As soon as current work was finished as part of an effort to restore power to Puerto Rico, the PREPA power company canceled its $300 million contract with Whitefish Energy. According to the Wall Street Journal, the FBI's San Jose field office said they would begin investigating the contract. In recent weeks, the Montana based Energy Company had been under increased scrutiny over possible connections to the Trump administration and potential conflicts of interest.

Cancellation of Whitefish contract and attacks from Trump

The head of the government power company to Puerto Rico, PREPA, said on Sunday that they were submitting to demands from the US Island's governor, Ricardo Rossello, to scrap the contract.

As of recent reports, audits at the local and federal level of the Whitefish Energy company's contract were currently underway. PREPA's director, Ricardo Ramos, said that the cancellation of the contract will delay restoring power for an average of 10 to 12 weeks.

Puerto Rico was not only devastated by Hurricane Maria last month, but the US island was also targeted with political attacks by the Trump administration. Since the hurricane, aid to the island has been lagging under the restrictions of the Jones Act, which prevents external aid from non-US ships and at lower costs. President Trump also caused controversy during his recent visits and trolling via Twitter, reminding the Puerto Rican government that they were already in trouble with their massive debt.

Much of the criticism against Trump was around the view that the President had targeted Latinos and immigrants throughout his campaign. He had specifically targeted them as bringing crime and suggested that there might be some good people among them. Many felt that Trump's bigotry was the reason for the lapse in humanitarian aid to the island of Latinos.

Battle of Puerto Rico against White House

Prior to Rossello's call to end the contract, President Trump's Puerto Rican rival, Mayor of San Juan Carmen Yalin Cruz, had also called for ending it. In response, the Whitefish Energy company attacked the mayor on Twitter, threatening to leave due to the criticism. Their response to the mayor was seen as similar to the tit-for-tat counter attacks that generally come from President Trump and others in his administration whenever they are criticized.

The controversy around PREPA signing a contract with Whitefish Energy company's involvement was due to the fact they the company is based in the same hometown that Trump's Interior Secretary, Ryan Zinke lives in. Zinke denied that he had any connection to making the contract. Further questioning led to the fact that Zinke's son worked a summer job in construction with the Whitefish Energy company's owner. In fact, it was learned that they knew each other personally.

During an interview on MSNBC, the spokesman for the energy company, Ken Luce, not only denied that there were any conflicts of interest but, he also referred to the questions of their involvement as "conspiracy theories." White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed that the President had asked Zinke of his involvement.

Tesla founder Elon Musk has also shown interest in rebuilding Puerto Rico's power grid, which has drawn interest from the governor. Here is that MSNBC interview with the spokesman for Whitefish Energy from last Friday.
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