Congress Wants to Know More About Deals for Puerto Rico Recovery

Photo: Puerto Rico, September 25, 2017. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

A large contract for rebuilding Puerto Rico’s power infrastructure went to a company with close ties to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, and Congress is asking questions about the procurement process.

Salon reports that the House Oversight Committee made a bipartisan request of the  Department of Homeland Security and FEMA to provide documents related to preparation for the recent hurricanes actions taken in the recovery.
“Jordan Libowitz, communications director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told Salon:

"’When a tiny company from a small town in Montana that just so happens to be the same home town as the secretary of the interior happens to get a massive $300 million contract in Puerto Rico, you have to ask questions about what the process was in the case.’"

The Salon article can be found here.
https://www.salon.com/2017/10/25/congress-is-starting-to-look-into-the-shady-puerto-rico-infrastructure-deal/
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 An article in Bloomberg can be found here.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-26/no-bid-puerto-rico-contract-spotlights-troubled-fema-grants

The contract between the government of Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority and Whitefish Energy Holdings, LLC can be found here. (Thanks to Ken Klippenstein of The Daily Beast for sharing the document.)