The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee want a federal watchdog to find out whether the costs of rebuilding Puerto Rico’s electrical grid can be eligible for expenses under a special Federal Emergency Management Agency program.
“We ask that you report this determination as soon as possible,” Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Vice Chair Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., wrote to Homeland Security Department Inspector General John Roth.
Several lawmakers have already demanded an investigation into why the island’s bankrupt utility gave a $300 million contract to repair the devastated power grid to a small Montana for-profit firm. Johnson and McCaskill want to know whether Whitefish Energy can operate under the FEMA program, which would speed up repairs.
The lawmakers said the Puerto Rico public utility never contacted a “mutual aid network” that “can quickly mobilize thousands of workers to help with electric grid repairs.”
Instead, it entered into the contract with Whitefish.
Whitefish CEO Andy Techmanski is from the same Montana hometown as Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, but Zinke said he played no role in Whitefish security the contract. Additionally, the White House said the federal government had nothing to do with the contract.
