Puerto Rico Halts Controversial Vía Verde Pipeline Project
After years of sustained public opposition, Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority has withdrawn its permit application for the Vía Verde natural gas pipeline, effectively halting a project that had become one of the island’s most contested environmental fights in recent memory.
The utility, known by its Spanish acronym AEE, formally pulled the entire Vía Verde permit application from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ evaluation process this week, stalling the project indefinitely. The move marks a major victory for the broad coalition of environmental groups, labor unions, students, and community organizations that spent years fighting to stop construction.
As proposed, the pipeline would have stretched roughly 100 miles, carrying natural gas from the gas-rich south of the island near Peñuelas north to San Juan, cutting directly through the mountainous Cordillera Central. Governor Luis Fortuño’s administration promoted the project — officially named Vía Verde, or “Green Way” — as a way to lower electricity costs and reduce Puerto Rico’s dependence on imported oil.
Opponents saw it very differently, dubbing the project “Vía de la Muerte” — the Death Route — and warning that construction would tear through forests, farmland, and water estuaries while forcing the expropriation of land from Puerto Rican families along its path. Advocacy groups estimated the pipeline would put roughly 200,000 residents living near its route at heightened risk.
Public opinion tracked closely with that opposition. A poll conducted by the newspaper El Nuevo Día found 70 percent of Puerto Ricans opposed the pipeline’s construction, with 61 percent describing themselves as “very worried” about its safety. A majority also doubted the project would deliver on its central promise: PREPA projected savings of roughly 12 cents per kilowatt-hour, but a University of Puerto Rico study found the realistic best-case savings closer to just one cent.
The fight drew tens of thousands into the streets over the past two years, with one demonstration alone bringing out an estimated 30,000 people in a coalition spanning labor groups, students, and environmental organizations. The opposition also reached the U.S. mainland, where Illinois Congressman Luis Gutiérrez pressed the Army Corps of Engineers directly to reject the project.
For longtime opponents, the withdrawal caps years of organizing — but many remain cautious. Puerto Rico’s energy authority has proposed natural gas infrastructure in various forms for decades, dating back to an earlier pipeline proposal shelved in the 1990s. Advocates say they intend to keep watching for the project’s return under a different name, even as they celebrate what is, for now, a clear win for the communities who organized against it.