Gasoducto...they contaminated the process when the Government of Puerto Rico hired as an advisor BC Peabody, a firm whose director is the former director of the Jacksonville Office of the Corps of Engineers". He charged the Jacksonville Office with unethical practices and challenged the Office to react to the accusations. Secrecy and lack of popular involvement Despite the government's statements that the Gasoducto planning process is being done in a transparent manner, there are those who feel the Government of Puerto Rico is not being totally open when it comes to revealing exactly what it is doing to inform the public about the Gasoducto. Alexis Massol, director of Casa Pueblo, stated that "Mr. [Alfred A.] Pantano [head of the Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. Corps of Engineers office in change of reviewing the permit application from the Government of Puerto Rico,] ordered the transfer of the [U.S. Corps of Engineers] reviewing office from Puerto Rico to Florida [USA], provoking mistrust. When Mr. Pantano told the press that [constructing a] building has a greater impact than building a gas pipeline, such comment provoked suspicion. When Mr. Pantano hides information from other federal agencies regarding the [planned] existence of 20 other hidden valves for [the addition of] other branch pipelines, then he raises more suspicion, greater mistrust, and gives the appearance of a total fabrication." On 6 November 2011, Congressman Luis Gutierrez expressed having knowledge of contradictory statements coming out of Mr. Pantano's office which "raised great concern." On 11 November 2011, an investigation by the Ponce, Puerto Rico-based La Perla del Sur newsweekly found that allegations made to Noticentro by Governor Fortuño on 27 October (2011) which stated that it was necessary for his government to appropriate lands before qualifying for the permit by the U.S. Corps of Engineers (USCE) were denied by Barry Vorse, the spokesperson for the USCE. The director of Casa Pueblo complained that project consultants such as its head consultant Daniel Pagan Rosa, "continue lying about the permit process to save their [$30] million dollar contracts." Governmental maneuvering In May 2011, the regional Jacksonville, Florida, office of the U.S. Corps of Engineers took over from the local San Juan Corps of Engineers office the permits application for construction of the gas pipeline. The action was received with suspicion and criticized as having set a precedent in the way how the USACOE works, where local permits are always managed by