Puerto Rico Statehood and General Discussion

[Ultramatic]

Just want to wish you all a Very, Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy & Prosperous 2012!

[DarkGold]

Originally Posted by miami305

I really hope they get their independence from the USA....We don't need a 51st State to the union.

Ok wtf...What do you mean by "we dont need". You are not different from puertoricans, we have the same American passport you have sir. You probably arent a U.S. born, got your citizenship, and are arguing whether PR should be a state or not. We, AMERICAN CITIZENS decide what to be!

[pankajs]

Where it all will end at last ?

[Ultramatic]

Originally Posted by DarkGold

Ok wtf...What do you mean by "we dont need". You are not different from puertoricans, we have the same American passport you have sir. You probably arent a U.S. born, got your citizenship, and are arguing whether PR should be a state or not. We, AMERICAN CITIZENS decide what to be!

He's "moving back to europe" Dark, so probably a foreigner. Don't you just love it when they feel they have a right to an opinion on purely insular affair? The unmitigated GAUL.

[Matheus...]

I really want to see Puerto Rico as an US state.

[Ultramatic]

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY !!!

[sweet-d]

I wanna see Puerto Rico make a decision and quit bs'ing the years away. State Hood or Independence one or the other no more hiding in between.

[Christianmx]

What would be the pros cons for Puerto Rico if it became a state?

[Cal_Escapee]

Originally Posted by Christianmx

What would be the pros cons for Puerto Rico if it became a state?

Unless you believe in mercantilism and imperialism, I don't see many pros for the rest of us. It would be the poorest state, a drain on the tax base and it would further dilute the linguistic glue that partly holds the rest of us together--English.

For the Puerto Ricans, statehood would mean an end to the great deal they've been getting--they would have to pay US taxes like the existing states and there would be an end to the corporate tax loopholes that have lured drug and other companies to the island in an attempt to boost its economy.

[Manitopiaaa]

Independence for Puerto Rico then!!

[Cal_Escapee]

Originally Posted by Manitopiaaa

Independence for Puerto Rico then!!

Certainly--all they have to do is vote for it in one of the opportunities they have periodically been given.

[Christianmx]

Originally Posted by Cal_Escapee

Unless you believe in mercantilism and imperialism, I don't see many pros for the rest of us. It would be the poorest state, a drain on the tax base and it would further dilute the linguistic glue that partly holds the rest of us together--English.

For the Puerto Ricans, statehood would mean an end to the great deal they've been getting--they would have to pay US taxes like the existing states and there would be an end to the corporate tax loopholes that have lured drug and other companies to the island in an attempt to boost its economy.

Does Puerto Rico not generate any revenue for the government at all? I know that many Puerto Ricans serve in the military so I think thats an important contribution to the US.

[bayviews]

Originally Posted by sweet-d

I wanna see Puerto Rico make a decision and quit bs'ing the years away. State Hood or Independence one or the other no more hiding in between.

The reality is that Washington's completed gridlocked. There's no wiggle room for any type of significant change. And so the status of PR will continue to be as it has for the forseable future.

[charlie319]

Puerto Rico has been a territory for more than a century now. We have been a "Freely Associated State" for about half that time. We've been citizens now for 85 years and have shed blod at a higher per-capita rate than any state in all wars since 1917.

What we have in the forum is a few recalcitrant pro-independence types who have seen the increase in the pro-statehood votes since 1967 and who realize that the upcoming plsebicite has the potential of unseating the ELA as the "default" preference ofthe people of PR in favor of State-hood. That must be a searing reality for a group that amounts to no more than 5% of the electorate.

On the other hand, one must understand that with statehood comes a greater level of social, educational and infrastructure expenditures for the island. While this is not a cure for the ailments of the island, it will go a long way to improve its finances. The cure for our economic woes lies in:
1-exporting our workers to the US and
2- reducing the rate of birth and the polulation in the island by at least 30%.

PR is politically and operationally (both tactically and strategically) convenient to the US in exerting influence in the Caribbean. Culturally, PR is more like the US than it is like Venezuela, Argentina or Brazil... In effect, the soft-sell of the last four deades has made PR very American, even if most lower classes speak only spanglish, the profesional classes do speak English.

If Statehood gets more than 50% of the vote in November, you can put a fork in it. Sooner or later, we'll see a 2/3ds majority and with it the moral strength to go to congress and ask them for one or the other. Statehood or Independence, and put an end to the US's colonialist era.

[Bori427]

charlie, the rate of birth in Puerto Rico is lower than in the USA mainland and PR is not overpopulated, that is simply retarded, NJ for example has more density than PR.

[charlie319]

Bori:

It depends what you mean as rate of births, as I use it in regards to the fact taht the island is "over-populated". In any event, I doubt that New Jersey is an example to aspire to. In any event, the island's carrying capacity is not based on birth rates or population density, which I assume is where you go here. It is based on a geography's ability to sustain a population over time. In that respect, PR has been overpopulated for decades.

Saying that NJ has more dense population than PR is disingenuous since there are parts of the island that are difficult to build upon and skew the numbers and NJ has a lot more land to absorb its population yet where this population does concentrate, overcrowding issues do occur. According to the 2000 U.S. Census; the San Juan Municipio is the densest in the island at 9,084.4 people per square mile, which put it at about the same population density as Washington DC (9,316.4 people per square mile)... and more than twice that of Las Vegas ( 4,222.5 people per square mile). Is this a sustainable model for an island that is 100 by 35 miles and mostly mountainous?

[Bori427]

What is NOT sustainable is the way we build and the way our cities have been developed over the years, but we are not overpopulated, that is plain wrong.

[charlie319]

What is not sustainable is the fact that we import most of the foodstuffs in PR and that drinking water is a finite asset. Let's not talk of human waste and trash...

[charlie319]

http://is4ie.org/resources/Documents...520Context.pdf

A Case Study: Puerto Rico
As a growing field, industrial ecology needs areas to study that are amenable to its approaches and can benefit from increased understanding of sustainable industrial development. Such areas must have the potential for industrial development as well as an evident need to incorporate sustainability considerations into their industrial systems. The island of Puerto Rico, with its diverse ecological and industrial systems discussed below, presents this type of setting for industrial ecological study. Examination of the industrial systems of Puerto Rico under the optic of industrial ecology was started by the Yale Center for Industrial Ecology in 2001. While research on site-specific projects in Puerto Rico is on going, the motivation to study an island such as Puerto Rico was
established by the research team at the onset of the study based on the unique characteristics of the island context. Descriptions of Puerto Rico and a few of the
specific studies underway are presented here to illustrate the potential utility of applying industrial ecology to the island context.

Study Site
Puerto Rico, one of the Greater Antilles, is a commonwealth of the USA located between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Its total land area is approximately 9000 km2 (2 240 000 acres) with a population of approximately 3.9 million, giving the island a population density similar to that of the state of New Jersey, the highest in the USA. A true island, Puerto Rico has about 500 km of coastline and is home to the fourth largest container port in the world at San Juan. The natural geography of Puerto Rico ranges from coastal water systems to arid uplands and includes tropical rainforests among its diverse ecosystems. The USA gained possession of Puerto Rico as a Commonwealth following the Spanish-American War in 1898. The first elected government of 1948 saw manufacturing as the path to development for Puerto Rico. The industrialization programme ‘Operation Bootstrap’ advocated: developing the local labour base; inviting investment of external capital; importing raw materials; and exporting
finished products to the USA. This initiative included federal tax incentive programmes that exempted manufacturers locating in Puerto Rico from the majority of corporate income taxes.
Puerto Rico possesses few natural resources, mainly stone and marine fish as well as some copper and nickel. The primary industries in Puerto Rico, other than tourism, are high value added sectors that benefit from the tax incentives gained by locating on the island. In 2000 the pharmaceutical industry accounted for $20.8 billion in exports, 65 facilities, and over 25 000 employees. Sixteen of the top 20 prescription drugs in the USA are produced in Puerto Rico. The 208 P. J. Deschenes & M. Chertow measuring, analyzing and controlling instruments industry (MACII) accounted for $1.8 billion in exports, 41 plants and 15 000 employees in 2000. The electronic and electrical equipment manufacturing industry accounted for $6.7 billion in exports, 85 plants and 17 500 employees in the same period. The plastics industry added another 76 plants and 4 700 employees (Puerto Rico Department of Economic Development, 2001a, 2001b; Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company, 2000). The industrial milieu of the islands also includes agriculture, food processing, power generation, textiles and petrochemicals. Puerto Rico has low labour unionization, and the national average wage is about two-thirds of that of the rest of the USA. About 53% of all 20 to 24 year olds are enrolled in higher education and 77% of the workforce are high school graduates (Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company, 2002). A highly educated and relatively inexpensive labour force, along with a host of tax incentives, have made Puerto Rico very attractive to foreign manufacturing firms. Puerto Rico provides a unique and advantageous balance of accessibility and isolation for an industrial ecological study. Its political, economic and industrial systems are well documented in available databases and archives. Its close ties and proximity to the USA facilitate physical inspection and transparent analysis. As an island, Puerto Rico has well-defined boundaries across which
established systems of accounting exist for materials flows. The island is large enough for a study of diverse industrial systems, yet small enough and isolated enough to engender the characteristics of the island context.

Sustainability Challenges
A brief survey of the resources of Puerto Rico indicates a number of sustainability challenges for the island. Primary among these is the need for sustainable energy options. Puerto Rico has none of its own fossil fuel resources, but 99% of the electricity generated on the island and nearly all of the island’s energy come from fossil fuels (Energy Information Administration, 2002a). Puerto Rico must generate all of its own electricity. As a result, electricity costs for all sectors in Puerto Rico are much higher than in the continental USA. Although Puerto Rico is a tropical island with high solar incidence and abundant wind resources on a number of coasts, neither of these renewable sources of energy have been developed commercially. Alternative transportation is virtually absent in the cities of Puerto Rico. Cars and some buses operating on gasoline and diesel fuel are the sole mode of vehicular transportation on the island.7 Puerto Rico relies on two principle sources of water. A large aquifer exists
on the limestone bedrock in the northern portion of the island. Many industries, especially large pharmaceutical companies in this region, tap this resource via wells. Over-pumping and waste effluent contamination have begun to degrade the aquifer in places and concern has been expressed on the island over the functional lifetime of this resource. Salt water intrusion on the south of the island is another indicator of capacity limitations. Much of the island’s water comes from collected runoff in reservoirs in the centre of the island. Reported water line losses as high as 40% are a concern for the sustainability of water supply (Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority, 1996). A large quantity of bottled drinking water is imported to the island,8 but water is not imported for other uses.

The majority of material resources are imported to Puerto Rico, with a large portion of these imports coming from the USA. Puerto Rico mines some limestone and aggregate for use on the island, and approximately 480 000 hectares of its land are employed in agriculture (Estudios Technicos, 1997). About half of this is used for growing coffee and sugar cane for export. Mangoes, pineapples, melons and plantains are also grown for export. The remaining local agricultural production produces only a small fraction of the food consumed by the island’s residents. The modest quantities of secondary material collected on the island are exported for recycling. Owens-Illinois operates a facility that manufactures glass bottles and is the only firm producing new products from secondary material on the island.9 Puerto Rico is reliant on imports for most of its material resources with the exception of a few types of fruits and vegetables and few imported resources are effectively reused or recycled on the island.
Solid waste production on the island is very high, with estimates ranging from 8000 to 14 000 tons per day with less than a 5% recycling rate (Miranda & Hale, 1999; Mahoney, 2001; Rodriguez, 2002). The majority of solid waste produced in Puerto Rico is disposed of in landfills on the island. In 1993, there were 62 landfills, but by 1999 only 29 remained open as a result of mandatory closings (Autoridad de Desperdicios Solidos, 1999). Only four of these landfills are thought to be substantially compliant with environmental regulations, however leachate is not properly collected in any of the island’s landfills causing significant fear of soil and groundwater contamination (Uemachi et al., 2003). Given the lack of enforcement and compliance, it could be concluded that Puerto Rico has reached its assimilative capacity for municipal solid waste. Despite
estimates that disposal capacity could last another 10 years, there is no plan to
construct new landfills in Puerto Rico (Uemachi et al., 2003). Only a few, experimental composting and land application projects are under way on the island. These focus on biosolids and cannery wastes. There are no waste incineration or waste to energy operations in Puerto Rico and this option has been largely precluded legislatively. Most hazardous waste is shipped off the island, although some pharmaceutical waste is incinerated on site by private operations.

Industrial Ecology Applied to Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico, during its short, intense industrialization over the last 50 years, has become a hub of manufacturing. Raw materials are imported and value added goods are exported, capitalizing on inexpensive skilled labour and a variety of tax incentives. Little effort is made to consider the limits of the island’s natural environment when faced with global-scale production, throughput and consumption. Rapid industrialization in the island context has produced the numerous sustainability challenges listed above. As these challenges deal with flows of resources and the conflict between industry and natural carrying capacity, industrial ecology, which brings the tools of material flow analysis, cascading resource flows and life cycle accounting to the table, offers a unique problem solving perspective. At the same time, many of the limitations of the island context can be viewed as opportunities for sustainable development solutions based in industrial ecology. 210 P. J. Deschenes & M. Chertow In an effort to bring the concepts of industrial ecology to bear on the sustainability challenges of Puerto Rico, a number of studies have been carried out by the Yale Center for Industrial Ecology at specific sites on the island. A brief overview of three of these is presented here to demonstrate the potential utility of industrial ecology for addressing environmental sustainability on the
island. Pharmaceuticals. The size and concentration of the pharmaceutical industry in
Puerto Rico make the firms in this sector a competitive cluster on the island (Ashton & Chertow, 2002). Fifteen pharmaceutical facilities are located around the municipality of Barceloneta in the northern part of the island. In the past, these companies have sought to work together on projects to address air emissions, water use, and waste production, but progress has been slow. Fresh water supply and waste management are principal environmental concerns for these pharmaceutical manufacturing firms in Puerto Rico. A survey of the resource flows of the pharmaceutical companies shows a number of potential initiatives that could improve the existing operations, as well as the environmental sustainability of the participants. Some ideas from the Center for Industrial Ecology study that addressed water use included construction of a storm-water facility, common treatment in a dedicated wastewater plant, and extending agricultural and other businesses that use appropriately prepared water treatment sludge on hay crops and in teak forests. The study also showed the potential for:
• energy efficiency from a jointly operated co-generation power facility;
• transportation efficiency through a joint employee shuttle;
• secondary and tertiary packaging manufactured from secondary materials;
and
• solvent recovery to be used by paint and cleaning compound manufacturers.
There is now evidence that the sustainability pressures predicted in the first part of this discussion are leading to the sorts of co-operative arrangements fostered by industrial ecology. As of 2003, eight facilities in the Barceloneta pharmaceutical cluster are joining together to address energy and water constraints simultaneously. Under a proposed agreement, the companies will supply wastewater to a new co-generation plant and will get back energy in the form of steam from the power station. While it could be argued that such organization is not limited to an island setting, co-operation at this scale is very unusual in North American facilities.
Manufacturing clusters. A number of industries are grouped together on the western side of Puerto Rico and make up the Puerto Rico Techno-Economic Corridor (PRTEC). This development includes groups of firms dedicated to information technologies, medical devices manufacturing and electronics manufacturing.
A survey designed to quantify the collective material flows of 23 companies in PRTEC demonstrated the potential for new operations to recycle cardboard, metal alloys and isopropanol (Campos et al., 2002). The volume of a material such as cardboard flowing from PRTEC may not be sufficient to drive a material recovery operation, but the proximity of all major sources of waste cardboard on the island to PRTEC could allow a recycled cardboard plant to be co-located. The size of the island limits transportation distances for the collection of secondary materials, and the ocean boundaries of the island can create an economy of local processing favoured over trans-shipment. The proximity of the companies and their service needs also suggest that efficiencies could be gained from siting collective catering, uniform cleaning and instrument sterilization
services near the facilities. The efficiencies could be realized through reductions in the use of energy, water and materials, as well as through reduced transportation. These efficiencies have a greater value in the island context, where resources (water) are more limited and inputs (energy and materials) are more expensive.
Value added industries. A large trans-shipment port project called the Port of the Americas has been proposed for the southern part of the island. In conjunction with the Port project, there is a proposal for the development of a group of value added industries near the port. Already present on the chosen site are two power plants, an old oil refinery and a desalination facility. New development can incorporate the water, material and energy flows of these existing facilities to improve resource efficiency. An example is a beverage manufacturing operation, which uses excess desalinated water as a primary input, low-pressure steam from the power plants to provide refrigeration and cooling and packaging materials generated from reuse/recycling of materials from the surrounding
value added industries. The new port development can be implemented while minimizing environmental impact of new resource flows by increasing the cycling of existing resources. In the absence of the industrial ecology approach of tracking materials through their lifecycles and linking separate industries, the port would be just another large development project in the island context. The scale of material throughputs would provide economic development for Puerto Rico, while burdening the island with increased wastes and demand for energy and water. A view of the port development from the industrial ecology perspective offers options for increased energy and water use efficiency. Programmes to develop packaging reuse and recycling could make the port a sink for some secondary materials on the island, rather than a source of more waste for the strained waste management facilities of Puerto Rico.
These three examples alone will not solve the island-level sustainability challenges of Puerto Rico. The purpose of these studies is to demonstrate that by considering parts of the industrial system, their resource flows and the related impacts to the island environment, human activities can be planned to address the need for careful operation and development in the island context. The studies are themselves suggestions for developing sustainable industry within the broader context of Puerto Rico. Note that the examples presented include considerations of environmental sustainability as well as the potential for future economic development. Industrial ecology does not simply place industry within the constraints of the environment. Connectivity and complexity are
promoted as a means to increase resource use efficiency while improving existing operations and creating opportunities for new businesses (Chertow & Deschenes, 2003).
The examples presented here show methods for improving Puerto Rico’s overall environmental infrastructure: the efficiency of energy, water and material use and the reduction of waste through material cycling. Development solutions based on an industrial ecology perspective speak to the immediate sustainability concerns of Puerto Rico. At the same time, previous research suggests that the 212 P. J. Deschenes & M. Chertow application of technologies to address environmental infrastructural needs are
collective goods, the delivery of which is much more complex than the transfer of ndustrial technology to the supply of private commodities (Tisdell, 2000).
With this is mind; energy should eventually be produced in Puerto Rico primarily from locally available, renewable resources. While these resources are being developed, fossil fuel use can focus on new, cleaner technologies to provide cleaner energy for the island. If fossil fuel is combusted to produce electricity, methods of energy efficiency can reduce demand, and by-product steam can also be put to productive uses. An ethic of co-generation should prevail until renewable technologies can replace existing non-renewable generation.
In the short term, Puerto Rico cannot afford to use fresh water inefficiently. Proper wastewater treatment can help prevent the destruction of the island’s aquifer and aquatic ecosystems as well as the fouling of fresh water resources. Collective partnering in major industries, such as pharmaceutical manufacturing, can motivate more efficient water use and increased waste water treatment, while lowering the overall cost of these activities. It is unreasonable to expect Puerto Rico to forfeit all external inputs of
material resources. However, imported materials are associated with a lack of resource security and the threat of waste generation beyond the island’s assimilative capacity. Non-product materials can be used not once, but repeatedly. Local alternatives, such as recycled packaging and solvents, can be researched as substitutes for external inputs. Landfilling should be seen as an option that is severely limited by the size constraints of the island, and waste materials should be investigated for reuse and recycling or at least energy recovery.
An overview of the island’s sustainability challenges and options provides an insight into the importance of industrial ecology in this island context at a summary level. The concentration of industrial activities embedded in an environment of limited natural resources and carrying capacity introduces immediate sustainability concerns, while creating facilitated conditions for numerous symbiotic interactions with the potential to mitigate and resolve these concerns. As research continues, more examples are uncovered that demonstrate the potential of symbiosis to address resource availability concerns in the island setting in industries such as rum production, food processing, cement and concrete and paper recovery (Yale CIE & FLMM, 2003).

[isaidso]

It would screw your flag up.