del Norte crosses 235 rivers and brooks, in addition to 1.4 million square meters of wetlands. Dr. Arturo Massol González, professor at the University of Puerto Rico, winner of the 2003 Goldman Environmental Prize, and director of Casa Pueblo, a community-based environmental watchdog organization in Puerto Rico, estimated that construction of the project would require the alteration of 8.2 million cubic meters of land. Controversies A number of controversies surround this project. The administration of governor Luis G. Fortuño maintains that the Vía Verde Pipeline will supply the island with a cleaner energy source while at the same time reducing the cost of generating electricity by up to 30%. It has also estimated that Via Verde will reduce gas emissions by 60% while creating 5,000 direct and indirect jobs. Puerto Rico uses 36,000 GWh of electricity annually. Current cost for with petroleum burning is $12.25. With Vía Verde, the cost would be reduced to $5.15, according to government figures. But some have argued that politicians baptized the project as "Via Verde" (Green Way) to give the appearance that it is a good thing. Others, like Casa Pueblo founder Alexis Massol, have made reacted to the Via Verde (Green Way) name as a misnomer: "Vía Verde ... was rumored to be a gas pipeline, nothing green and nothing ecological" And some add that "everything about the project is wrong, beginning with Gov. Fortuño's Orwellian name for the pipeline – the 'Green Way' [Via Verde]." A 5 October 2011 report in La Perla del Sur, a Ponce, Puerto Rico, weekly, stated that high-ranking member of the political party that governor Luis Fortuno presides have broken ranks with the governor in favor of energy alternatives that are more efficient, less costly, and less intrusive on the environment. Environmental impact Some argue that "Via Verde" will negatively impact forest areas, hydrographic basins, lands fit for agriculture, and the all-important and endangered karstic region of northern Puerto Rico. It will also represent further dependence on another form of fossil fuel that, while less polluting than the current oil-based system of electricity generation, will still contribute to global warming. In January 2012, environmentalist Bill McKibben presented his support against the Via Verde project and compared it to the halted Keystone XL pipeline project. He stated, "Around the world, the fossil-fuel industry is carrying out its last desperate attempt to avoid the arrival of renewable energy and