El Código de Construcción entró en vigor el 1 de marzo. (Archivo / El Nuevo Día )

Por Rebecca Banuchi /[email protected]

Aunque no lleva ni dos meses vigente, ya se vislumbran enmiendas para el nuevo código de construcción, que entró en vigor en marzo y dispone los parámetros que regirán los trabajos de infraestructura.

Edwin Irizarry Lugo, director ejecutivo de la Oficina de Gerencia de Permisos (OGPE), precisó ayer que ya se conformó un comité de revisión con miras a que pronto se le realicen enmiendas a la reglamentación.

Según la ley, el código debía revisarse cada tres años.

Los cambios serán necesarios si se aprueba una medida legislativa relacionada con la contaminación lumínica que trasladaría la jurisdicción sobre ese asunto de la Junta de Calidad Ambiental a la OGPE.

“Como está la propuesta legislativa, sería que la OGPE establecería las reglas, y habría que enmendar (el código) para incorporarlas”, explicó el funcionario.

Irizarry Lugo hizo las declaraciones tras reunirse con los directivos del Consejo de Códigos Internacionales (ICC, por sus siglas en inglés), que podría intervenir activamente en el proceso que iniciará el Gobierno durante las próximas semanas para orientar sobre el código, que se estrenó en marzo.

El principal oficial ejecutivo del ICC, Rick Weiland, y el presidente de la Junta de Directores, James Brothers, también se reunieron durante la tarde con el gobernador Luis Fortuño.

“Hemos estado en conversaciones con el gobierno federal, específicamente con FEMA, y con el grupo de ICC para que vengan a Puerto Rico y den adiestramientos relacionados con los códigos de construcción adoptados. Ellos tienen el peritaje, el conocimiento técnico”, comentó Irizarry Lugo en entrevista con El Nuevo Día.

Aún no se ha concretado un acuerdo. El titular de OGPE estimó que eso ocurrirá “durante estos días”, y destacó que a eso obedece la visita de los directivos de la organización internacional.

Sin embargo, preliminarmente se estableció que serían entre 15 y 20 adiestramientos, y se ofrecerían entre mayo y octubre.

La ICC es una entidad sin fines de lucro fundada en 1994 con el propósito de desarrollar un conjunto de medidas que sirvieran de modelo de códigos de construcción en Estados Unidos.

El código aprobado en Puerto Rico se implementó el 1 de marzo, y durante su elaboración se adoptaron nueve de los códigos internacionales del ICC ajustados a las particularidades geográficas, geológicas, topográficas, climáticas y sociales de la Isla.

Japan quake data should be stored in the cloudSource: Locus TechnologiesApr. 26, 2011      (0 votes)0 0 NewShareAdd to FavoritesOne of the chief complaints as the crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant unfolds is the paltry amount of information that the Tokyo Electric Power Co. and the Japanese government have shared with the citizens of Japan and of the world.

In an attempt to understand the severity of the crisis, the nuclear community is piecing together a forensic analysis from thousands of miles away. It does not need to be this way.

Using cloud-computing technology to store data on faraway networks that are accessible to all stakeholders will help us all make decisions on the cleanup. Fukushima is not just Japan's problem: We're all going to be dealing with the fallout from this situation for years.

Yet the tsunami of data needed makes collection and management a challenge, unless the proper information management system is put in place. Samples of air, soil, groundwater and seawater, as well as of crops and fish, will be collected from potentially affected areas. That data will need to be evaluated for both short- and long-term impacts on humans and the environment.

BP never did this during the gulf oil spill, and Soviet and Russian authorities never did this for Chernobyl, so the public still does not know the exact extent of those disasters' effects on human health and the environment.

Placing all data in a centralized management system in the cloud would allow us to know where samples were taken, who collected them, how the samples were analyzed, what the levels of radionuclides were and what the long-term effects of each isotope are likely to be. The public lacks the sophistication to deal with most of this data, but scientists and engineers could use their combined knowledge to advise on the next steps at Fukushima and improve safety at the rest of the planet's nuclear power plants.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/04/24/INC41J1V8V.DTL#ixzz1KZkfXNy5

Martin Pena Community Group Receives EPA Environmental Justice Award

 

Contact:  Brenda Reyes 787-977-5869; [email protected]

(San Juan, P.R. – April 7, 2011) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Regional Administrator Judith Enck and Lisa Garcia, the Agency’s Senior Advisor on Environmental Justice, today presented an award for outstanding work to further environmental justice to the ENLACE Cano Martin Pena Project. The group was recognized for work developing a comprehensive and environmentally sustainable economic development plan for the Cano Martin Pena, with the full engagement of the communities along the canal.

“ENLACE Cano Martin Pena has done outstanding work to build partnerships and develop a comprehensive redevelopment plan for this beleaguered canal,” said Judith Enck.  “Thanks to ENLACE’s land use plan, there is a strategy to improve economic, public health and environmental conditions in the communities along the canal.”

“The recipients of this year’s environmental justice awards have developed projects that empower communities to participate in environmental decision-making and serve as models for other communities working to address environmental justice concerns,” said Lisa Garcia, Senior Advisor for Environmental Justice to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. “These types of community driven partnerships help advance efforts to make our most overburdened communities healthier, and more sustainable.” 

The mission of ENLACE Cano Martin Pena is to rehabilitate theMartin Pena Canal and its bordering communities by building partnerships between the communities and the public and private sector.  ENLACE has established and implemented a land use and comprehensive development plan that works to improve social, economic, and environmental conditions for eight communities in the Cano Martin Pena Special Planning District. The canal is a 3.5-mile long natural tidal channel located in the heart of the San Juan National Estuary. It provides a connection between the San Juan Bay and the San Jose Lagoon. Impoverished residents who migrated to San Juan during the first half of the 20th Century built their houses in the mangroves bordering the canal. For decades, the canal has struggled with urban poverty and environmental degradation.

ENLACE has led and participated in many projects aimed at improving quality of life and environmental conditions in the Martin Pena communities.  ENLACE partnered with the San Juan Bay Estuary Program, part of EPA’s national estuary program, to work with a school in the Martin Pena community on a volunteer water quality monitoring program.  Recently, ENLACE assisted EPA in water quality sampling along the channel and in areas adjacent to the channel.  In addition, ENLACE has compiled information and contracted for studies related to the preparation of a feasibility report and Environmental Impact Statement for the dredging of the channel.  ENLACE has also partnered with the Ponce School of Medicine, which is conducting an epidemiological study on the effects of the residents' repeated exposure to water and sediment contaminated by sewage.  ENLACE also provides support and guidance to Martin Pena Recycles, a community-based recycling effort  run out of a formerly abandoned home that was restored and converted into a community Recycling Center.

Each year, EPA recognizes partnerships that address local environmental justice concerns and result in positive environmental and human health benefits in communities through its National Achievements in Environmental Justice Awards program.

For more information about the award program, visithttp://www.epa.gov/compliance/ej/awards/index.html.