The Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DNER) has just announced that it will be holding a public hearing to present the results of a study conducted by the agency and required by the Karst Protection and Conservation Act (Law No. 292 of 1999), hereinafter “Karst Law”. Public notice is attached.
In this study, known as the Karst Study, the DNER identified and delineated those areas within the karst region in Puerto Rico that should be conserved and protected from the establishment of quarries due to their hydrological, geological and ecological value (hereinafter “Karst Conservation Priority Areas or “KCPA”). The area identified by the DNER covers nearly 35% of the whole karst region found in the north, south and interior of the Island. The Karst Study also recommends the adoption of various specific zoning districts established by the Puerto Rico Planning Board to promote the conservation or preservation of ecological sensitive lands in the Island (i.e. forests, caves, etc.) from which this agency or the municipalities will choose and assign to the identified KCPAs as part of their respective land use plans. The Karst Study was completed in September 2008, as a result of a lawsuit filed against the DNER by Ciudadanos del Karso (CDK) in October 2002, after the agency failed to comply with the study’s deadline of August 2001, set by the Karst Law. Unfortunately, the hearings announced by the DNER go against the court sentence that was issued last January, in which the Karst Study was considered final, as agreed by the agency. It seems that now the DNER, and through the hearings, wants to amend the Karst Study to eliminate areas already identified as KCPA. The hearing set by the agency is also against what the Karst Law requires, that is, to hold hearings to amend the DNER’s Regulation for the Excavation, Removal and Dredging of Materials from the Earth’s Crust (mainly for limestone quarries), based on the recommendations included in the Karst Study. Although the Karst Study does not include all of the areas the we believe should have been identified as KCPA, it is still a great improvement from what we had to this date, and it does not limit in any way that other areas be included in the future. Based on the above, we hereby request your help as experts in several fields related to the karst, in order that you provide comments in writing and sent by email in favor of the Karst Study and the urgent need to protect this important area in Puerto Rico. The hearing will be held on Friday, June 26, 2009, in the Conference Room at the 4th Floor of the DNER’s building in Río Piedras. Your comments should be received not later than June 26, 2009 and we will appreciate if you can send us a copy of your comments for our records. Again, we acknowledge that the Karst Study could be improved, but this should not be an excuse to delay or further postpone the implementation of its recommendations, especially when it was supposed to be completed almost 8 years ago, or even worst, as a justification to remove areas that have been already identified as critical for conservation. You can download the Karst Study, which is only available in Spanish, from the following website: http://www.drna.gobierno.pr/oficinas/secretarias-auxiliares/secretaria-auxiliar-de-planificacion-integral/INFORME_KARSO_FINAL_OCT_2008%20-%20Revisado.pdf Please respond if you are available to submit comments. If you need additional information, please feel free to contact me as soon as possible. You can also contact Luis Jorge Rivera Herrera, who also works for CDK, at 787-755-0410, or by e-mail at [email protected]. Please feel free to forward this e-mail to anyone else of your colleagues who you think would be interested in submitting comments in favor of the Karst Study and the protection of this area of extraordinary natural value in Puerto Rico. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter, Abel Vale President CDK ____________________________________________________________ Click here for great quotes from top international movers! http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2131/fc/BLSrjnsKdC48LqAHDpiVvgMDvCHWAUoMyn9GtAz9bsjNdl1F4RvEpD4w52o/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
