Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Politics and Other Controversies
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Closed Thread Start New Thread
 
Old 11-01-2017, 08:18 AM
 
Location: Wisconsin
37,981 posts, read 22,167,958 times
Reputation: 13811

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by Slats Grobnick View Post
This has nothing to do with Trump, or Trump "winning." So why do you smugly portray it as such?

From the link:

After Maria, the island’s power authority, known as Prepa, did not follow the path of most other public utilities after a disaster and activate “mutual aid” agreements to rush in utility workers and equipment to restore power.

Instead, Ricardo Ramos, the chief executive of the Puerto Rican power authority, turned to Mr. Techmanski. In an interview on Oct. 10, Mr. Techmanski said he got the job because he was the first to show up on the island — on Sept. 26, six days after the storm hit — and because he didn’t ask for any payment in advance.

Mr. Techmanski and Puerto Rican officials signed the contract at a conference table in an office without power, using their cellphones for light, said Ken Luce, a spokesman for Whitefish Energy. The contract awarded Whitefish an initial payment of $3.7 million and set a maximum value of $300 million.

The work covered by the contract — repairing high-voltage transmission lines in Puerto Rico’s mountainous interior — represents just a small fraction of the enormous problems affecting Puerto Rico’s 2,400 miles of transmission lines.

Mr. Luce said that Whitefish now has 300 contract utility workers on the ground in Puerto Rico, with about 15 or 20 more arriving every day.


The governor is not canceling this contract because Whitefish is not doing it's job. This has become political, because bureaucrats and politicians just don't like a small company out of Montana.

 
Old 11-01-2017, 08:20 AM
 
Location: Wisconsin
37,981 posts, read 22,167,958 times
Reputation: 13811
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2mares View Post
Is Whitefish not doing the work they contracted for. I have not read anything saying they did not have the people or equipment or were not doing the job.
The contract was being canceled due to public opinion based on speculation of contract awards.
They are repairing power lines up in the mountains, something this company has done many times before in the US. This contract was for just one small portion of all the work that needs to be done.
 
Old 11-01-2017, 08:29 AM
 
Location: Wisconsin
37,981 posts, read 22,167,958 times
Reputation: 13811
Quote:
Originally Posted by GotHereQuickAsICould View Post
"The project is enormous, and Whitefish is a two-year-old firm that until recently had just two full-time employees."

"Whitefish then subcontracted with utilities including Jacksonville Electric Authority and Kissimmee Utility Authority to help it with transmission system restoration — the same thing a mutual aid agreement might have arranged at a lower cost. It's unusual for electrical utilities to work under a contractor."

"For subcontractors, the bulk of Whitefish's workforce, the prices go even higher. A general foreman costs $336 an hour and a lineman, $319."

"The per diems are also expensive: almost $80 a day for meals, and $332 a day for lodging. Employee flights are billed at $1,000 each way."

There is some unusual language in the contract regarding what can and cannot be audited. Also, FEMA disputes the language indicating it had FEMA approval.

"Any language in any contract between PREPA and Whitefish that states FEMA approved that contract is inaccurate," the agency said in a statement.

Here's What's In That $300 Million Whitefish Contract : The Two-Way : NPR

So yes, Whitefish, being a company of just two full-time employees did not have the personnel or equipment to handle the job of restoring power to Puerto Rico.

So they subcontracted work out and charged a boatload for it.

The whole thing sounds fishy.

I'm surprised you couldn't find this information. It popped right up for me.
And yet.... there is no proof that Whitefish with it's 300 employees already on the ground, and more coming every day, are not meeting the task. Nor is there any proof they are gouging or committing fraud. This is nothing but bureaucrats and politicians making wild, unsubstantiated assumptions, based on rumors and innuendo.
 
Old 11-01-2017, 09:55 AM
 
3,854 posts, read 2,230,113 times
Reputation: 3129
Quote:
Originally Posted by Retroit View Post
Why are we still colonizing the country of Puerto Rico? The Spanish-American War was over 100 years ago. Give these people their independence back!
The only way we can do this is to put pressure on Congress to dispose of Puerto Rico.

Imagine, if they were a sovereign nation, we wouldn't even have to be having conversations about PR. It would be a non-issue.
 
Old 11-01-2017, 09:57 AM
 
3,854 posts, read 2,230,113 times
Reputation: 3129
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slats Grobnick View Post
They voted overwhelmingly for statehood

It's their island, if they don't want independence than who are we to argue
This is our country though. We have a say too.

You can't just vote to be part of someone else's family without that family's consent.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Closed Thread


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Politics and Other Controversies

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 08:49 PM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top