LEGAL/PUERTO RICO: “A Tuesday [11-7-17] congressional hearing on the Puerto Rico government’s response to Hurricane Maria won’t feature the electric utility executive who signed a $300 million construction contract that was later canceled under bipartisan criticism.
The House Committee on Natural Resources was informed on Monday that Ricardo Ramos, the executive director of Puerto Rico’s public power company, wouldn’t be testifying at the hearing scheduled for Tuesday morning, according to committee spokesman Parish Braden…
The decision was unexpected among committee members and among Prepa legal advisers who had been preparing Mr. Ramos to testify for days, according to a source close to the matter.
The committee previously said Tuesday’s hearing would focus on the role of Puerto Rico’s federal oversight board in the recovery from Hurricanes Irma and Maria, which devastated the island’s electrical grid. Nearly seven weeks after Maria made landfall, Prepa is generating 42.2% of its normal capacity, according to official data…
The Natural Resources Committee spokesman said it received more than 2,000 pages of documents from Prepa on Monday that are now being reviewed. Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló asked for the Whitefish contract to be canceled last month, saying it had become a distraction from the ongoing recovery efforts.”
-Andrew Scurria, “Puerto Rico Power Grid Hearing to Begin Without Star Witness,” The Wall Street Journal online, Nov. 7, 2017 10:02am