Weather Report #2: Puerto Rico is "perhaps the biggest gas to power opportunity in the world"; Don't Coordinate Drug Buys at Supermarkets with Undercover DEA Agents; Tourist Arrested While Smuggling Gun Through Aguadilla Airport

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It's already March and you know what that means. The year is 1/6th over and we are ever so close to the period of doomer-optimism-meets-hypervigilance that the Caribbean calls "Hurricane Season." Because Donald Trump and his shadow president Elon Musk keep cutting federal agencies like FEMA and NWS, it is remarkably unclear how the latter half of the year is going to go for the Caribbean, the "frontline of the climate crisis," if there is some form of climate disaster, which is extremely likely btw. I'm currently trying to find an angle to approach that story from, if you have any tips or want to become a source for that story: send me an email.

I've paywalled the media recommendations, but everything else is free. If you would like to see them, become a paid subscriber today for as low as $3!

Anyway, here's what I've got for you this week:

1. New Fortress Energy, which sells gas to Puerto Rico and controls a lot of energy generation views the archipelago as "perhaps the biggest gas to power opportunity in the world" after a $242 million net loss in 2024.
2. Two men were arrested after allegedly coordinating drug smuggling operations with undercover DEA agents at a supermarket parking lot.
3. A man allegedly smuggled a gun from Kansas to Puerto Rico, then was arrested while trying to bring it back through the Aguadilla airport.
4. Links to articles about Tekken, the real estate politics at the forefront of the Trump and Musk presidency, why you need to keep a physical stash of the media you like, a tamagotchi that kills you, and more.
5. TWO fiction book recommendations. One is a post-apocalyptic novel about water rights. The other is a comic book about national-security-cum-techno-feudalism.
6. My favourite Tekken song and three other songs that I have been listening to nonstop for the past week.

Puerto Rico is "perhaps the biggest gas to power opportunity in the world," said CEO and Founder of New Fortress Energy During Q4 Earnings Calls; Reports $242 Million Net Loss in 2024

On Monday, New Fortress Energy had their Q4 earnings call. I compiled the spiciest tidbits into Twitter and BlueSky posts when business sites posted the transcript.

Puerto Rico is "perhaps the biggest gas to power opportunity in the world. We are the sole provider of gas in San Juan, where over 80% of the people live in that geographic area. So we feel like we're incredibly well positioned," said Wes Edens, founder and CEO of New Fortress Energy during a Q4 earnings call on Monday.

The same earnings call and press release celebrated a $110 million payment they received from the Puerto Rican government in exchange for modifying their contract with the archipelago. Meanwhile, the Puerto Rican government is celebrating this payment as a huge win and boldly stating that they have "saved" people over $860 million dollars. However, this estimate comes from the misguided belief that the company would have always earned the maximum payment ($100 million per year tied to performance metrics) out of the incentive structure every year when they only received $15.52 million in the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

With this new contract, they get an upfront payment of $110 million instead of getting somewhere between $10-20 million per year. Considering the company announced a net loss of $224 million in the fourth quarter of 2024 and $242 million over the full year, according to a press release, it seems like a fantastic deal for them.

"Converting gas-ready plants is heavily aligned with major initiatives of [the] Puerto Rican government," reads a slide from a fourth quarter NFE investor presentation.

By law, Puerto Rico is supposed to be moving towards 100% renewable energy by 2050. However, the same law stipulates that all current and future fossil fuel plants must run on at least two sources of fuel, one of which must be LNG. Since that law was signed, it was clear that we would not reach that goal because the government was not moving towards it in a significant way. In fact, our current governor proposed a law that would eliminate interim goals for renewable energy generation shortly after coming into office.

Clearly, we're not going to reach this year's interim goal of 40% renewable because: 1) we're not even sort of close and 2) NFE's 80 TBtu island-wide gas supply contract was extended for one year.

You can find the Q4 investor presentation here:

If You're Coordinating Drug Smuggling Operations at a Supermarket Parking Lot, You Might Be Talking to an Undercover DEA Agent

In June 2023, DEA agents were surveilling the parking lot of the Pueblo Supermarket located in the Isla Verde neighborhood of Carolina, Puerto Rico. While there, agents observed Rafael Rodríguez Martínez, another man, and an undercover DEA agent "coordinate a drug smuggling venture from Venezuela (VZ) to Puerto Rico (PR)," alleges a forfeiture complaint signed by DEA agent Dominique Paige.

Later on, in September 2024, Rodríguez Martínez allegedly contacted the undercover agent to "coordinate multiple drug smuggling ventures from the Dominican Republic (DR) to Puerto Rico (PR)."

On September 7, 2024, Rodríguez Martínez, Heriberto Mota Cedeño, and the undercover DEA agent allegedly agreed to "conduct a maritime narcotics venture of approximately 150 kilograms of cocaine," alleges an affidavit also signed by Paige accompanying a 2024 federal complaint against Rodríguez Martínez and Mota Cedeño.

The day after, September 8, 2024, undercover DEA agents received ~150 kg of cocaine during a "rendezvous with an unknown vessel" at the location shown above. On the same date, the vessel "transferred" five burlap sacks and a duffel bag with ~172.4 kg of cocaine to the undercover agents, according to the affidavit. While it's not super clear from the affidavit, the forfeiture complaint says they were "two separate UC operations." Neither document clarifies whether the drugs were simply dropped off or if the agents paid for them. However, it does clarify that DEA agents "secured" the drugs into evidence once they returned to Puerto Rico.

On Sept. 9, 2024, DEA agents conducted a "controlled delivery operation" involving the second batch of cocaine and Rodríguez Martínez and Mota Cedeño, which is when they arrested both of them after showing them the sacks of cocaine, alleges the affidavit.

I decided to highlight this case even though the original affidavit is old because 1) the forfeiture complaint is relatively new and shows a public place where a federal agency is doing surveillance, and 2) it's the first time I have seen coordinates of where undercover agents have picked up drugs. Puerto Rico was declared a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) in 1994, and to be totally honest with you, there is not a lot of good coverage of the drug scene here outside of reports whenever the Puerto Rico District Attorney puts out a press release. I hope to provide more expansive coverage of the War on Drugs and how it has been an incredible failure here on Heavy Weather.

Here's the affidavit, first filed in September 2024, from the original arrest and the forfeiture complaint, first filed in February 2025:

Tourist Smuggled Gun From Kansas to Puerto Rico, Then He Was Arrested While Trying to Smuggle It Back

Stories abound of tourists disregarding the gun laws of the places they're visiting by allegedly taking guns or ammo with them on vacation by mistake. However, this week I have a story of someone who did it on purpose.

At the beginning of February, Madden Lai was "wearing a bulletproof vest" and had some weed in his pocket when TSA officers found a .233 rifle round in his carry-on, according to an affidavit signed by a DHS Agent Kenneth Acevedo. When they conducted a secondary search, officers found a "9mm pistol barrel, a firearm safety pin, and a firearm spring in his carry-on." Although he didn't manage to get on his flight to Chicago, his luggage did and when TSA officers there searched it, they found a firearm receiver and ammunition.

Lai allegedly told Homeland Special Investigations (HSI) agents that he had "purchased a 9mm SAR-9 pistol in Kansas and transported it to Puerto Rico in August 2024 by disassembling the firearm and distributing its parts between his carry-on and checked luggage." According to the affidavit, Lai "admitted" that he "was using the same technique to transport the firearms back to the mainland United States" when he was detained by TSA agents. He also "acknowledged" that he never declared the firearm parts or ammunitions despite "being aware of the items in his possession," according to the document.

After he was arrested, Lai paid a $10,000 dollar bond to get out of jail and was put on probation. The conditions of his release included pretrial supervision, drug testing, giving up all his guns to federal authorities, and staying at an unlisted address in Puerto Rico. Shortly after being let out on bond, he tested positive for weed. However, he claimed it was because he had used pot before being arrested.

Lai pled guilty to one count of transporting a firearm without written notice to an airline. His plea agreement recommends a sentence of one year of probation. The plea agreement supplement is still sealed.

Here's the affidavit and plea agreement: