Sierra Club Puerto Rico is urging the rejection of the merged permit projects, Senate bills 1173 and 1183, as the combined legislative substitute creates a new Planning and Permits Code that reduces preventive controls, weakens environmental oversight, and concentrates land-use authority in structures under the Department of Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC). The decision to merge the two measures was announced by Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz.
Hernaliz Vázquez, director of Sierra Club Puerto Rico, explained that the substitute incorporates some changes from previous versions but the overall result is worse than the original versions. The measure adopts the most controversial elements of both proposals, including the Registry of Use, substitution of preventive controls with posterior oversight, risk-based environmental evaluation, and expansion of delegated powers to private professionals.
Vázquez warned that this would debilitate environmental protection and concentrate power over land use.