Hacienda Campo Rico and Caribbean Golf Academy filed a 28-page memorial with the Puerto Rico Senate’s Tourism, Natural and Environmental Resources Committee questioning statements by Pedro Guevara, director of the Permits Division of the Compliance Office of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DRNA), about the expansion and operation of the Carolina landfill. Luis Rivera Ortiz, president of both companies, alleged Guevara gave contradictory versions of the landfill’s limits, the size of the affected area and the time authorized to operate.
He said the expansion figures cited include five, ten and 7.65 cuerdas (a land measure of about 0.97 acre). The memorial also challenges the expansion of cell C into a 35-cuerda Buffer Zone, which Rivera Ortiz described as high-ecological-value land tied to the Special Planning Area of the Piñones State Forest. He argued that extending the landfill’s footprint requires a process including an Environmental Impact Statement and cannot be authorized through a permit renewal.
Rivera Ortiz said no reliable surveys confirm the landfill operates within authorized limits, citing 2024 sworn statements in which representatives of the Town of Carolina and Landfill Gas Technologies LLC said they knew of no documents setting cell C’s limits or coordinates. He noted DRNA officials say they inspect quarterly, but only four inspections are on record before the Senate, and asked that the full inspection record since 2019 be required.
On contamination, he said the file holds a single groundwater sampling, in April 2022, which detected arsenic in well CW-3 and its duplicate, with no later sampling or leachate analysis. He also criticized what he called unequal DRNA treatment on karst protection, citing San Sebastián and Cabo Rojo. He said he does not oppose the landfill operating lawfully, but opposes its expansion because of the land’s ecological value and the possible impact on his ecotourism business.