Trump Administration Distancing Itself From Energy Company Contract
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WASHINGTON (AP) - The Trump administration is working to distance itself from the decision to award a $300 million contract to help restore Puerto Rico's power grid to a tiny from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's hometown.
The White House says federal officials played no role in the decision to select Whitefish Energy Holdings for the contract.
Trump spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders says Zinke had assured the president that he had nothing to do with what she described as "a state and local decision made by the Puerto Rican authorities and not the federal government."
Whitefish Energy Holdings is headquartered in Whitefish, Montana, which has a population of about 7,200. Zinke, a former Montana congressman, knows Whitefish CEO Andy Techmanski. Zinke's son also had a summer job at a Whitefish construction site.
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