Ethics

“Significant Concerns”

Written by SK Ashby

How did a two-person company from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's home town land a $300 million contract to rebuild Puerto Rico's power grid?

That's a good question. Members of Congress and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are investigating the circumstances of the contract.

“Based on initial review and information from PREPA, FEMA has significant concerns with how PREPA procured this contract and has not confirmed whether the contract prices are reasonable,” FEMA said in its statement.

“FEMA is presently engaged with PREPA and its legal counsel to obtain information about the contract and contracting process, including how the contract was procured and how PREPA determined the contract prices were reasonable.”

The contract between the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) and Whitefish Energy reportedly says it was reviewed and approved by FEMA, but FEMA says the agency did not sign off on it.

Claiming the Trump regime signed off on something when they didn't is probably the only way you could get them to investigate this. Making that claim could be a self-own on the part of Whitefish Energy.

Of course the Trumps could review the contract and claim everything is in order just to avoid further embarrassment, but that could be difficult to justify now that everyone knows Whitefish Energy is paying contracts over $400 per hour, over $300 per night for lodging, and $80 per day for food.

Reporters digging through the Whitefish contract found something else last night that raised alarm bells.

There's also a provision in the contract that says no claims can be filed against Whitefish for failing to meet the deadline for completing their work.