Puerto Rico is facing a “blackout threat” as a key energy supplier has halted a planned delivery, accusing the local power authority of failing to settle a balance of $12 million. Here are the details, from a report at Finimize:
New Fortress Energy has halted a liquefied natural gas delivery to Puerto Rico, claiming the island’s main power utility owes about $12 million in unpaid bills and interest going back to 2020.
According to Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge, “10 out of 14 temporary generators” are offline, with the other four running on diesel. Funny though, I haven’t heard any of the personalities and lawmakers obsessed with “climate change” and “zero-emissions” complaining about an entire island territory powering almost everything on “dirty fossil fuels.” Guess it’s okay to burn through them though when the Democrats still need your vote.
Now, the island is disputing the claim of an unpaid balance, but here’s why I believe New Fortress: Occam’s Razor. Sure, it’s possible that New Fortress is making it all up—for what purpose I couldn’t even speculate—but the company is in the energy business to make money, and I can see no reason why it would destroy a profitable business relationship if its executives didn’t view it as a net gain. New Fortress is the “backbone” of the island’s electricity supply, selling 80 trillion BTUs every year.
And, in the immediate aftermath of the decision to withhold supply until the alleged bill is settled, New Fortress’s stock dipped almost 5%; executives would have no doubt anticipated a drop in company value. Here’s this, from Finimize:
The company says its contract allows it to pause shipments until it gets paid, citing over $9 million in overdue invoices plus nearly $3 million in interest. Puerto Rico’s energy chief Josue Colon argues they can’t confirm that total… The standoff is more than just a contract hiccup – it spotlights the financial troubles Puerto Rico’s main utility still faces as it recovers from hurricanes, blackouts, and years of budget woes.
What’s a simpler explanation? New Fortress got a wild hair and decided to nuke their own profits? Or is this just one more example of Democrats who can’t understand fiscal matters in positions of power? In a place known for corruption, I have to wonder if public officials pocketed the money and left town.
I seem to remember a story from the Biden-Harris years…ahhh yes, the one-billion-dollar program to outfit the island with solar panels to shore up the power supply that only yielded a “tiny handful” of panels:
The Biden-Harris administration has, for years, vowed to deploy thousands of solar panels to stabilize Puerto Rico’s power grid amid regular blackouts, government mismanagement, and ever-increasing residential electricity rates. But, years after making that promise, a $1 billion program central to that effort yielded only a tiny handful of solar panels, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.
Where did the rest of that money go? Where does it ever go?
Image generated by AI.