marginal Norte Street in the Jardines de Caparra development ($2.2 million) and for improvements to the stormwater system on Duero Avenue between Bayamón Gardens and Rexville ($600,000).
Thanks to the Great American Outdoors Act (Public Law 116-152), signed by President Trump to provide greater protection to public lands while balancing their enjoyment, funds were authorized for deferred maintenance projects in national parks and federal public lands. The budget measure approved last night allocates funds authorized by Public Law 116-152 that benefit two federal facilities in Puerto Rico.
$9 million will be allocated to preserve the lighthouse and the Austrian bastion at Castillo San Felipe del Morro, part of the San Juan National Historic Site, administered by the federal National Park Service. While $1.1 million will be allocated to the roof replacement project of the International Institute of Tropical Forestry of the United States Forest Service to prevent leaks and make them more resistant to hurricanes. Both allocations were supported by the commissioner before the House Appropriations Committee.
The measure also includes language requested by Gonzalez Colon to have funds appropriated under the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 for the National Park Service Historic Preservation Fund remain available for two additional years, through fiscal year 2026, for the settlement of valid obligations incurred during fiscal years 2018 and 2019.
This will allow additional time for the Puerto Rico State Historic Preservation Office to expend the remaining funds from its $12,847,318 Emergency Supplemental Historic Preservation Fund (ESHPF) allocation and complete its Hurricane Maria projects. Without this language, all remaining ESHPF funds would be canceled and no longer available after September 30, 2024.
Additionally, $2.6 million (the same amount secured in the current FY 2024 budget) will be maintained for improvements and updates to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) national seismic hazard model, including expansion to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. This will support ongoing USGS efforts to update seismic hazard maps and models for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, which have not been updated since 2003. González Colón requested that this funding be maintained as one of her programmatic requests for the FY 2025 appropriations projects.
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