Dem Wants Probe Into Contract With Trump Donor-Financed Utility Company

In this Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017 photo, a brigade from the Electric Power Authority repairs distribution lines damaged by the passage of Hurricane Maria in the Cantera community of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The storm struck after the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority had filed for bankruptcy in July, put off badly needed maintenance and had just finished dealing with outages from Hurricane Irma. (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti)
In this Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017 photo, a brigade from the Electric Power Authority repairs distribution lines damaged by Hurricane Maria in the Cantera community of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The storm struck after the A... In this Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017 photo, a brigade from the Electric Power Authority repairs distribution lines damaged by Hurricane Maria in the Cantera community of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The storm struck after the Authority had filed for bankruptcy in July, put off maintenance and had finished dealing with outages from Hurricane Irma. (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti) MORE LESS
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A Democratic member of Congress is calling for an investigation into the $300 million contract that was awarded to a small utility company in Montana to help restore power to Puerto Rico.

The company is reportedly financed by major donors to President Donald Trump and has ties to the Trump administration.

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said legislators “need to understand why the Whitefish contract was awarded and whether other, more cost-effective options were available,” according to PBS News Hour.

The call for a probe follows reports that the utility company, Whitefish Energy Holdings, is based in Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke’s hometown and Zinke is friendly with the company’s CEO. A partner at Whitefish was also a big Republican donor. He gave a total of $74,000 to various Trump groups and another $30,700 to the Republican National Committee, the Daily Beast reported.

The connection between the company and the Trump administration was first reported by the Weather Channel last week.

The director of Puerto Rico’s power authority said Whitefish was one of two companies the government was considering, but went with Whitefish because the other company wanted a $25 million down payment.

“They’re doing an excellent job,” Ricardo Ramos, the power director, told PBS.

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