Tiny power company from Interior Secretary's hometown snags huge Puerto Rico contract

originally posted by: Middleoftheroad

originally posted by: roadgravel
a reply to: Middleoftheroad

So PR is hurting for power and their wisdom says to select a two man company to rebuild the grid. Yeah, I believe that.

Unsure what your end goal is with that post? You don't have to believe me, but I pulled the info from the OP's source and you didn't provide any source showing Trump was the reason the small company got the contract. Maybe you replied to the wrong poster?

I didn't say anything about Trump. Why is every thing about Trump now? It was written (you said you read it) that the Sec of the Interior was called.

No doubt there are many independent line man but it was said that "most", which equates to the large majority, of companies have only 2 or 3 people as employees. I can't find any numbers but that cannot be correct.

a reply to: roadgravel

I think there might be some confusion. IBEW is the big union for most line guys, whether they work for a utility or are contractors. IBEW is good about getting their guys on contracts in disaster areas.

So...I would bet that most contractor outfits only have a handful of employees at any given time, and then take union workers on as needed for contracts. But utility companies have to maintain at least some staff for every day maintenance and repairs, so they're obviously going to have more than two guys.

Maybe if you paid attention to what I was replying to, you wouldn't be so confused.

a reply to: Middleoftheroad

If that was for me then it makes no sense (you quoted my post). Where did Trump enter via me in that post?

hitefish Energy Holdings LLC, is based in Whitefish, Montana, servicing customers throughout the United States and now, proudly, Puerto Rico. WEH’s leadership and field management teams have proven track records and experience to execute on the most challenging projects. The Company’s extensive subcontractor relationships enable it to address projects at any scale while minimizing overhead and passing cost savings through to the client.


Established in 2015, WEH is led by industry veteran Andy Techmanski who is a trained journeyman lineman with over 22 years of experience completing critical utility infrastructure projects worldwide

Whitefish is backed by HBC Investments (HBC) and Flat Creek Capital (FCC), both based in Dallas, TX, and Comtrafo Transformers, based in Brazil. HBC is an investment firm that partners with strong management teams with proven track records

Link

Two year old company. Experienced man in the electrical work. Not sure if the proven track record is meant for the two year old company.

Hope it works out though. Should be jobs for Americans.

a reply to: roadgravel

The most recent iteration is a 2 year old company, they've been in business for a bit longer than that:

United States flag inactive branch WHITEFISH ENERGY CORP. (Tennessee (US), 31 Oct 1980-31 Dec 1987, # 604 10655 N E 4TH BELLEVUE, WA 98004 USA)
United States flag branch WHITEFISH ENERGY HOLDINGS, LLC (Idaho (US), 26 Sep 2016- , 144 ASPEN RIDGE WAY WHITEFISH, MT 59937)
United States flag branch WHITEFISH ENERGY HOLDINGS, LLC (Texas (US), 11 Oct 2016- )
United States flag branch WHITEFISH ENERGY HOLDINGS, LLC (Washington (US), 11 Oct 2016- )
United States flag WHITEFISH ENERGY HOLDINGS, LLC (Montana (US), 28 May 2015- )
United States flag inactive WHITEFISH ENERGY, INC. (Montana (US), 8 Feb 1993- 2 Dec 1994)
United States flag Whitefish Energy Constructors, LLC (Montana (US), 13 Sep 2016- )
United States flag Whitefish Energy, LLC (Montana (US), 1 Aug 2017- )

Open Corporates

They were originally incorporated in 1993 but then restructured in 2014/15, thus a '2 year old company.'

Not long ago, a Brazilian company bought a majority share in Whitefish Energy:

TECHMANSKI AND two representatives from a Brazilian transformer company met Dec. 12 with local and economic development leaders about the project. Whitefish Energy Holdings is a servicing company that was established 18 months ago to work on power-line construction, substation construction and environmental mitigation projects. According to a company prospectus, Comtrafo, a Brazilian transformer manufacturing company, recently purchased 51 percent of Whitefish Energy, shifting the company’s focus toward production of large-scale transformers for the U.S. market.

Energy company considering Flathead for new plant

a reply to: Shamrock6

I understand that. Maybe the way the original statement was worded was meant to be much narrower then "Most power companies and electric companies". This company does seems to be a power transmission construction service.

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

Good research. The head man could have 9 years running the management team (the other guy or gal) which speak much more.

edit:

it is good he has hands on experience.

a reply to: roadgravel

Yea I don't know, that statement seemed odd to me. I've got a neighbor that's a master electrician and runs his own company that's basically just him and a couple of apprentices, but when he's got a contract job he can have several journeymen under him and several more apprentices. But our power company (major metro area) has several thousand full time employees.

An odd statement to have been made but hopefully we've got it figured it out.

originally posted by: Shamrock6

Thousands of troops deployed. Hundreds of civilian and military engineers. Dozens and dozens of helicopters. Ships. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people from civilian agencies.

In the rush to blame Trump for any and every thing possible, I think a lot of folks have forgotten that Puerto Rico was practically leveled by the storm and fixing things isn't going to happen overnight, or in a week or two.

ETA - as to the power contract: Brian Klaas (some author) is claiming Zinke's son worked for the power company at some point. So there's that.

Yes. We've sent a great deal of manpower and equipment. But when did that happen? PR went weeks without any significant response and it wasn't like we didn't have ample warning that there was going to be a disaster. There was no reason we couldn't have had National Guard on the ground in PR on day 2 providing S&R, transport, road clearing, communications and security. These were the things most needed.

And as far as Whitefish goes. Look into their political donations. Pay to play.

a reply to: jtma508

Yea no it was more like days, not weeks.

Landfall was the 20th. By the 28th over four thousand troops were in PR conducting operations, with relief supplies and more personnel being flown in around the clock.

9,000 troops in PR within two weeks

24-hour operations flying supplies and people in to PR

a reply to: Shamrock6

9,000?

BWHAHAHA.

How many are administrative/desk types?

How many did we SEND TO IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN?

Just one Nimitz-class carrier has a compliment of 6,000 people.

And we have ten of those. We can't spare 2 or so for PR?

a reply to: Phage

Any idea why PREPA did not take advantage of an existing arrangement with APPA?

The American Public Power Association, based in Washington, confirmed today that the troubled Puerto Rico public utility that serves more than 3 million people on the island has decided not to request assistance from the group of 1,100 U.S. electricity companies standing ready to help.

The association coordinates mutual aid disaster assistance for U.S. public power companies, which include the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA). "The request for help was not activated," said group spokeswoman Meena Dayak. "We do have people who are ready to help."

...

Whitefish, a subsidiary of COMTRAFO Brazil, an engineering services firm that specializes in electric power transformers, said on social media that it had won a general contract to rebuild power lines in Puerto Rico. Whitefish has said it has committed an initial 200 power line employees to restoring the grid with a possibility of adding 200 or 300 more.

Puerto Rico utility says 'no thanks' to assistance

originally posted by: DanteGaland
a reply to: Shamrock6

9,000?

BWHAHAHA.

How many are administrative/desk types?

How many did we SEND TO IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN?

Just one Nimitz-class carrier has a compliment of 6,000 people.

And we have ten of those. We can't spare 2 or so for PR?

What the hell do you think a Carrier Strike Group really could do for Puerto Rico? Why don't we send a Trident there too?

Puerto Rico needs their roads and harbors cleared and the whole island seemingly needs to be rewired. Then rebuilding everything else can take place.

Labor isn't the issue as I'm guessing many citizens there lost their jobs when the hurricane hit.

Besides if you put too many soldiers on Puerto Rico, it may capsize if we don't distribute them properly.

Hm, I wonder if there are any connections between Comtrafo and Petrobras and/or Royal Dutch Shell:

“The fact is that safety and reliability must be PREPA’s first priorities, above all other considerations,” a searing report commissioned by the Puerto Rican government concluded last year. “Energy efficiency and renewable energy take time to implement; PREPA’s system is in a desperate state today.”

The report described the utility’s budget as “opaque and distortionary,” made worse by “poor record keeping.” The generous $134 million allocated for discretionary spending ― nearly one-third of the annual budget ― suggested a slush fund. Alleged corruption only made operating costs higher. A class-action lawsuit filed in 2015 accused PREPA of more than $1 billion in fraud, claiming it had taken kickbacks from oil suppliers including Brazil’s Petrobras and Royal Dutch Shell.

HuffPo

It looks like there is indeed a relationship between Comtrafo and Petrobras:

COMTRAFO is currently the only supplier in Brazil for Desalination Transformers for PETROBRAS. Very Special Transformers with imbued reactor, to pump the first filtering process of the brute petroleum.

Comtrafo presentation - rev. 2

Might be something worth looking at a bit closer perhaps.

a reply to: pavil

The Army also has many ships and they are able to make temporary bridges. That could have help.

All the information I have gathered tells me that most of yhe US aid is coming from volunteer groups.

a reply to: DanteGaland

Yea I'm not really interested in chasing the goalposts all over the field.

The statement has been made, repeatedly, that PR had to wait weeks for help. That's a blatant lie.

There were thousands of people there within days, with thousands more arriving in subsequent days, and all kinds of flights bringing in materiel.

Just one Nimitz-class carrier has a compliment of 6,000 people.

And, just as an aside, the crew compliment for a Nimitz carrier is about 5,000, not 6,000.

How many are administrative/desk types?

The overwhelming majority of which are "administrative/desk types."

Look at HBC investments.

Just the usual way this stuff works now.

a reply to: jrod

Putting up temporary bridges when the roads aren't even cleared doesn't do anybody much good.

Probably why they're using the Air National Guard and aircraft from the other services to ferry supplies in to areas that have been cut off.