Whitefish Energy. ....det small company that somehow got the Puerto Rico contract....

[Blake]

923269837815795712

[Blake]

Yeah, that's det mayor det got under Trump skin

[Blake]

Uh oh backpedal


Whitefish Energy issued an apology to San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz and “everyone in Puerto Rico” for comments posted in a public Twitter spat on Wednesday. The Montana-based company is at the center of a controversial $300 million contract to restore electricity to the storm-battered U.S. island territory. After Cruz questioned the transparency of the “alarming” contract—the largest awarded for relief efforts after Hurricane Maria—and demanded it be voided, Whitefish Energy’s Twitter account called her comments “disappointing and demoralizing” and appeared to threaten to stop working altogether: “We’ve got 44 linemen rebuilding power lines in your city & 40 more men just arrived. Do you want us to send them back or keep working?” Questions have arisen about how the company, which had only two full-time employees up until recently, managed to beat out other utility companies and secure the contract. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Whitefish CEO Andy Techmanski have admitted knowing each other but said that played no role in Whitefish getting the contract. The company’s investors also include HBC Investments, a Texas-based firm whose founder*donated*generously to President Trump.....

https://www.thedailybeast.com/whitefish-energy-butts-heads-with-san-juan-mayor-over-dollar300m-contract

[boutons_deux]

DISASTER CAPITALISTS TAKE BIG STEP TOWARD PRIVATIZING PUERTO RICO’S ELECTRIC GRID (https://theintercept.com/2017/10/26/disaster-capitalists-take-big-step-toward-privatizing-puerto-ricos-electric-grid/)

His second could be turning that power over to private hands, a pattern described by The Intercept’s Naomi Klein as the “shock doctrine. (http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine)”

Months before either hurricanes Maria or Irma struck, the board had been enthusiastic about the prospect of privatizing Prepa, which is $9 billion in debt.

Oversight board chair José B. Carrión III was explicit about one of Zamot’s main goals shortly after (https://www.metro.pr/pr/noticias/2017/08/31/junta-busca-privatizar-la-aee-lo-antes-posible.html) he was brought on: to “privatize the Electric Power Authority as soon as possible,”

In June, four of his seven colleagues on that control board wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed (https://www.wsj.com/articles/privatize-puerto-ricos-power-1498776904) calling openly to privatize Prepa, and

in July they contracted with the consultancy firm McKinsey to — among other things —

draw up “detailed privatization/corporatization plans supported by financial models and market engagement.”

https://theintercept.com/2017/10/26/disaster-capitalists-take-big-step-toward-privatizing-puerto-ricos-electric-grid/

The PR colony will get the shittiest possible electric grid for the highest possible, even impossible, price, as the vampire squid Capitalists continue to suck $100Bs out of PR.

I bet $0.50 / KwH is within reach.

[hater]

:lmao treating the mayor like just another loca :lmao

Despicable animals

[rjv]

DISASTER CAPITALISTS TAKE BIG STEP TOWARD PRIVATIZING PUERTO RICO’S ELECTRIC GRID (https://theintercept.com/2017/10/26/disaster-capitalists-take-big-step-toward-privatizing-puerto-ricos-electric-grid/)

His second could be turning that power over to private hands, a pattern described by The Intercept’s Naomi Klein as the “shock doctrine. (http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine)”

Months before either hurricanes Maria or Irma struck, the board had been enthusiastic about the prospect of privatizing Prepa, which is $9 billion in debt.

Oversight board chair José B. Carrión III was explicit about one of Zamot’s main goals shortly after (https://www.metro.pr/pr/noticias/2017/08/31/junta-busca-privatizar-la-aee-lo-antes-posible.html) he was brought on: to “privatize the Electric Power Authority as soon as possible,”

In June, four of his seven colleagues on that control board wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed (https://www.wsj.com/articles/privatize-puerto-ricos-power-1498776904) calling openly to privatize Prepa, and

in July they contracted with the consultancy firm McKinsey to — among other things —

draw up “detailed privatization/corporatization plans supported by financial models and market engagement.”

https://theintercept.com/2017/10/26/disaster-capitalists-take-big-step-toward-privatizing-puerto-ricos-electric-grid/

The PR colony will get the shittiest possible electric grid for the highest possible, even impossible, price, as the vampire squid Capitalists continue to suck $100Bs out of PR.

I bet $0.50 / KwH is within reach.


that is a great read. the first part of the book goes over the rampant privatization of new orleans post-katrina.

[Trill Clinton]

thats a demonic tweet.

[boutons_deux]

That $300 million no-bid contract for Puerto Rico forbids any government audit or review (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/10/27/1710275/-That-300-million-no-bid-contract-for-Puerto-Rico-forbids-any-government-audit-or-review)

A leaked copy of the contract (http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4113619-Whitefish-Contract-Signed-10-17-Copy.html#document/p1)includes a section on just who has access to the records kept by Whitefish in carrying out the work.

That list includes:

PREPA, The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the FEMA Administrator, the comptroller general of the United States, or any of their authorized agents …


Which seems like a reasonable enough list. Except that tucked in a couple of sentences below is something that unwinds most of that authority:

In no event shall PREPA, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the FEMA Administrator, the comprtoller general of the United States, or any of their authorized representatives have the right to audit or review the cost and profit elements of the labor rates specified herein.


Since Whitefish doesn’t exist as a physical company, everything it’s doing is in the form of billing for subcontractors at rates that often exceeds $400 an hour along with daily charges for food and lodging.

The contract makes those rates beyond review.

That clause makes it impossible for anyone to tell how much Whitefish is actually paying its workers and how much it is pocketing. It makes almost every line item under the contract proof against review.

Ken Klippenstein (https://twitter.com/kenklippenstein)
(https://twitter.com/kenklippenstein) ✔Ken (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=6712)[/B]klippenstein

Replying to (https://twitter.com/_/status/923730831637610496)Ken (http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=6712)klippenstein
$300m in taxpayer money includes...
-Chinook helicopte airlift: $20,277
-S61 helicopter airlift: $15,993
-Passenger helicopter: $3,969 pic.twitter.com/9WcuyxwP3S (https://t.co/9WcuyxwP3S)

https://twitter.com/kenklippenstein/status/923738930662510592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailykos.com%2Fstory%2F2 017%2F10%2F27%2F1710275%2F-That-300-million-no-bid-contract-for-Puerto-Rico-forbids-any-government-audit-or-review

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1710275Ken Klippenstein (https://twitter.com/kenklippenstein)

I bet Zinke's hometown buddies make sure Zinke gets paid.


(https://twitter.com/kenklippenstein)

[Winehole23]

In a surprise to no one, Zinke lied to investigators before canning the IG, and it wasn't any coincidence that Whitefish is from his hometown.

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