My spouse and I are also 19-year property owners on Isla Mujeres. We pay taxes, our rentals are fully licensed, we have been part of this community since the beginning. We support the residents,” and Isla Mujeres is our home away from home. On February 13, I stepped outside my home to watch the fireballs exploding from the power generator just as the author described.
So, why did CFE choose the location they did for the backup generator? With how fragile the electrical grid is on Isla, it makes sense to have a backup electrical generator. But, why this location?
There are several areas on Isla where the generator could have been installed that would not disturb residential areas or commercial areas, so why the spot where it is? CFE chose the location they did, on the tarmac of the old airport runway, because it was the most convenient for them.
They did not consider how it would disrupt any of the properties across the street. Why? Because CFE knew most of those properties were not owned by local residents. CFE knew those properties were mostly owned by people from other countries, so CFE did not care how the generator would affect them.
And how does the generator affect the people living and staying in the properties across the street? The diesel fumes fill the air and drift into the homes, sure, but those can be minimized by closing the windows.
The generator, now, explodes and spews fireballs into the air threatening the lives of the people (residents, friends, families, tourists) with structure fires, sure, but that can be minimized by removing the flammable materials and completely remodeling the properties (not a desired solution).
But, perhaps the most immediate, long-term, permanently damaging effect on the people living and staying in the properties across the street is the noise. The level of the noise when the generator is running is painful. The levels exceed 115 decibels, INSIDE the houses.
And these levels are maintained for hours, up to 15 hours at a time. In the United States, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) limits the level of noise in the workplace to 90 decibels (dBA) over an 8-hour work day.
So, a worker/employee, someone that knows and expects to be working in a noisy environment, is not allowed to work where the noise will exceed 90 dBA during their 8-hour work day. OSHA uses a 5 dBA exchange rate, which means that for every 5 dBA increase in noise level, the exposure time is reduced by half.
This means a 95 dBA level would be 4-hour exposure, 100 dBA would be 2-hour, 105 dBA would be 1-hour, 110 dBA would be 30-minutes, and 115 dBA would be 15-minutes. A worker/employee working in an environment with 115 dBA noise levels is not allowed to stay in that environment for more than 15 minutes. Being exposed to noise at this level for more than 15 minutes can cause permanent damage to your hearing.
CFE does not appear to care about the health and safety of the people living and staying across the street from their generator. This position is reinforced when watching CFE repair and perpetuate the operation of the generator after every time it breaks down (or explodes).
If CFE is going to insist on keeping their generator, there is a simple, and I would suspect, inexpensive solution – move the generator a few hundred meters to the north of the old airport tower. A few hundred meters north of the old tower would put the generator across the street from a stretch of the coast that is too narrow for any development.
There would never be any houses or businesses that could build there because there is no room. That stretch of coast is long enough that the generator would be far enough away from any of the existing properties, so the noise level would most likely never exceed 90 dBA. CFE would just have to level out a spot and set up the generator.
The diesel fumes would drift away from any properties; the fireballs would spew into the air, threatening no one; and the noise levels would be low enough to be tuned out by any residents or businesses.
So, why doesn’t CFE move their generator a few hundred meters north of the old tower? Because CFE doesn’t care.
Thanks,
Frustrated but hopeful 19-year Isla Property Owner
P.S. the OSHA information can be found doing a simple Google search
