Alexis Massol González received the 2002 Goldman Environmental Prize for his leadership in a long-running community campaign against proposed open pit mining in the mountains of central Puerto Rico. As founder and director of Casa Pueblo in Adjuntas, Massol helped organize residents, scientists, students, cultural groups and religious organizations to oppose mining plans that targeted deposits of copper, silver and gold across more than 35,000 acres of mountain terrain. The campaign began in 1980 and ultimately contributed to Puerto Rico’s prohibition of open pit mining in 1995.
The award recognized more than the defeat of a mining proposal. Massol and Casa Pueblo developed a model in which environmental protection was connected to community participation, scientific research and local economic development. After the mining campaign, Massol helped secure protection for 303 hectares, or 748 acres, as Bosque del Pueblo, a government owned forest reserve that became Puerto Rico’s first community managed forest reserve.
What Is the Goldman Environmental Prize?
The Goldman Environmental Prize recognizes grassroots environmental activists whose work has produced significant environmental change.
Massol was one of the recipients in the 2002 prize year, representing Puerto Rico in the category covering islands and island nations. The Goldman Environmental Prize specifically identifies him as a civil engineer who established Puerto Rico’s first community managed forest reserve.
His recognition came after more than two decades of environmental organizing, although the mining campaign itself ran from 1980 to 1995.
The Mining Threat in Puerto Rico
The issue at the center of Massol’s prize was mining in Puerto Rico’s central mountain range.
The region contained deposits of copper, silver and gold. According to the Goldman Environmental Prize, the Puerto Rican government approved plans in the late 1970s for mining operations covering more than 35,000 acres of mountain terrain. Casa Pueblo’s own history describes 17 mineral deposits covering approximately 36,000 cuerdas across Adjuntas, Utuado, Lares and Jayuya.
The proposed method was open pit mining.
The environmental stakes were particularly significant because the central mountains contain forests and watersheds that feed rivers supplying water to communities throughout Puerto Rico. The Goldman Prize says the mountain headwaters supplied water to more than one million residents and that the proposed mining operations posed risks from pollution and toxic residues.
How Massol Responded
Massol did not approach the issue solely as an engineer or environmental campaigner.
In 1980, he and other residents helped establish the organization that became Casa Pueblo. The group focused on educating communities and mobilizing residents against the mining plans. Casa Pueblo describes itself as a project of community self management committed to protecting natural, cultural and human resources.
This community based approach became central to Massol’s environmental work.
Rather than leaving the debate to government agencies, mining companies and technical specialists, Casa Pueblo brought the issue into schools, neighborhoods and public spaces. Cultural activities helped broaden participation and connect environmental protection with Puerto Rican community identity.
That strategy helped turn mining from a specialized development issue into a much wider public debate.
The First Victory Was Not the End
The campaign produced an initial victory in 1986, when the government rejected the mining proposal following grassroots opposition.
But the issue returned.
In 1993, the government again granted mining permits. Casa Pueblo responded by expanding the campaign and building a broader coalition that included environmental, scientific, student, cultural and religious sectors.
This second phase was critical to Massol’s eventual recognition.
The campaign was no longer simply a local protest. It had developed into a sustained movement capable of maintaining pressure despite a renewed attempt to move the mining project forward.
The 1995 Turning Point
The decisive legal change came in 1995, when Puerto Rico enacted legislation prohibiting open pit mining.
The Goldman Environmental Prize attributes the outcome to the strong opposition generated by Casa Pueblo and its coalition.
There is an important distinction here.
The legislation did not prohibit every possible form of mining. It specifically prohibited open pit mining, which the Goldman Prize says was the only viable mining method for the deposits involved in the campaign.
For the proposed development Massol had spent years opposing, however, the prohibition effectively removed the basis for the project.
From Stopping a Mine to Protecting a Forest
Massol’s work did not stop when the mining threat disappeared.
He pushed for the threatened territory to receive permanent protection. In 1996, 303 hectares, or 748 acres, were officially converted into a forest reserve that became known as Bosque del Pueblo, meaning “People’s Forest.”
This was particularly important because the reserve was not simply placed under conventional government management.
The Goldman Environmental Prize describes Bosque del Pueblo as the first government owned forest reserve in Puerto Rico to be managed by a community. Casa Pueblo developed a conservation management plan and involved scientists, specialists, artists, young people and volunteers in the forest’s management.
The achievement therefore went beyond preserving land.
It created a new relationship between government and community in managing protected natural resources.
Why Community Management Mattered
Massol’s environmental philosophy was based on the idea that communities should have an active role in determining how their natural resources are protected and used.
That philosophy became visible in Bosque del Pueblo through:
- Environmental education
- Scientific research
- Forest conservation
- Community participation
- Ecotourism
- Sustainable agriculture
- Cultural activities
Casa Pueblo also developed shade grown coffee as part of its effort to create economic alternatives that were compatible with environmental conservation.
This approach helped distinguish Massol’s work from a campaign focused solely on defeating one industrial project.
The broader objective was to show that a community could protect its environment while developing sustainable economic and cultural activities.
What the Prize Recognized
Massol’s Goldman Prize can therefore be understood through several connected achievements.
He organized a grassroots environmental movement
Massol helped transform concern about mining into sustained community action in Adjuntas and surrounding municipalities.
He helped build a broad coalition
When the mining plans returned in the 1990s, Casa Pueblo expanded its campaign beyond environmental activists, bringing together scientific, student, cultural and religious groups.
He helped achieve a major policy change
The 1995 prohibition on open pit mining removed the legal foundation for the mining development that had been the focus of the campaign.
He helped turn the victory into permanent conservation
The creation of Bosque del Pueblo in 1996 protected 748 acres and established a community management model for a government owned forest reserve.
He connected conservation with local development
Casa Pueblo incorporated coffee production, ecotourism, education and other activities into its environmental model, seeking alternatives to extractive development.
Why Alexis Massol Was the Recipient
It is worth making one distinction clear.
The Goldman Prize was awarded to Alexis Massol González, but the environmental campaign was not the work of one individual.
Casa Pueblo’s history identifies Massol alongside Tinti Deyá Díaz and a broader body of volunteers as founders of the organization. The campaign depended on residents and allied groups who participated in organizing, education and public advocacy.
Massol nevertheless became the campaign’s principal public figure and organizational leader. The Goldman Prize recognized his leadership in turning a local environmental conflict into a sustained community movement and, eventually, a model for community based conservation.
The Legacy Went Beyond the Mining Campaign
The environmental philosophy developed during the mining struggle continued to shape Casa Pueblo.
The organization later opposed other projects it considered environmentally damaging, including the proposed Via Verde natural gas pipeline. In 2012, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority withdrew its proposal from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and said it would examine an alternative route.
Casa Pueblo also became increasingly associated with renewable energy.
Its headquarters had solar power before Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in 2017. When the island’s electricity infrastructure suffered extensive damage, the solar powered facility remained operational and became an important community resource. The Goldman Environmental Prize later described the organization’s expanded solar work as part of its continuing community based environmental model.
That later work was not the reason Massol received the 2002 prize, but it helps explain the longer trajectory of his environmental philosophy.
The Most Important Part of Massol’s Goldman Prize
The central achievement behind Alexis Massol’s Goldman Environmental Prize was not simply stopping a mine.
It was the sequence that followed:
Community organizing → opposition to mining → legislative protection → conservation of the threatened land → community management → sustainable economic development.
That sequence explains why his 2002 recognition remains significant. Massol and Casa Pueblo demonstrated how a grassroots environmental campaign could evolve into a permanent community institution rather than disappearing once the immediate threat had passed.
The lasting question raised by his work is therefore larger than the mining dispute of the 1980s and 1990s. It is whether communities can build enough local capacity to protect natural resources while also creating viable economic, cultural and energy systems of their own. Casa Pueblo’s continuing work in Adjuntas represents an ongoing attempt to answer that question.