FEMA/PUERTO RICO: “Puerto Rico’s governor said Sunday [10-29-17] he would cancel a $300 million reconstruction contract with a little-known Montana energy firm, saying the controversial agreement was detracting from the U.S. territory’s disaster response.
Gov. Ricardo Rosselló announced the cancellation in a press conference at the governor’s mansion after the Federal Emergency Management Agency and multiple members of Congress said they had significant concerns with the decision by Puerto Rico’s power authority to award the contract to Whitefish Energy Holdings LLC.
In a statement Friday, FEMA said it had questions about how the deal’s prices were negotiated and was talking with the public electricity monopoly known as Prepa and its legal advisers about how the contract was procured…
Questions surrounding the Whitefish deal intensified as federal officials began scrutinizing the U.S. territory’s disaster-recovery spending. More than a month after Hurricane Maria destroyed much of Puerto Rico’s electrical grid, service has been restored to less than a third of the island’s power customers.”
-Andrew Scurria, “Puerto Rico Governor Cancels $300 Million Power Contract,” The Wall Street Journal online, Oct. 30, 2017 08:10am