The Great Smoky Mountain Journal

Staff, Wire Reports

Posted: Sunday, January 21, 2018 06:36 PM

Puerto Rico Governor Calls For Cancellation of Montana Company's Contract To Fix Island's Electricity Problems

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello called Sunday for the island's power company to nix a contract with Whitefish Energy Holdings, a Montana company from Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke's hometown.

The $300 million contract was awarded by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) to help crews restore transmission and distribution lines damaged or destroyed during Hurricane Maria.

The two-year-old company had just two full-time employees when the storm hit last month, but says it is contracting with hundreds of workers for the Puerto Rico project.

"I have petitioned the board of PREPA to invoke the cancellation clause so that after the current immediate work that is being done is finished, that contract is no longer available," Rossello said Sunday, according to BuzzFeed.

ZINKE: 'I HAD ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO' WITH MONTANA COMPANY GETTING $300M CONTRACT

"It's interfering with everything and it doesn't go towards the best interests of the people of Puerto Rico," he reportedly said referring to the contract.

Federal legislators are seeking to investigate the contract.

“I had absolutely nothing to do with Whitefish Energy receiving a contract in Puerto Rico,” Zinke said in a statement Friday. “Any attempts by the dishonest media or political operatives to tie me to awarding or influencing any contract involving Whitefish are completely baseless.”

Fox News' John Roberts and The Associated Press contributed to this report.