JEN NIFFER GONZALEZ-COLON comm-mes: Poem Rico NATURAL RESOURCES SMALL BUSINESS VETE RAN 5? AFFAIRS OFFICE: @ungte?? at the ?aniteh ?tates .. 190% "f ANTIGUO TROPICAL ma?hingt?n, Em: 20515_5400 SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO 00901 (787} 723?6333 FAX: {787} 729?7738 May 9, 2018 Hon. Brock Long LTG Todd Semionite Administrator Commanding General and Chief of Engineers Federal Emergency Management Agency U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 500 St SW 441 St. NW Washington, DC 20472 Washington DC 20314-1000 POWER RESTORATION MISSION IN PUERTO RICO Puerto Rico? 5 critical need for power restoration in the aftermath of disaster has been a test for all those involved. The Federal support for this effort has been invaluable, and it is vital to see the full completion of the task. As of today, 98.27% of customers of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) are officially counted as reconnected, which considering the configuration of the customer base is estimated to represent over twenty thousand households without service. These are mostly communities away from the urban areas and industrial centers, in the central mountainous region, or in the southeastern region where the direct landfall impact was felt, requiring specialized teams and equipment to manage accessibility issues and rebuilding of infrastructure that is not repairable. In addition, the reconnected customers are being subjected to an unstable, unreliable system that in the last month saw two massive power outages due to failure of transmission lines. I joined the PREPA aerial reconnaissance crews this past weekend together with Congressman Rob Bishop and we and observed directly the terrain challenges and the sti ll precarious state of repair and lack of redundancy in transmission and distribution lines in the rural areas. So, we find the system still not at the needed level of resiliency, and lack of power to tens of thousands of homes, with only three weeks to go to the official start of the hurricane season. As of today, the latest extension of the power restoration mission tasked by FEMA to the Army Corps of Engineers and the contracts for the repair crews expire next May 18. This is alarming to the citizens. Out of an abundance of caution in the face of the upcoming hurricane season, I must urge that there be an extension of the mission that allows agency and contract crews to remain in place to see that the system is 100% restored, with system improvements and enhancements made as necessary according to the provisions under the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018; also, that this extension may help ensure that at the start of the new hurricane season there are the material PRINTED 0N RECYCLED PAPER Hon. Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon Puerto Rico Power Restoration? page 2 May 9, 2018 and human resources in place to face a contingency, including logistical and technical support to PREPA. Furthermore, that this mission must involve sufficient human and material resources contract or agency, so that all areas still requiring restoration may be worked on, full?time and simultaneously. This is important because a concern that existed two months ago still exists today: that crews are being reduced and then the remaining ones will be moved from some areas still pending restoration to others that are assigned greater priority, leaving the former communities to linger on as they see the deadline approach. Justice demands that if we work to restore Vieques we must work just as much and just as visibly to restore Yabucoa and Comerio at the same time, and not telling one or the other to wait for later. PREPA, today, unfortunately does not have the resources to avoid that. The additional agency and contract crews are still needed. The goal should be for all the people in Puerto Rico to see that restoration of power is pursued with a sense of urgency, in the form of a visible level of resources on the field. I must urge FEMA and USACE in the strongest terms to maintain intensity of effort; to extend missions and contracts as required, for as much as 90 days, to maintain the presence of crews in all regions; to embrace the provisions of Section 20601 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 on recovery work; to inform and advise the local authorities and the public of what are the timelines and keep the communications lines open; to assist in supplying PREPA with materials and technical assistance if and as necessary. I will support all requests from Puerto Rico officials for Direct Federal Assistance under 44 CFR 206.208 for Category Emergency Protective Measures under 44 CF 206.225 directly related to the PREPA system; for FEMA Region II to assign USACE the mission to provide the DFA and technical support to bring the PREPA system to a reliable state, and to have the federal cost share for Category A and assistance remain at 100% until a date no less than 18 months after the incident period. I thank you again for your leadership in this effort and wish to impress on you the importance of continuing to consider the need of the Puerto Rican people in the making of decisions about the power restoration mission. I am ready to bring before my colleagues any need for congressional action. The job needs to be finished. Sincerely, .