CAMBIO and IEEFA will begin receiving public documents from the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA)
June 7, 2019 (Puerto Rico) – Starting today, CAMBIO and the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) will be receiving public documents from the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) that they had sought via a mandamus petition in court. After a dialogue established in response to an urgent hearing set for today by Judge Anthony Cuevas Ramos, PREPA attorneys agreed to begin the production of documents starting today and asked until Friday, June 14th to complete the process.
“This is a step forward for the public’s right to information. Decisions taken by PREPA impact all of us, and we see the results in our monthly bill. The information that we are seeking will broaden the public conversation on our energy future,” said Ingrid M. Vila Biaggi, founder and president of CAMBIO.
Cathy Kunkel, IEEFA energy analyst, stated that, “we are glad that PREPA will comply with the agreement to provide public documents and are now looking forward to seeing what they produce.” The requested documents are those dated after January 1, 2018 related to the privatization of PREPA, as well as current data on the electrical system.
JUDGE CUEVAS RAMOS HAD ORDERED THE PARTIES TO ATTEND AN URGENT HEARING JUNE 7 in the Court of First Instance in San Juan. After a meeting between the parties sought by PREPA attorneys, PREPA agreed not to proceed with its motions to dismiss the case that it had filed in response to the mandamus petition and to initiate the process of document production. PREPA also asked to cancel today’s hearing called by Cuevas Ramos, to which the judge agreed. A follow-up hearing on June 25 remains on the calendar, at which time both parties will explain how the process of document delivery was handled.
This is a step forward for the public’s right to information
The decision of Judge Cuevas Ramos to convene an urgent hearing today resulted after, for the third time in two weeks, PREPA filed a legal motion to walk back its agreement to deliver documents by today, as had been agreed previously on May 24th.
CAMBIO and IEEFA had brought before the Court of First Instance a mandamus petition against PREPA to demand delivery of public information, after having unsuccessfully requested the information for months.
IN THE MANDAMUS MOTION PRESENTED TO THE COURT, CAMBIO AND IEEFA HAD REQUESTED SPECIFIC DOCUMENTATION FROM PREPA regarding any cost-benefit studies that have been done to justify its privatization proposal, as well as documents on proposed generation projects, among other details.
The new agreement with PREPA establishes that the public corporation will start with the production of public documents that have been identified as responsive to the document request and that are not protected by any assertion of privilege.
On or before June 14th, PREPA will produce the documents that have been identified as responsive, as well as a “privilege log” that contains a description of additional documents that have been identified as protected and an explanation of the privilege that protects their disclosure. This information will be evaluated by the organizations and, if necessary, discussed before the judge at the June 25th hearing. The documents will be produced in digital form and in their native format if possible. If not possible, the parties have agreed to meet again to reach agreement on the format for document production.
Original press release in Spanish: CAMBIO y el IEEFA comenzarán a recibir desde hoy documentos públicos de la AEE sobre la privatización y el sistema eléctrico
Cathy Kunkel ([email protected]) is an IEEFA energy analyst.
Ingrid M. Vila Biaggi ([email protected]) is a civil engineer and founder of CAMBIO P.R.
Media contact
Vivienne Heston ([email protected]), +1 (914) 439-8921
About IEEFA
The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) conducts research and analyses on financial and economic issues related to energy and the environment. The Institute’s mission is to accelerate the transition to a diverse, sustainable and profitable energy economy.
About CAMBIO P.R.
CAMBIO promotes sustainable and responsible actions for Puerto Rico through awareness, education, capacity-building, and support to communities as well as research, design and implementation of policies and strategies.
