PDP lawmakers say House colleague shouldn’t hold closed-door meeting with energy czar

By THE STAR STAFF

• Popular Democratic Party (PDP) lawmakers Héctor Ferrer Santiago and Ángel “Tito” Fourquet Cordero are questioning what they said was New Progressive Party Rep. Víctor Parés Otero’s decision to replace a previously announced public hearing on the failed temporary generation agreement with a private meeting involving Energy Czar Josué Colón Ortiz, a key figure in the controversial procurement process.

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• The lawmakers said Parés had publicly promoted an investigation into the temporary generation contracts, only to retreat from holding hearings. Pares’ office did not have knowledge of the meeting.

• “Víctor Parés went on a media tour announcing an investigation, talking about public hearings, and promising answers for the country,” Ferrer said. “Now it all comes down to a private meeting with one of the main architects of this process. What changed? What are they hiding? What is so important that it cannot be discussed publicly?”

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• As previously reported by the Star, the temporary generation plan, intended to add 800 megawatts of emergency generation, collapsed last month after questions emerged about the validity of signatures on the contract with Power Expectations, which was awarded a 400-megawatt temporary energy contract.  According to public statements, the contract submitted by Power Expectations included a signature purportedly from a representative of Enchanted Rock (ERock), a contractor tied to the project that was later alleged to be falsified.

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• Rolando Emmanuelli, an expert on the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act, commonly known as PROMESA, publicly stated that the contract was “null” because it lacked the valid signature of an essential party, a requirement the Financial Oversight and Management Board had previously emphasized. The alleged falsification triggered concerns about potential fraud, the integrity of the procurement process, and the future of emergency generation capacity at a time when Puerto Rico’s grid remains vulnerable to outages.

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• The oversight board, which had authorized the contract, subsequently revoked its authorization. The companion contract with Gothams Energy, for 200 megawatts of temporary generation at the San Juan plant, remains under oversight board review.

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• Given the magnitude of the failed agreement and its implications for grid stability, Ferrer and Fourquet said oversight cannot occur behind closed doors.

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• “If Víctor Parés truly wants oversight, he should do it openly and in front of the country,” Fourquet said. “If he announced public hearings, he should hold them. If there are questions for Josué Colón, he should answer them under oath, with documents on the table and with the public listening. A private meeting cannot replace a public investigation.”

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• The minority legislators added that Colón must publicly address unresolved questions about who made key decisions, who participated in negotiations, what information was evaluated, and why the agreement collapsed.