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WORLD NEWSFriday 2 February 2018
US: Puerto Rico lacked leadership, communication post-storm
By DANICA COTO In this Oct. 12, 2017 file photo, ducks perch on the branch of a tree next to a home destroyed by a mutual aid agreement
Associated Press Hurricane Maria in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico. with mainland power com-
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) panies until Oct. 31, more
— Federal officials on Thurs- Associated Press than a month after Hurri-
day blamed a lack of lead- cane Maria hit. Meanwhile,
ership, money and com- ing a plan to privatize the standard. ger made by manufactur- shortly after the storm, the
munication in Puerto Rico power company, which is "It's not one single thing that ers in the U.S. mainland. In power company's former
for setting back hurricane $9 billion in debt. It would I can point my finger at," he addition, Puerto Rico uses director signed a $300 mil-
recovery efforts in the U.S. be the largest restructuring said. "Maintenance would 200 to 300 types of trans- lion contract with a small
territory. of a public entity in U.S. his- have prevented some of formers when the industry Montana company called
FEMA Deputy Regional Ad- tory. the damage." standard is three to four, he Whitefish Holdings Inc. to
ministrator Ahsha Tribble Energy experts told the Power company spokes- said. help with restoration ef-
said the island's bureau- board that a lack of main- man Geraldo Quinones Ollar also said that make- forts. The director has since
cracy and the power com- tenance, heavily loaded referred a request for shift repairs done by the resigned and the contract
pany's inability to pay for lines and shoddy work comment to the island's fi- power company to keep was cancelled.
supplies it ordered after done by Puerto Rico's pow- nancial authority, whose the system running prior FEMA official Ahsha Tribble
Hurricane Maria slowed er company over the years spokesman did not re- to the hurricane created defended that contract,
efforts to restore electric- contributed to the power spond. more work for his crews. saying that U.S. power
ity. Nearly half a million grid's extensive failure after Col. Donovan Ollar of the "It makes it problematic companies under the mu-
power customers remain the hurricane. U.S. Army Corps of Engi- to come back and do it tual aid agreement were
in the dark more than four Sanjay Bose, an official with neers told the board that properly," he said, adding not capable of repairing
months after the Category ConEdison who was help- only 61 percent of the pow- that he wants to rebuild the transmission system giv-
4 storm, which destroyed ing after the hurricane, said er company's transmission the system to mirror those in en the extent of the dam-
two-thirds of the power dis- his crews in Puerto Rico system is now complete. the U.S. mainland so when age.
tribution system, killed doz- observed many problems, Part of the problem is that companies fly in, they can "That's why the Whitefishes
ens of people and caused including poles that had some of the equipment use the same equipment. and Cobras of the world
up to an estimated $94 bil- been installed at a more Puerto Rico uses is unique Officials noted that Puer- are necessary," she said,
lion in damage. shallow depth than industry to the island and is no lon- to Rico did not activate referring to another com-
Tribble said it was "extreme- pany hired to help restore
ly difficult" to work with power.
Puerto Rico's Electric Power However, Tribble added
Authority immediately after that hurricane response ef-
the storm to figure out what forts have to be improved.
it needed to rebuild the sys- "We're still learning what
tem. She also said the com- needs to be done," she
pany's financial constraints said. "We need to do
led to a lack of trust among better."q
FEMA suppliers and that
appointing an interim pow-
er company director in the
middle of the disaster led to
challenges with leadership.
In addition, communica-
tion was strained, she said.
"In an emergency, when
you have eight layers of
approval to get something
done, it's not working for
us," she said. "You put all
that together, and it's a
recipe for disaster."
Tribble was among several
officials who spoke before
a federal control board
that oversees Puerto Rico's
finances and is consider-
