• After witnessing the continued decrease of involvement in the SpotterNetwork staff in serving SN members with troubleshooting issues recently, I have unilaterally decided to terminate the relationship between SpotterNetwork's support and Stormtrack. I have witnessed multiple users unable to receive support weeks after initiating help threads on the forum. I find this lack of response from SpotterNetwork officials disappointing and a failure to hold up their end of the agreement that was made years ago, before I took over management of this site. In my opinion, having Stormtrack users sit and wait for so long to receive help on SpotterNetwork issues on the Stormtrack forums reflects poorly not only on SpotterNetwork, but on Stormtrack and (by association) me as well. Since the issue has not been satisfactorily addressed, I no longer wish for the Stormtrack forum to be associated with SpotterNetwork.

    I apologize to those who continue to have issues with the service and continue to see their issues left unaddressed. Please understand that the connection between ST and SN was put in place long before I had any say over it. But now that I am the "captain of this ship," it is within my right (nay, duty) to make adjustments as I see necessary. Ending this relationship is such an adjustment.

    For those who continue to need help, I recommend navigating a web browswer to SpotterNetwork's About page, and seeking the individuals listed on that page for all further inquiries about SpotterNetwork.

    From this moment forward, the SpotterNetwork sub-forum has been hidden/deleted and there will be no assurance that any SpotterNetwork issues brought up in any of Stormtrack's other sub-forums will be addressed. Do not rely on Stormtrack for help with SpotterNetwork issues.

    Sincerely, Jeff D.

Puerto Rico Power Authority Executes $300m Contract with a Company that had Two Employees

Steve Miller

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By now you’ve heard a company called Whitefish Energy scored a $300,000,000 contract to rebuild Puerto Rico’s electrical grid after Hurricane Maria. Turns out there is a lot more to the story and that led to the contract being terminated.

Whitefish is a tiny company based in the Montana hometown of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. Seems the Secretary is pals with the guy who owns Whitefish Energy; his son even worked a summer job at a Whitefish construction site. The 2-year-old company had two full-time employees when the storm hit, but it has since hired more than 300. They were quick to put together a sweet little deal for themselves.

Cost of doing business
A Whitefish contract obtained by The Associated Press found that the deal included:
  • $20,277 an hour for a heavy lift Chinook helicopter
  • $650 an hour for a large crane truck
  • $322 an hour for a foreman of a power line crew
  • $319 an hour for a journeyman lineman
  • $286 an hour for a mechanic
  • Each worker also gets a daily allowance of $80 for food, $332 for a hotel room and $1,000 for each flight to or from the mainland
Meanwhile…
70 percent of P.R. remains without power more than a month after Hurricane Maria struck as a Category 4 storm with winds of up to 154 mph. It’s expected that the total cost of restoring the power grid will top $1.2 billion. The P.R. power agency is $9.1 billion in debt.

Original article: https://medium.com/@SteveMillerOK/p...a-company-that-had-two-employees-416bab8aa2e2
 
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