PDP Sen. Álvarez chosen as panelist for National Council of Environmental Legislators

Sen. Ada Álvarez Conde

By THE STAR STAFF

At-large Popular Democratic Party Sen. Ada Álvarez Conde is participating as a panelist and speaker at the 2026 National Caucus of the National Council of Environmental Legislators in Chicago, one of the main gatherings of legislators dedicated to environmental public policy in the United States.

On Saturday, the legislator will give a presentation during the Lightning Round session on the protection of the Maritime Terrestrial Zone of Puerto Rico with a new definition contained. The initiative was selected from legislative proposals with the potential to serve as a reference for other states and territories.

Senate Bill (SB) 628, authored by the senator, was presented in May 2025 at the request of leading experts in geoscience and conservation, including geologist Pedro A. Gelabert; Ruperto Chaparro, director of the Sea Grant program at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez) and oceanographer Ernesto Díaz.

The legislative proposal modifies existing laws to include elements such as extreme tides, dunes, mangroves, estuaries and other ecosystems, in order to curb privatization, improve environmental control, guarantee better construction and face the effects of climate change.

Although the bill was ignored by the legislative majority in the Puerto Rico Senate in the public discussion on the definition of the Maritime-Terrestrial Zone, its selection to be presented to legislators from different jurisdictions demonstrates the value and potential of the proposal.

“The issue has not died and cannot be ignored,” said. “I will continue to fight so that you listen to this definition, the issue of demarcation, how we will talk about construction. This is not a whim; we live every day with consequences of the weather that we do not control but we do not prevent. That must change and we must listen to those who know.”

Álvarez also became a co-author along with Sen. Eliezer Molina Pérez of SB 697 on the creation of a national demarcation that was approved in the Senate and rests in the House of Representatives.

In Chicago she will present not only the content but also how SB 628 was prepared with the scientists with whom she held more than 220 exchanges for the drafting of the bill. Álvarez will also discuss SB 697 at the panel session.