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9/6/15, 2:33 PM

Subject: Urgent 1/4 Puerta de Tierra

From:

coralations (coralations@yahoo.com)

To:

guardamar@mail.com; atreece@earthjustice.org; smashuda@earthjustice.org; sanjuanm@microjuris.com;

janebeckerwhitaker@gmail.com; lisamarie.carrubba@noaa.gov; tom.moore@noaa.gov;
Jennifer.Moore@noaa.gov; Enck.Judith@epamail.epa.gov; carmenrguerrero@gmail.com;
coral_giac@yahoo.com; ruperto.chaparro@upr.edu; epcuevas@gmail.com; michael.nemeth@noaa.gov;
rviqueira@hotmail.com; alfredo.a.montanez@gmail.com;

Date:

Wednesday, March 4, 2015 8:51 AM

Apologies for not sending all of these in one email- but Im working from the phone.
Location: Puerta de Tierra across from El Hamburger
Work by transportation authority(? no sign posted and no number at the site) apparently to address a coastal
erosion problem that most agencies agree in the record was caused by land
based storm water runoff, continues to further impact a landslide area to install a shoreline breakwater
typically used to minimize the effects from ocean-based erosion due to high wave energy. In so doing they
directly filled during their work yesterday, coastal waters listed as CH for corals. These coastal waters enjoy
some of
the healthiest remaining, endangered, A palmatas left in the Caribbean due to the circulation found in this
high wave energy area. Many of San Juan's surfers and bathers enjoy this area.
In the next videos you will see the tracks of heavy equipment that directly filled these inner pools- and a
video of the response of the layer of fill, as a child walks over the top of the mud and the mud responds like a
thick tarp over these waters. The analysis of the amount of fill can be calculated in increments of tons by
volume at high tide, inside this boulder area.
The initial concerns to local NMFS, were responded to by an email that states that the boulders were placed
to prevent impacts to waters from this land-based erosion, which of course is not their function, nor a defined
best management practice to curb land based storm water runoff.
You will see in the video taken by Sonia Villaverde yesterday, that it was not raining and tracks on the mud
filling shoreline pools show the cause of this fill to be heavy equipment.
Again, this is evidence of a direct fill. This fill happened after multiple complaints and concerns had been
flooding agencies on this project. People are upset because it's intuitive the response to the land slide has
made it much worse, and many people enjoy this area and want to protect these remaining living corals. This
also serves as a great example of what can happen if more of the PdT fragile cliffside vegitation is replaced
by cement as some of the current plans uncovered for the illegal Paseo Linea project-( moving in violation of
PR Ley 147, 1999, among other violations.) indicates.
We were informed the work also impacted the adjacent historic wall- constructed in 1788, and seen in this
before photo.
This feb 22 photo shows inadequate and incorrect use of temporary erosion control materials installed on the
beach to hold back a mountain of sediment from the 60 foot tall landslide that was made worse by a dirt road
cut into the slide in order to access the shore to install what appears to be an ocean based solution to a landbased coastal erosion/ landslide problem.
We have now heard even more work on this shore is eminant. The complete lack of local agency
transparency prohibits us from accessing plans and permits in the time frame needed to address this problem
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9/6/15, 2:33 PM

without direct action.

We hope others qualified to stop future damage do so immediately. We hope those qualified to restore in
delicate habitat, can implement a solution to the actual problem, a real solution to storm water runoff, and
that they can immediately scoop out this mud, and revegitate the hillshide and cliffside dirt road. At risk are
these corals, the remaining historical treasures and the scenic road now still in use,but collapsing to the old
city. Three videos coming.
This photo from the 22nd.

Mary Ann Lucking

Director
CORALations
PO Box 750
Culebra, PR. 00775
787-556-6234
maryann@coralations.org
!!!

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