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Small Montana Company Wins Big Contract To Rebuild Puerto Rico's Power Grid

A worker repairs power lines about two weeks after Hurricane Maria swept through the island on Oct. 5, 2017 in San Isidro, Puerto Rico. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
A worker repairs power lines about two weeks after Hurricane Maria swept through the island on Oct. 5, 2017 in San Isidro, Puerto Rico. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The vast majority of Puerto Ricans are still without power, more than a month after Hurricane Maria devastated the island’s power grid. Rebuilding that infrastructure is a huge job, but the biggest contract awarded so far went to a tiny, for-profit company that had only two permanent employees when the storm hit.

Whitefish Energy said last week that it had signed a $300 million contract with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, but some are questioning the company’s qualifications.

Here & Now‘s Meghna Chakrabarti talks with Washington Post investigative reporter Jack Gillum (@jackgillum), who reported the story along with Steven Mufson, Aaron C. Davis and Arelis R. Hernández.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Federal funding is gone.

Congress has eliminated all funding for public media.

That means $2.1 million per year that Connecticut Public relied on to deliver you news, information, and entertainment programs you enjoyed is gone.

The future of public media is in your hands.

All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.