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SAN JUAN — Internal emails obtained by The Latino Newsletter show the Biden White House and Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) reactions to Puerto Rico’s natural resources secretary shelving an investigation into alleged illegal construction at a protected coastal area in 2025.
Puerto Rico’s Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DNER) investigation would have targeted people, including Governor Jenniffer González-Colón’s in-laws, who allegedly unlawfully constructed houses in La Parguera, a protected area in the Southwest town of Lajas. The order also legalized the structures built along La Parguera’s coastline. The DNER was originally investigating alleged violators who allegedly illegally cut mangroves and developed in protected areas.
DNER Secretary Waldemar Quiles signed the order a few hours after being appointed in January 2025. After it was signed, several environmental lawyers and activists argued that it was likely illegal because private residences do not comply with the area’s current building guidelines.
Before being elected, González-Colón had called the investigation “political persecution.” The Office of the Special Independent Prosecutor’s panel recently ruled there is no legal basis to assign a special prosecutor to Quiles for signing the order.
What the Emails Said
“Violation in protected lands is a trend in Puerto Rico,” Gretchen Sierra-Zorita, then-director for Puerto Rico and Territories in the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, wrote in a January 2025 email shortly before the Biden administration was phased out of the White House. The main recipient was Nelson Colón, chief of the Regulatory and Operations Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Caribbean District.
“In the past we have attributed this problem to the DNER’s lack of enforcement capacity, but I am afraid that this recent decision could signal something else,” reads another part of her email.
The email from Gretchen Sierra-Zorita to Nelson Colón from January 10, 2025. The Latino Newsletter has redacted some recipients’ names and email addresses. (Source: EPA)
The email, cc’d to USACE and EPA personnel, expressed concerns about the shelving of the investigation and specifically mentioned the property owned by González-Colón’s in-laws.
The Latino Newsletter obtained these emails through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the EPA and U.S. Fish and Wildlife (FWS).
Environmental Warnings
For decades, environmental activists have warned about the damaging effects the houses built along the coastline have on the local ecology. The environmental controversy reached a peak in 2024 after it became known that the parents of González-Colón’s husband own property in La Parguera.
“Over 100 illegal structures” have been constructed along the La Parguera coastline since the 1960s, according to an email obtained from the EPA.
In late 2025, a contractor who allegedly worked in several houses in the area, including the governor’s in-laws, was arrested by the FBI. There is currently a federal investigation into the houses in La Parguera, per local outlet Noticel. Although a court record initially stated that both the Governor and her in-laws were under investigation, a prosecutor quickly clarified that there was no investigation into González-Colón. The lawyer for her in-laws previously told El Nuevo Día that he was unaware of any FBI investigation, claiming that he knew of federal officials attempting to investigate who did not identify themselves. They were likely from the EPA, he told El Nuevo Día.
In the email, Sierra-Zorita urged Colón of USACE to consider a plan of action and the legal resources available to protect Puerto Rico’s natural resources.
“It is my hope that the USACE and its federal partners step up as guardians of Puerto Rico’s natural resources,” she wrote.
Colón’s emailed response to Sierra-Zorita from January 10, 2025. The Latino Newsletter has redacted some recipients’ names and email addresses. (Source: EPA)
Colón responded that the creation of the newly formed Caribbean District entailed “focusing attention back to areas of higher incidence of enforcement actions, La Parguera being one of those.”
“Environmental violations in protected lands and ecologically sensitive areas in Puerto Rico have been well documented. Lax enforcement has generally been attributed to a lack of local political will, as well as chronic underfunding and understaffing of the DNER. I cannot speculate on why the DNER Secretary shelved the investigation or why he was later exonerated by the Puerto Rico Secretary of Justice, as the facts of the case were never made public,” Sierra-Zorita said in an email to The Latino Newsletter.
The Office of Corporate Communications for the Caribbean District told The Latino Newsletter that it does not comment on interagency deliberations, internal correspondence, or any potential compliance reviews or enforcement actions involving other federal or Commonwealth agencies.
A Previous MOU
In the 1970s, USACE and the Puerto Rico government signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to establish guidelines for preserving the La Parguera area. However, it was formally rescinded in January 2025 because it no longer aligned with USACE’s mission and limited its enforcement and compliance options.
Under the Biden administration, USACE significantly expanded its presence and mission in Puerto Rico, Sierra-Zorita explained. The establishment of the Caribbean District in July 2024 was the first permanent district USACE established since 1950, she said.
An email between USFWS employees from January 31, 2025. The Latino Newsletter has redacted recipients’ names and email addresses. (Source: USFWS)
“[USACE] tried to keep up their side of the MOU but DNER did little on their end,” reads an email between USFWS employees obtained by The Latino Newsletter.
DNER did not respond to a request for comment.
A January 2025 email containing talking points from the EPA about La Parguera mentions that USACE and the EPA were coordinating to investigate alleged illegal discharges under federal law. The talking points specifically mention that they can only investigate the discharge of fill materials, not pile-supported or floating structures.
An email between EPA employees discussing their talking points about La Parguera on January 21, 2025. The Latino Newsletter has redacted recipients’ names and email addresses. (Source: EPA)
“EPA looked into the complaints about this issue, including conferring with other appropriate regulators, as we do with all complaints that come our way. EPA does not have any active enforcement cases related to La Parguera,” Mike Martucci, EPA Regional Administrator for EPA’s Region 2 office, told the Latino Newsletter in a written statement.
An email between FWS employees from January 10, 2025. The Latino Newsletter has redacted recipients’ names and email addresses. (Source: FWS)
Another email from the same FWS supervisor said that it would be a good idea to discuss La Parguera with the newly established Caribbean District. In another email in the same thread, they wrote that the DNER certified the floating houses as boats “instead of dealing with it,” until USACE took them to court and got them out.
FWS acknowledged a request for comment but did not immediately respond by press time.
An email between EPA employees on February 4, 2025. The Latino Newsletter has redacted recipients’ names and email addresses. (Source: EPA)
“This is going to blow up soon,” reads one email in Spanish from an EPA employee, referring to the environmental controversy. The specific email was in response to a complaint filed over alleged illegal construction, such as concrete slabs being built over mangrove marshlands, in La Parguera.
“The USACE plan does not seem to support JGO. This keeps on getting more interesting,” another EPA employee replied, referring to González-Colón.
Carlos Berríos Polanco is a journalist from Puerto Rico who covers climate, conflict, and their intersection. He is also the Deputy Editor of The Latino Newsletter’s San Juan Bureau.
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