FILE - In this Oct. 15, 2017, file photo, Whitefish Energy Holdings workers stand on towers to restore lines damaged by Hurricane Maria in Barceloneta, Puerto Rico. The Trump administration said Oct. 27 it had no involvement in the decision to award a $300 million contract to help restore Puerto Rico's power grid to a tiny Montana company in Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's hometown. White House spokesman Raj Shah said that federal officials played no role in the selection of Whitefish Energy Holdings by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority.(AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa, File)
October 29, 2017 - 1:03 PM
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - The Latest on Puerto Rico's contract with Whitefish Energy Holdings (all times local):
3:55 p.m.
The head of Puerto Rico's government power company says the agency will scrap a $300 million contract with Whitefish Energy Holdings once it finishes current work on Hurricane Maria recovery efforts.
Power company director Ricardo Ramos said Sunday that he's bowing to a demand by the U.S. territory's governor, Ricardo Rossello.
Ramos says the cancellation will delay work by 10 to 12 weeks.
The contract for the small Montana company has come under intense scrutiny, and audits of the Whitefish contract at a local and federal level are under way.
Roughly 70 per cent of the island remains without power more than a month after Hurricane Maria struck the U.S. territory on Sept. 20.
News from © The Associated Press, 2017