Posted on 09/18/2020 8:25:55 AM PDT by cll
SAN JUAN — Three years after Hurricane María, the government of Puerto Rico and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) agreed to allocate $13 billion to rebuild the electricity grid and repair educational structures destroyed by the historic storm.
At a press conference in FEMA headquarters, Gov. Wanda Vázquez took the opportunity to thank the FEMA leadership in Puerto Rico and President Donald Trump for the funding obligation.
Earlier, Vázquez tweeted that FEMA Administrator Pete Gaynor called her to give her the news that they had approved the multimillion-dollar allocation.
“I just spoke with @FEMA_Pete notified me that we achieved the largest approval in FEMA history of $13 billion to rebuild our electrical and educational system,” the governor tweeted.
The agreement had been expected to be announced last October. It comes after the commonwealth government announced an agreement between LUMA Energy LLC and the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (Prepa) for the management of federal allocations made to Puerto Rico to repair the grid.
While Vázquez made the announcement this morning, the island’s Public Private Partnerships Authority reported that the request for qualifications process from companies to partner with Prepa to manage and operate the utility’s power generation is getting a good response but did not specify which companies expressed interest.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement that the funds were long overdue.
“Long before the hurricanes, Puerto Rico had a crumbling and dirty energy grid. After the storms utterly destroyed the grid, it created an opportunity to rebuild a cleaner, cheaper and more resilient energy system, but the Trump administration dithered and delayed and refused to deliver timely disaster aid for the people of Puerto Rico,” he said.
“The move comes as polls for the presidental race show a tight race in Florida between Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. This aid package could potentially move Puerto Rican voters in the state towards Trump,” Fox News reports.
Some political pundits believe the election could turn in Biden’s favor if he were to lose the Florida vote.
FEMA obligations have reached $7.3 billion since Hurricane María struck.
Hurricane-related courtesy ping/update. 3 years after Hurricane María, our power grid is still in a very precarious situation and fails constantly.
Thankfully it looks like we will be spared again this year, other than the two TS near misses, so that should give us more time for the rebuild.
Regards,
$13 Billion?
It will disappear faster than a NYC pickpocket....................
Just make sure that the PR pols don’t commit fraud with this money, again.
There’s an Oversight Board established by the President and Congress to make sure of just that:
https://oversightboard.pr.gov/
Please keep us updated re: the $$$ is spent as intended. Meanwhile, I hope you gave your old Generac an honorable retirement party. It was a workhorse through many storms.
Only $4,000/peep
Indeed. The new one is working like a charm (38Kv).
Puerto Rica will never see it......
Puerto Rica will never see it......
PR will get their grid in a timely fashion and on budget or there will be Trump to pay.
Just no. Let the US Virgin Islands and PR go independent. They serve no valid us to the US. They are not States and should not be States. Let them go their own way like other Caribbean islands.
13 billion...
What percentage of that will be routed to the DNC, Mexican Drug Cartels, personal pockets of PR’can officials, corrupt business owners, ...?
We all know damn well that 2-4 years from now, there will be extensive reporting on how this project went over budget, needs more funding, mistakes were made...
Wow--almost enough to run the neighborhood!
I wonder if Spain ultimately won the Spanish American war.
Not Spain, but the Roman Catholic Church that causes the spewing of faithful from a destitute overpopulated island
My guys went down there after the hurricane.
They fixed some lines, and then rival gangs threw chains into the lines so the other gang wouldn’t have power.
PR should be completely independent of the US.
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