Puerto Rico would have electricity by now.
Whitefish Energy probably won’t say so, but the power contractor won vindication of sorts last week when it got a shout-out from a FEMA official for its work restoring power in Puerto Rico.
You’ll no doubt remember that Whitefish Energy spent time in the dock as public enemy No. 1 last year after it won a $300 million contract from the island territory to restore power in the wake of Hurricane Maria.
Perhaps you also recall that we never heard that Whitefish Energy wasn’t doing the job it had promised to do. What people complained about was that the company was making a lot of money to do a job that desperately needed to be done.
As a result of the public outrage, Whitefish Energy lost the contract after just one month and completed its work in late November after restoring power to approximately 50 percent of the devastated island.
Lo and behold, it is now two and a half months later, and according to the Voice of America, power has been restored to just 60 percent of the island (https://www.voanews.com/a/puerto-rico-electric-grid/4241096.html). In other words, work has slowed to a crawl since Whitefish Energy was removed from the project.
Maybe that’s why, in hindsight, an official with the Federal Emergency Management Agency now is singing praises of the tiny company that could.
FEMA Region 9 Deputy Administrator Ahsha Tribble was attending a Puerto Rico Financial Oversight and Management Board meeting in New York on Feb. 1 when she made this shocking statement:
“Without getting kicked from my attorney, Whitefish was there early. They did a good job. They took a risk. That risk is still being weighed.”
HT: Wirecutter