[House Hearing, 115 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
BUREAUCRATIC CHALLENGES TO HURRICANE RECOVERY IN PUERTO RICO
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HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL SECURITY
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT
AND GOVERNMENT REFORM
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
MARCH 22, 2018
__________
Serial No. 115-74
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Printed for the use of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
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Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Trey Gowdy, South Carolina, Chairman
John J. Duncan, Jr., Tennessee Elijah E. Cummings, Maryland,
Darrell E. Issa, California Ranking Minority Member
Jim Jordan, Ohio Carolyn B. Maloney, New York
Mark Sanford, South Carolina Eleanor Holmes Norton, District of
Justin Amash, Michigan Columbia
Paul A. Gosar, Arizona Wm. Lacy Clay, Missouri
Scott DesJarlais, Tennessee Stephen F. Lynch, Massachusetts
Virginia Foxx, North Carolina Jim Cooper, Tennessee
Blake Farenthold, Texas Gerald E. Connolly, Virginia
Thomas Massie, Kentucky Robin L. Kelly, Illinois
Mark Meadows, North Carolina Brenda L. Lawrence, Michigan
Ron DeSantis, Florida Bonnie Watson Coleman, New Jersey
Dennis A. Ross, Florida Raja Krishnamoorthi, Illinois
Mark Walker, North Carolina Jamie Raskin, Maryland
Rod Blum, Iowa Jimmy Gomez, Maryland
Jody B. Hice, Georgia Peter Welch, Vermont
Steve Russell, Oklahoma Matt Cartwright, Pennsylvania
Glenn Grothman, Wisconsin Mark DeSaulnier, California
Will Hurd, Texas Stacey E. Plaskett, Virgin Islands
Gary J. Palmer, Alabama John P. Sarbanes, Maryland
James Comer, Kentucky
Paul Mitchell, Michigan
Greg Gianforte, Montana
Sheria Clarke, Staff Director
Robert Borden, Deputy Staff Director
William McKenna General Counsel
Sharon Eshelman, Subcommittee on National Security Staff Director
Kiley Bidelman, Clerk
David Rapallo, Minority Staff Director
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Subcommittee on National Security
Ron DeSantis, Florida, Chairman
Steve Russell, Oklahoma, Vice Chair Stephen F. Lynch, Massachusetts,
John J. Duncan, Jr., Tennessee Ranking Minority Member
Justin Amash, Michigan Peter Welch, Vermont
Paul A. Gosar, Arizona Mark DeSaulnier, California
Virginia Foxx, North Carolina Jimmy Gomez, California
Jody B. Hice, Georgia John P. Sarbanes, Maryland
James Comer, Kentucky Vacancy
Vacancy
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Hearing held on March 22, 2018................................... 1
WITNESSES
The Honorable Michael Byrne, Assistant Administrator for Field
Operations, Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S.
Department of Homeland Security
Oral Statement............................................... 7
Written Statement............................................ 10
Mr. William Parks, Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary,
Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, U.S.
Department of Energy
Oral Statement............................................... 17
Written Statement............................................ 19
Mr. Peter Lopez, Regional Administrator, Region 2, U.S
Environmental Protection Agency
Oral Statement............................................... 24
Written Statement............................................ 26
Mr. Scott Aaronson, Vice President, Security and Preparedness,
Edison Electric Institute
Oral Statement............................................... 32
Written Statement............................................ 35
SSG Johnathan Sutton (Ret.), Former U.S. Army, 82nd Airborne
Division, Puerto Rico Volunteer
Oral Statement............................................... 43
Written Statement............................................ 45
APPENDIX
Statement for the Record from the American Public Power
Association, submitted by Chairman DeSantis.................... 70
Letter from Ranking Member Cummings and Ms. Plaskett to Chairman
Gowdy, submitted by Ms. Plaskett............................... 75
Letter from Ms. Gonzalez-Colon to the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, submitted by Ms. Gonzalez-Colon..................... 82
Observations on the Federal Response to Maria in Puerto Rico,
submitted by Ranking Member Lynch.............................. 84
Questions for the Record, submitted by Members of the Committee.. 89
BUREAUCRATIC CHALLENGES TO HURRICANE RECOVERY IN PUERTO RICO
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Thursday, March 22, 2018
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on National Security,
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform,
Washington, D.C.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:01 a.m., in
Room 2154, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Ron DeSantis
[chairman of the subcommittee] presiding.
Present: Representatives DeSantis, Hice, Lynch, and Welch.
Also Present: Resident Commissioner Gonzalez-Colon and
Delegate Plaskett.
Mr. DeSantis. The Subcommittee on National Security will
come to order.
Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a
recess at any time.
We're here today to talk about the bureaucratic challenges
to recovery after one of the most devastating hurricane seasons
in history. Exactly 6 months ago yesterday, Hurricane Maria, a
monster of a storm, struck our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico.
The island sustained deadly 155-mile-an-hour winds and 20 to 30
inches of rainfall in a period of just 24 hours. Sadly, lives
were lost as a result.
Now, the President took action by deploying the full weight
of the United States Government. Within 6 days of Maria's
landfall, more than 10,000 Federal employees were deployed to
aid in the recovery.
Puerto Rico's residents were completely without
electricity. Thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed.
Individuals found themselves with no power, no water, no way to
communicate with one another. Emergency response crews have
operated around the clock to restore these critical services
ever since, but there's still more to do.
Thanks to the hard work and generosity of countless people,
thousands of meals and gallons of water have been distributed,
children are back in school, and the most vulnerable again have
access to medical care.
But we need to do more. As of last week, there were still
as many 150,000 people without power across the island.
Interruptions due to overloads or equipment failures still
happen virtually weekly.
Additionally, 96 percent of the island now has access to
potable drinking water, but when you look at the different
regions, you see, for example, that 17 percent of the
population in the western portion of the island are still
lacking their own safe water supply.
Eighty-eight percent of the gas stations are up and
running, 92 percent of grocery stores are open, but two-fifths
of the roadways are still either closed or impassable. And more
than 890 generators are still the primary source of power for
some key facilities, including the wastewater treatment plants
and the San Juan financial district.
In the aftermath, over 6 months, due to the lack of basic
services, hundreds of thousands of citizens in Puerto Rico
found themselves making the hard choice to relocate due to the
need to find jobs because their workplaces were out of
business, so they could send their kids to school and care for
their elders. They have moved to many States. One of the many
points of entry has been my State of Florida where there's been
a major effort to offer relocation assistance.
Many of these citizens await normalization to return to the
island, while others are surely staying for the long-term, but
all of them want to know when will their hometowns and their
families be able to fully stand back on their feet. They do not
forget Puerto Rico, and neither do we.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is the lead
coordinator on all things disaster-related, overseeing the
historic interagency effort underway in Puerto Rico. We want to
hear FEMA's perspective on what went right and what could have
been done better and what still needs to be done.
Mr. Michael Byrne, the assistant administrator for field
operations, is joining us here today to shed some light on
FEMA's role in the recovery.
While we have heard a lot about the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers' role in the effort to restore power to Puerto Rico,
the Department of Energy is actually the lead agency for
Emergency Support Function #12, the Energy Annex. The
Department is responsible for facilitating the restoration of
damaged energy systems and components, which was certainly
needed in Puerto Rico.
We have a representative here today from Energy's Office of
Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability to discuss the
progress being made on the ground and the work yet to be done.
So I want to thank Mr. Parks for being here.
These two officials will help us shed light on what it will
take to get the power fully restored, and we will want to know
what it will take to make the part of the task so that the
effort is continued without interruptions.
Another critical element of restoring Puerto Rico is the
access to safe, drinkable water and the removal of solid waste.
Mr. Peter Lopez from the Environmental Protection Agency is
here to testify about EPA's role in ensuring the residents of
Puerto Rico can and will have access to safe drinking water,
and what the Federal, State, and local authorities need to do
to ensure this in the future.
We also have Scott Aaronson from the Edison Electric
Institute. EEI represents all U.S. investor-owned electric
companies. In response to a request for assistance, EEI
coordinated with its members to deploy incident management
teams in support of power restoration efforts across the
island. Through this agreement, industry efforts coordinate
with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority and the Army
Corps to restore power to the people of Puerto Rico.
All told, almost 6,700 Federal personnel, civilian and
military, are currently supporting the recovery and restoration
efforts in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Thousands
more from nongovernment and charitable organizations have come
forward to help get Puerto Rico back on its feet.
So we want to discuss what lessons we've learned from this
devastation before the next hurricane season is upon us. We
also want to hear what changes are being made to ensure we do
better going forward and that the lessons learned to help the
Nation be better prepared for such catastrophic events.
And Puerto Rico, I mean, they're going to face another
hurricane season here in just a few months, and I think it's
important we solve all these problems by then.
So I want to thank you for your efforts to date and for
coming to answer our questions.
And with that, I will yield 5 minutes to the ranking
member, Mr. Lynch.
Mr. Lynch. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to thank
you for convening this hearing to examine the progress of
Federal hurricane relief and recovery efforts in Puerto Rico.
I'd also like to thank our witnesses for your willingness
to help the subcommittee with its work.
It is the mission of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency, also known as FEMA, to, quote, ``lead America to
prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters with a
vision of a Nation prepared,'' close quote.
The critical role of FEMA as our Nation's coordinating
Federal entity in response to all domestic disasters demands
that the agency operate at maximum efficiency in order to
mitigate the devastating effects of national emergencies on the
safety and security of the American people.
In the aftermath of the landfall of two Category 5
hurricanes, Irma and Maria, just 2 weeks apart on Puerto Rico
in September of 2017, FEMA has led Federal relief and recovery
efforts to provide emergency food and water, temporary housing,
healthcare, power grid restoration, and other basic services to
the survivors of this continuing humanitarian crisis.
Regrettably, however, the Agency's mission has been greatly
impaired by many of the same oversight challenges that
undermined the failed Federal response to Hurricane Katrina
back in 2005. Puerto Rico and its 3.5 million American citizens
deserves better. I think we all agree on that.
As reported by the Select Committee to Investigate the
Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina in 2006, FEMA
logistics and contracting systems did not support a targeted,
massive, and sustained provision of commodities--that was the
finding--to affected Gulf residents.
The Agency did not have advance contracts in place that
anticipated what supplies would be needed in the wake of a
hurricane. According to the Select Committee, this, quote,
``led to chaos and the potential for waste and fraud as
acquisitions were made in haste,'' close quote.
Our own committee hearings into Katrina contracting in 2006
revealed instances where debris removal contractors would
arrive at a Federal dumpsite, check in, and then drive away,
only to return later with the same truckload of debris and
receive double payment.
The Federal Government also spent millions of dollars on
contracts with companies to install temporary blue plastic
sheeting on damaged homes. These blue roofs were billed to the
American taxpayer but never installed.
Despite the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina more
than a decade ago, we are once again receiving a similar report
of waste, fraud, and abuse in Federal contracting relating to
the Puerto Rican relief effort.
Nearly 1 month after the hurricane hit the island, FEMA
awarded $156 million contract to a one-person company owned by
Tiffany Brown, Tribute Contracting LLC, to provide 30 million
emergency meals.
Ms. Brown received a contract despite her failure to
fulfill at least five previous and much smaller Federal
contracts. This is one woman. Those previous contracts included
a 27,000 Federal Prison system contract that was canceled
because she could not deliver the required beans, flour, and
spaghetti, and other food.
As the sole employee of her company, Ms. Brown sought help
in fulfilling her new FEMA contract and hired a wedding caterer
with 11 employees to freeze dry meals.
In a letter sent to FEMA last month, members of the Senate
Government Affairs Committee also underscored that Ms. Brown's
initial nine-page bid appeared to be plagiarized from several
readily available sources on the Internet.
While FEMA eventually canceled the contract after Ms. Brown
could only deliver 50,000 of the required 30 million meals, the
residents of Puerto Rico, the American taxpayer, and this
committee are left asking how FEMA could have awarded the
contract in the first place.
Similarly, in October of 2017 the Agency awarded two
contracts, totaling $30 million, to a newly formed Florida
company, Bronze Star, LLC, to provide emergency tarps and
plastic sheeting for repairs in Puerto Rico. The company was
owned by Richard and Kayon Jones, two brothers operating out of
a single-family house. They had never received a Federal
contract or delivered these materials before. FEMA also
eventually canceled the contracts in November and admitted that
it had not performed due diligence.
President Trump has graded the Federal relief and recovery
effort in Puerto Rico as, quote, ``great,'' close quote,
``amazing,'' close quote, ``tremendous,'' and ``a 10 out of
10.'' I don't think so. It may have been a 10 for Tiffany Brown
and the Jones brothers, but it surely hasn't been a 10 for the
people of Puerto Rico or for the U.S. taxpayer.
In light of these and other reports, congressional
oversight will serve an even more critical role in ensuring
that our massive recovery effort will not be further impeded by
a failure to properly vet Federal contractors.
I strongly urge the Agency to comply with this committee's
request for documents pertaining to the Federal preparedness
and response to Hurricanes Irma and Maria in Puerto Rico and
the U.S. Virgin Islands. This includes a bipartisan document
request by our full committee chairman, Chairman Gowdy, and
Ranking Member Cummings over 5 months ago.
I would also urge the leadership of this committee to
organize a bipartisan oversight delegation to the damaged
areas, as we did in 2005 following Hurricane Katrina. I know
that the Massachusetts delegation, led by Senator Elizabeth
Warren, were there in January and brought back a very
informative report. That would allow us to conduct direct
oversight of Federal recovery efforts, receive firsthand
accounts from the affected people, and hopefully get this
right.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I really do appreciate you holding
this hearing. And I look forward to discuss these and other
issues with our witnesses. And I yield back the balance of my
time.
Mr. DeSantis. I thank the gentleman.
The chair notes the presence of our colleague from Puerto
Rico, Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon. And without objection, I move
that she be recognized and allowed to participate in today's
hearing.
There being none, I would like to take this opportunity to
actually recognize her for an opening statement.
Miss Gonzalez-Colon. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And with
that, I want to begin this saying thank you to you, Chairman
DeSantis and Ranking Member Lynch, for agreeing to have this
very important hearing on Puerto Rico and agreeing to have this
meeting on the challenge of the recovery process on the island.
And, Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you, particularly on
behalf of my 3.4 million American citizens living in Puerto
Rico, because of your steadfast leadership and support in the
aftermath of the Hurricanes Irma and Maria, not only for the
residents of the island, but also for the hundreds of thousands
who have since the hurricane been forced to move to your home
State of Florida.
And one of the main issues we still face on the island is
the great anxiety and the frustration among all the citizens in
the island over the time it has taken to get the power being
restored.
One of the main issues is in the private sector, the
individuals and businesses had to rely on generators at high
cost and environmental impact. It has caused considerable
business losses from closures, limited hours, and cost
overruns.
Specifically, the people with medication pumps,
respirators, and the like, it has caused considerable
situations. They are in municipalities where no resident had
power until late January. And we are talking about more than
100,000 people still without power. And that's one thing.
I want to say, also, that I want to thank the witnesses
that are here today to give us some light about that recovery
process. And with that, I want to say thank you to Mr. Byrne.
He has always been available to all my calls in all that
recovery process.
And I want to thank you, because I know you've been away
from home many hours, and your people from FEMA. And I know
you're doing your job.
We still need more. And I hope this hearing will help us
out to establish what is needed from Congress, what is needed
from the Federal Government.
Same thing to the rest of the Federal agencies. Over the
last 3 weeks, residents of the island have been subject to
great stress and worry upon learning that many repair and
construction crews have ended in terms of their contracts or
are being relocated to higher-priority locations.
There is some shock on the island and dismay at the
impression that the mission is winding down before the job is
finished and the apparent lack of a concerted effort to explain
what is happening.
A rural working family without electricity for 6 months
does not want to hear of standard protocols or contract
restrictions. They want to see full effort directed to
reconnecting every remaining home everywhere.
And we're talking about everywhere in the island, not just
the metropolitan area on the northern side of the island. We're
talking about the central part or the towns where the hurricane
made landfall.
I stated in another hearing last week, and I will say it
again, I just want you to imagine if your own hometown here in
the mainland will be without electricity for 2 months, 3, 4, 6
months, without power, with also failing communications, with
the only assurance that, ``We are working on it.''
What will happen? The people of Puerto Rico have been
admirably patient, but are justifiably tired. If we were a
State having five congressional district and two Senators, who
will not leave a State, nobody will leave a State without power
for 6 months.
And now we're facing the next hurricane season in 3 months.
So that's the biggest challenge that we're facing. That's the
reason this hearing is so important for us.
We are now over 90 percent capacity online, but still less
80 percent of transmission and distribution lines at a full
load. That means that the Corps of Engineers estimated that 95
percent of the capacity will be up by the end of March, but
that does not necessarily mean that the 100,000 people will
have power in their houses by the end of August of this year.
So that's my biggest challenge, and that's the reason we
need to know the reality. That's the reason we need to know
what do we need to have a 30-day timeframe in terms of FEMA,
Corps of Engineers, all the Federal agencies to make that
happen. If it's assigning money, if it's amending the rules, if
it's amending the resources in terms of another CR, what do we
need to make that happen?
For that, we need to bear in mind that rebuilding needs to
be done in such a manner as to consider the possibility of such
a catastrophic event happening again. Hurricane season starts,
as we already said, in 3 months, and we have presented with
other colleagues from both sides of the aisle amendments to
open up the Stafford Act limits so we can be more flexible and
not just patch up what is broken, but rebuild to update
standards, Section 20601 of last month's CR.
There is also $2 billion in that continuing resolution
specifically meant for improvement of the power grid. We also
know that that's not even close to what we need. But at least
that's a start, and we must maintain the sense of urgency that
sometimes is missing.
With that, I will yield back the balance of my time. I will
save the rest for the questions.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. DeSantis. Great. I thank my friend from Puerto Rico.
Now, you just heard that votes have been called. I've got
five of you to give opening statements. So I think it's
probably wise that we just briefly recess this. We'll go vote.
It's probably going to be a 30-minute evolution. Probably no
earlier than 10:45.
And so I appreciate the witnesses' indulgence on this. Any
time you do these hearings, if we did it 2 o'clock yesterday,
we would have had votes then.
So the subcommittee will recess at the call of the chair.
We plan to return immediately at the conclusion of votes.
So the committee stands in recess.
Mr. DeSantis. The subcommittee will come to order.
I appreciate the indulgence of the witnesses as we tackle
the ominous omnibus bill.
It's my pleasure to introduce our witnesses. We have
Michael Byrne, Assistant Administrator for Field Operations at
the Federal Emergency Management Agency; William Park, Senior
Advisor to Assistant Secretary at the Office of Electricity
Delivery and Energy Reliability at the U.S. Department of
Energy; Mr. Peter Lopez, Regional Administrator for Region 2 at
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Mr. Scott Aaronson,
Vice President for Security and Preparedness at EEI; and Staff
Sergeant Johnathan Sutton, U.S. Army, retired, a volunteer in
Puerto Rico during this recovery effort.
Welcome to you all.
Pursuant to committee rules, all witnesses will be sworn in
before they testify. Please stand and raise your right hand.
Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you're about to
give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,
so help you God?
Okay. Please be seated.
All witnesses answered in the affirmative.
In order to allow time for discussion, please limit your
testimony to 5 minutes. Your entire written statement will be
made part of the record.
As a reminder, the clock in front of you shows the
remaining time. During your opening statement, the light will
turn yellow when you have 30 seconds left and red when your
time is up.
Please also remember to press the button to turn your
microphone on before speaking.
And with that, I would like to recognize Mr. Byrne for 5
minutes.
WITNESS STATEMENTS
STATEMENT OF MICHAEL BYRNE
Mr. Byrne. Thank you. Good morning, Chairman DeSantis,
Ranking Member Lynch, Representative Gonzalez-Colon, and
members of the subcommittee.
My name is Mike Byrne, and I'm the Federal coordinating
officer in Puerto Rico. Thank you for this opportunity to
testify.
In the emergency management community, we talk about
needing to be prepared for the big one. Last fall, Puerto Rico
experienced the catastrophic impacts that we train our entire
careers for. Hurricane Maria is the fifth-strongest storm, and
it's the strongest storm to strike Puerto Rico in nearly a
century. The storm left nearly all of Puerto Rico's 3.5 million
people without power, and the lack of backup generators shut
down other critical infrastructure, like water treatment plants
and hospitals.
Communications were decimated, hindering initial
operations. Seaports, airstrips were severely damaged,
resulting in limited initial access to bring in commodities.
Roads and bridges were washed away, cutting off isolated, hard-
to-reach communities.
Following the devastation of this catastrophic storm, FEMA
and the Commonwealth and our other Federal partners took
immediate action. We established the largest domestic sea
bridge operation in U.S. history, delivering more than a
billion dollars in commodities such as food, water, tarps, and
construction materials. These commodities were delivered by
air, off-road vehicles, and often by foot, making it the
largest and longest commodity delivery mission in FEMA's
history, and it is still going on.
Also, one of the largest medical response missions. More
than 4,700 medical personnel deployed and cared for more than
38,000 survivors. FEMA mission-assigned 80 Federal agencies
with more than 700 distinct mission assignments, supporting
power restoration, temporary power, debris removal, et cetera,
all of the different response functions that we do.
At the height of the response, there were nearly 19,000
Federal personnel deployed to Puerto Rico working around the
clock with territory and local officials.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, mission-assigned by FEMA,
installed more than 1,900 emergency generators. To put that
context, previously the most installed was 310 during Katrina.
We still have over 800 of those still working.
While there's lots of work to be done, we have seen
significant signs of progress. More than 90 percent of the
power has been restored, with crews working around the clock in
treacherous, mountainous terrain to work on lines as quickly
and safely as possible.
PRASA reports nearly 99 percent of their customers have
water restored. More than 6.4 million cubic yards of debris has
been removed. All 68 hospitals are back in operation and have
been since mid-November. More than $10 billion has already been
spent, between FEMA and SBA assistance programs, that has been
approved for the response and recovery efforts.
We are also committed to identifying solutions around
housing, from direct financial assistance to direct repairs.
We're working every avenue possible to restore housing.
In order to meet the long-term recovery needs and move into
recovery, FEMA and our partners are implementing the structure
and functions of the National Disaster Recovery Framework in
Puerto Rico. We've established 12 sectors to holistically
address the magnitude of the damage across these systems and
how we can combine and leverage resources to more effectively
and efficiently restore these systems.
Thanks to authorities given to us by Congress in the
Bipartisan Budget Act last month, we can now provide assistance
funding to Puerto Rico for critical services to replace or
restore infrastructure to industry standards without regard to
their pre-disaster conditions. We can also replace or restore
components not damaged by the disaster when it is necessary to
restore the entire system to industry standards. These new
authorities are critical to ensuring we help build back a more
resilient Puerto Rico.
We're also greeting ready for the 2018 hurricane season.
We've already hired over 1,500 local hires on the island,
Puerto Ricans. It is actually 52 percent of my workforce right
now, and I plan to get to 90 percent by the 1-year anniversary.
We're also doing training. We're also resupplying our
warehouses with stockpiles, adjusting our national-level
contracts. We're also going to be doing a significant amount of
training and exercises. In fact, we have three major exercises
scheduled before the end of June.
Hurricanes Irma and Maria, along with all the other 2017
disasters, highlight the importance of preparing for the worst.
As Administrator Long unveiled last week, FEMA's strategic plan
includes the goal of building a culture of preparedness and
readying the Nation for catastrophic disasters.
I encourage Congress and Americans across the country to
partner with us as we look to get the Nation more prepared. I
appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today. I look
forward to your questions.
Thank you.
[Prepared statement of Mr. Byrne follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. DeSantis. Thank you.
Mr. Parks, you're up for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF WILLIAM PARKS
Mr. Parks. Chairman DeSantis, Ranking Member Lynch,
Representative Gonzalez-Colon, and other members, thank you for
the opportunity to be here today.
The mission of DOE's Office of Electricity Delivery and
Energy Reliability is to develop innovative solutions to ensure
that our Nation's energy infrastructure remains reliable,
affordable, and resilient. In order to fulfill this mission, we
leverage the technical capabilities of the national
laboratories, the power marketing authorities, and partnership
with the private sector.
Our organization is the lead for providing energy-related
expertise to FEMA, interagency partners, and the administration
emergency response activities. We're the coordinating agency
for Emergency Support Function 12 under the National Response
Framework and the sector-specific agency for energy under
Presidential Directive 21.
In addition, we're the primary agency for infrastructure
systems recovery support function under the National Disaster
Recovery Framework.
The impacts of these hurricanes, as mentioned, adding to
their pre-existing conditions of the grid in Puerto Rico has
led to an unprecedented restoration period. The significant
damage done to the electricity sector and the complicated
nature of an island response created major logistical
challenges, as mentioned by Mr. Byrne.
In the wake of these, DOE has received $17 million in
mission assignments from FEMA to provide technical assistance
for hurricane response and recovery. In addition, we received
$13 million in the supplemental funding for response and
recovery activities. This gives us the opportunity to help the
Commonwealth incorporate resilience and reliability into the
new Puerto Rico grid.
The hurricane season of 2017 serves to highlight the need
for a continued and adaptive focus on energy system resilience.
The presence of responders at utility operations and early
engagement with utilities is crucial, especially in the
presence of Federal and State emergency operation centers.
The administration has conveyed in numerous hearings that
Congress should revisit the Stafford Act, and recovery efforts
would focus on resilience and investments that will mitigate
further damage. As mentioned, having the flexibility to do more
than just restore back to pre-existing conditions in a
situation like Puerto Rico is crucial.
We also brought in the power marketing authorities with
their knowledge of building systems. Long-term deployments have
really stressed our capacity, as this has been the longest
deployment that we've ever had, at 6 months.
We are working on a plan to develop Puerto Rico's grid,
listing actions and options for building in greater resiliency,
power quality, and reliability. It will include developing a
power flow model for Puerto Rico that allows better both grid
planning and grid operations. This will inform FEMA's
overarching comprehensive plan as required in the supplemental
funding legislation.
DOE has also engaged in Southern States Energy Board to
provide support to the Puerto Rico Governor on territorial
regulatory and policy issues to set up the best structure for
going forward in the future.
I am grateful for and impressed by the hard work of the
emergency responders and recovery experts during this hurricane
season.
Over the next several months, our primary focus in Puerto
Rico will be working with our partners to support the ability
of the power grid and the critical infrastructure to withstand
future events in a reliable, resilient, and affordable manner.
Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.
[Prepared statement of Mr. Parks follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. DeSantis. Thank you.
Mr. Lopez, you're up for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF PETER LOPEZ
Mr. Lopez. Thank you, Chairman. And in the interest of
time, I will try to consolidate my remarks. You have the full
testimony in front of you.
So good morning, Chairman DeSantis, Ranking Member Lynch,
Representative Gonzalez Colon, members of the subcommittee.
My name is Pete Lopez. I'm the Regional Administrator for
Region 2, which comprises New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico,
U.S. Virgin Islands, and eight federally recognized Indian
nations.
Mr. Lopez. So I'm very pleased to be part of this
assemblage today.
Just to put it in perspective, my experience in New York
State, as a State assembly member, gave me the opportunity to
be involved in intense storm-related recovery. In my region,
Northern Appalachian, we were impacted by Hurricane Irene and
Tropical Storm Lee. And just to put it in perspective, my
family was homeless, my parents homeless. We struggled with
many of the similar issues impacting Puerto Rico.
The challenge, of course, of geographic isolation and the
socioeconomic conditions also gave me a sensitivity and an
understanding of how complicated it can be to respond when you
have an isolated and economically disadvantaged community. So,
effectively, the more disadvantaged, the slower and more
painful the recovery.
On a personal note, I also have family on the island. And I
can tell you, as I work with my colleagues, and I'm very
pleased with their engagement, we take this personally.
Mr. Lopez. We are galvanized by their struggles, and we are
working intensely to provide results.
I traveled to the islands last fall. Actually, I took off
in October just as the storms were hitting. We made our initial
visit. And the issue there was to focus not just on structure
and function, but also on coordinating and seeking problem-
solving opportunities, be creative with our problem solving.
I plan to go back in the next few weeks to engage as we
transfer between response and recovery, each being a little bit
different. So with that said, we have been very pleased to work
with FEMA, Army Corps, other colleagues, our State and Federal
partners, our local partners. We realize that the work is not
complete and that this will be a long time--a long journey,
just to sum it up.
So in terms of our actions, we have spent roughly $69
million. We have other funds that we are working to engage with
as we move into recovery. You will see a listing of all the
work that we have done, a sampling of it. Just in highlighting,
we have addressed chemical and hazardous waste facilities,
Superfund and oil sites. We have addressed water treatment
plants, sewer treatment plants, ambient air monitoring,
hazardous waste, hazardous household waste, vegetative debris.
The list goes on. Coast Guard, partnering with them to remove
oil and hazardous substances. We are very focused, and we will
remain committed.
So as we move forward, we are very pleased to be part of
the response protocol under FEMA. We are actively engaged, and
are not lead on issues, but we are helping support, almost like
wing men. I guess that is the best way to describe us. We are
tucked right in there and working collectively.
So the other thing that is of note as we move forward is
that there are very serious issues, and I just want to
highlight this quickly. As we rebuild, we also want to make
sure there is capacity from the local governments to be
sustainable as well. So in terms of their management structure,
their organizational structure, the financing of solid waste
landfill, maintenance over time, those are serious issues to
us, and we will be helping to support that as well.
So in sum, our success depends on our communication, our
integration, State, Federal, local level, and our creative
thinking. So we thank Congress for the resources, and we are
doing our best. We will continue. Public safety, health of the
environment matters, and we are right there.
Thank you.
[Prepared statement of Mr. Lopez follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Hurd. Thank you. Mr. Aaronson, 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF SCOTT AARONSON
Mr. Aaronson. Thank you, Chairman DeSantis, Ranking Member
Lynch, Representative Gonzalez-Colon, and members of the
subcommittee, it is a privilege to be here to discuss power
restoration in Puerto Rico. And I will also abbreviate my
remarks as best I can in the interest of time. I will also
direct you to the pictures that we are going to have rolling.
Pictures really are worth 1,000 words to understand the level
of devastation and the amount of restoration work that is going
on.
I am here today testifying on behalf of the Edison Electric
Institute member companies, which is all the Nation's investor-
owned electric companies.
When duty calls, EEI's companies, crews, and contractors
bring decades of experience and unique capabilities to restore
power for those affected by natural disasters. That spirt of
mutual assistance is a hallmark of our industry and was on full
display throughout the historic 2017 hurricane season as all
segments of the industry worked closely with our Federal
partners in response to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Nate, as
well as the wildfires ravaged the Western United States. And
that coordination continues today in support of the people of
Puerto Rico.
As has been noted, 2 days ago, we marked the 6-month
anniversary of the day Hurricane Marie made landfall. This
devastating category 4 hurricane impacted all critical
infrastructure on the island, including the energy grid. The
magnitude of destruction to the grid is unlike anything we have
ever seen on the U.S. mainland, making this power restoration
mission more difficult than other missions. As of today, the
Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, or PREPA, reports that
more than 93 percent of the 1.47 million customers who can
receive electricity, have had their power restored. It is
important to note that one customer is equal to one electric
meter, but that one meter may serve several people.
That progress could not have been made without the
partnership of PREPA, FEMA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
and its contractors, and the many mutual assistance crews who
worked tirelessly to restore power for the people of Puerto
Rico. And while there has been significant progress, nobody
deserves to be without power for this long. EEI, our member
companies, and the rest of the industry, remain committed to
this mission in helping our fellow citizens on the island.
To that end, I would like to explain our industry's role
and the challenges we had faced in supporting power
restoration. PREPA made its initial ask for mutual assistance
from the mainland industry on October 31. Since then, nearly 60
investor-owned electric companies and public power utilities
have committed personnel, equipment, and materials to the
efforts.
Within days of receiving the request for mutual assistance,
two industry storm bosses, or incident response experts, were
deployed to Puerto Rico to assess the situation on the ground
and develop a comprehensive restoration plan. It should be
noted that a contingent of industry crews from New York,
including EEI member crews, has been on the island since
October from agreement between Governors Rossello and Cuomo.
Our November 22, Governor Rossello appointed Carlos Torres,
who is formerly of Con Edison, as the power restoration
coordinator to oversee the multi-pronged restoration effort,
and to align the work of industry, PREPA, the Army Corps, and
others committed to the mission. This unified command has been
instrumental in managing the large complex restoration safely,
while ensuring crews, capabilities, and materials are being
used effectively. It really is a shared effort that has
embodied the motto one team, one mission.
Applying lessons learned on the mainland, an incident
command structure was created for PREPA that include an
incident command staff in San Juan, and seven incident
management teams, or IMTs. The arrival of crews from mainland
electric companies was the culmination of months of critical,
but much less visible work, necessary to make this effort a
success.
In most deployments, workers load their equipment into
their trucks and set out on the roads to help. In this case,
nearly 20 barges were needed to get trucks and equipment to
Puerto Rico. And workers had to be flown to the island. All
told, more than 3,000 workers from the mainland industry have
been a part of this mission. Companies from across the mainland
also had sent stocks of critical materials, including poles,
transformers, insulators, wire, and other necessities to ensure
crews had equipment and material compatible with the island
system. It is important to understand that companies committed
to this mutual assistance effort are doing so at cost, on a
not-for-profit basis.
As of today, about 900 mutual assistance workers remain on
the island. In every single restoration, a point is reached
where a substantial amount of work is completed, and the amount
and type of workers needed to complete the job is reassessed.
The restoration plan ensures that crews will now converge
into the hardest-hit areas, and that the right number of
workers remain actively engaged and continue to work safely and
as quickly as possible. This deliberate rightsizing of the
workforce is typical. As is the case with all restorations, the
final customers will be the most difficult and time-consuming
to restore.
In this case, the terrain on the island is a recurring
challenge. While the response in Texas and Florida to
Hurricanes Harvey and Irma were extremely efficient, we were
reluctant to compare storms, as each has unique challenges. It
is natural to suggest the response in Puerto Rico should have
been executed as it was on the mainland, but there are
significant differences that made the situation on the island
unique. For one, you cannot preposition crews on the island for
fear that responders would become victims. Then there is the
challenge of getting people and equipment to the island.
Finally, material availability is imperative. We stockpile
equipment on the mainland and made as much available to PREPA
as possible. But their energy grid had some unique components,
and their stockpiles were diminished.
Our industry's mantra is to be better today than we were
yesterday, and better tomorrow than we are today. While it is
difficult to extrapolate too much from such an anomalous event,
we will be undertaking a full after-action study to ensure we
glean lessons that can help preparations on the mainland, and
to prevent a similar long-term recovery should Puerto Rico be
impacted by another catastrophic hurricane.
Again, I appreciate the opportunity to be here and for the
subcommittee's interest in this important topic. And I look
forward to your questions.
[Prepared statement of Mr. Aaronson follows:]
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Mr. DeSantis. Thank you. Staff Sergeant Sutton, you are up,
5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF JOHNATHAN SUTTON
Mr. Sutton. Good morning, Chairman, ranking members, Miss
Gonzalez, thank you for the opportunity to be here today. I
initially flew over to Puerto Rico on the 26th of September,
and I stayed all the way until December 2 of 2017. From getting
over there, I pretty much--you know, I went on my own accord. I
was actually living in Maui, Hawaii, at the time. Never heard
anything about anything on the news about the devastation, what
is going on, you know, how bad this actually was. I ended up
getting ahold of a few military members that I knew were
already over there, and they went ahead and sent me current
active photos, videos, and anything that I could possibly get
my hands on over there.
I went on my own accord. Touched down. As soon as I got in
the airport, I honestly felt like I was the only person coming
into Puerto Rico trying to bring aid, you know, just as a
regular person. My flight, you know, obviously can fit over 400
people, but, you know, there was 10.
I came in. As soon as I touched down, I found the, you
know, FBI. Located homeland security. You know, identified
myself.You know, let they know, Hey, I have a, you know,
security clearance with DOD. You know, I am retired military. I
was working with 82nd Airborne Division, working alongside with
Special Forces groups and have been deployed multiple times.
And I am here to volunteer, whatever you need. You know, told
them my capabilities of being able to rebuild homes, provide
power, AC. Anything you need, I can make it happen.
They said they didn't need any help. Apply online. So I
said, Okay.
I went on my own accord. Went throughout Puerto Rico. You
know, ran into a few police officers. Their big advice was,you
know, You need to be really careful because you are not from
around here.
Right now, there is no communications outside the airport,
period. Our communications are just here. The moment you leave
the airport, I can't tell you what is going to happen to you.
There was obviously looting. People being killed over the small
amount of dollars they do have in their pockets. And moving
around the city was practically impossible. Curfews were in
place. Limited supplies, limited fuels, and people are very
desperate.
There was multiple times that I would go throughout Puerto
Rico, and, you know, it is just a mad house. You know, people
would either rush your car, rush your vehicle,you know, just
trying to get whatever supplies you got on you.
There is multiple times I would go out with, you know,
people. And, honestly, it would be, like, too late. A lot of
people, you would show up, say, Hey, I heard you had an elderly
member or a child here. We are here to help you out. And,
unfortunately, they passed away the night prior with
dehydration, malnutrition, and a lot of people throughout the
months became more devastated to the point where they took
their own lives by either jumping off mountains or cliffs
because they knew nobody was going to come. Nobody was coming.
It had been months. And to be without power, being without
water, being without food, it was honestly probably harder than
any deployment I have ever been on in my life to see the amount
of, you know, suffering, human suffering.
And, you know, we were all looking for answers. I myself,
you know, moved into a church member's home in Dorado. To paint
a little better picture for you for Dorado and Bayamon, that is
probably the--probably one of the worst side you could probably
go in. Probably one of worst rough areas of D.C. you could ever
think of, New York, L.A., wherever you want to think of. And
being a guy that is not from the island, obviously it is not
very safe for myself. I took the chance, took the risk, because
I knew these people were in need, and they definitely needed
some assistance.
Throughout the months, you know, I did everything I could
from getting medical supplies, getting food to people in hard-
to-reach areas. And every single time I would go out, I would
be the first person that anyone would ever see. They would let
me know, hey, I haven't seen the mayor. I haven't seen FEMA. I
haven't seen Red Cross. Can you help me?
And, you know, I would definitely go out of my way, working
with local hospitals, working with local organizations.
Honestly, I did it all myself. I tried helping out with FEMA. I
would work with them to try to deliver their supplies for them.
And a lot of the responses that I would get would be, There is
a lot of political things happening here, and I can't make this
happen. Can you do it for me? And they would give me addresses,
the locations, and I would go to them and make that happen for
anybody on Puerto Rico.
I would even, you know, take messages from random people
over the internet, say, Hey, this is my address. My
grandfather, you know, hasn't seen anybody. He is a retired
veteran. Can you help me out? And I would go out of my way to
make that happen. And honestly, the 3 months that I was there,
I mean, I have no words to really describe, you know, the
devastation that is currently out there. And that is still
currently going on, so----
Mr. DeSantis. Thank you.
Mr. Sutton. Thank you for your time.
I look forward to your questions.
[Prepared statement of Mr. Sutton follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. DeSantis. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot.
The chair is now going to recognize my colleague from
Puerto Rico for the first round of questions. So you are
recognized for 5 minutes.
Miss Gonzalez-Colon. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you
all members, the panel. I will try to be brief.
The first question will jump directly to Mr. Mike Byrne.
What do we need to complete the restoration of power in 30
days?
Mr. Byrne. I think where we are at right now in power is,
if it was easy, it got done already. And even the easy part was
hard in Puerto Rico because of the challenges of the terrain
and challenges of the conditions.
Miss Gonzalez-Colon. I know that part. And I know also--I
just got 4 minutes now. But what do we need? Is it money? Is it
resources?
I do know you reimbursed the government--I mean, PREPA for
the resources and the contracts they are doing with the mutual
assistance agreement. We know the Corps of Engineers is going
to continue to have some conflicts until April 7. My concern is
that that higher end process will take some time. And you still
got a lot of those contractors on the island until April 7. And
we got still a lot of municipalities in the center part of the
island, and we don't have all the materials on the island yet.
And although Corp of Engineers is saying that the island will
be 100 percent recover, in May or June, the reality is that
when I sat with those personnel, they were saying July, they
say in August, and maybe more than that. And I don't want to,
you know, lie to my people back home. I know you do neither,
you know. What do we need to make a plan for a 30-day re-
powering of the island?
Mr. Byrne. I, quite frankly, have the trust in the unified
command that has been in place for the last 6 months. They have
been able to do difficult things. And they are--have a plan
now. And, again, in fact, talking to Carlos Torres, that we
both know and respect and the work he is doing there. He said,
Mike, the hard part to do is the stuff we are doing now, and it
is like working on a car engine. You can bring in lots more
mechanics, but you can only get so many hands into the vehicle
at one time.
So we are focused on that. And if the smart people at PREPA
or at the Corps or any of those contractors can come up with a
way or--to do this faster, you know we are going to support it.
I am going to support it 1,000 percent.
Miss Gonzalez-Colon. What about the materials?
Mr. Byrne. We are going to continue to provide materials
and get them in. As you know, we had challenges with material.
There was other disasters going on. There was--you know, we
were making material, and 30 days later it was getting put to
use in terms of things. But, again, we are not going to let up
until we get all the material we need and get that last mile.
You know, as we have talked about, some of these houses are up
a road that got washed out that are, you know, way in the back
that--where we have to get to. But, again, we are not going to
stop until we get to that.
Miss Gonzalez-Colon. I will ask you to have, again, another
meeting with the Corp of Engineers and new people from FEMA,
and the people from PREPA, to see how we can maybe cut some red
tape in terms of knowing if we can make a plan of--you know,
cut those long months and days and have actually, you know, a
final expectation, how long it will take to the people. People
don't know how long they need to wait to actually have power
again in their homes. And you know that. I mean, you are living
on the island. You know how it has been living there.
My next question will be, because I am running out of time.
What deadlines have passed or are approaching to such things as
aid applications, or 100 percent Federal funding? And those
terms are statutory or administrative. I know, and I want to
thank the people from EPA for answering my letter in terms of
100 percent Federal assistance in the removal of debris, and
thanking the President for allowing the new waiver for 60 days
and making that happen. Thanking the administration for that.
And I just received the letter on the 19 of March. That is one
of the questions.
The second one would be for the whole panel in terms of the
Department of Energy. I know you are helping the Government of
Puerto Rico, specifically PREPA. One thing is patching up what
we have. Is the system going to be strong enough to resist even
a tropical storm in August, or even to face another hurricane
season in 3 months? Are we rebuilding? Are we patching up? I
mean, what is the next step to re-powering the island and make
a better system?
Mr. Parks. So the first job was to get restoration, and
that is what Mike has been talking about. We are looking at
both short-term and longer-term things that are needed to
really get that resiliency built into it. And as you saw, the
San Juan blackout a couple weeks ago as an indication that some
of this equipment has probably been--has a life expectancy that
is reduced as a function of going through it.
So the teams, Army Corps, FEMA, our people on the ground,
are putting up as much as they can the best systems with the
equipment they have and everything. But some of those things
over the next few years may fail prematurely. And part of what
we want to do is make sure that we are constantly increasing
things, like inspection schedules and all of these routine
maintenance things that are accelerated so we can predict and
understand how fast we need to replace things relative to their
normal life.
Those are the kind of things that need to happen. We need
to make sure that there are contract paths for getting things
like microgrids in place. There are clear ideas of how to best
serve some of the rural communities and that they understand
options, and those decisions can be made.
So those are the kind of things you need to think about. I
think the key is vigilance now, and vigilance as we go forward
and not--even if there is not another major event this summer,
you want to continue to work toward making sure you have that
resiliency and those things like the maintenance schedules set
up and in place and operating.
Mr. DeSantis. Thank you.
The gentlelady's time is expired.
The chair now recognizes the ranking member of the
subcommittee, Mr. Lynch, for 5 minutes.
Mr. Lynch. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I want to thank the witnesses again.
Staff Sergeant Sutton, thank you for your service to your
country, and also for your willingness to pitch in at your own
expense. And I just think that your involvement here was
heroic, and we really appreciate it. I am sure the families of
Puerto Rico appreciate that as well.
Mike Byrne, let's talk about the decision of FEMA to award
the contract for providing 30 million meals to victims in
Puerto Rico to Tiffany Brown, a single person. She had a little
LLC that she set up. So we got all these people without food,
without water.
A month after the storm, so 30 days out. They have already
have been without food for a month. And we award $156 million
contract to Tiffany Brown. And she is already on the website,
on your website, as having defaulted on a previous small
contract for $27,000 to provide beans and rice and spaghetti.
She has already bellied up on that one. She is on the website
in default. She can't do that. So we give her a contract for
$156 million. How does that happen? How does that happen?
Mr. Byrne. So we went through our normal contracting. We
went through--followed the Federal procurement practices.
Mr. Lynch. That was anything but normal. That has to be
abnormal, right?
Mr. Byrne. You know, we issued about just under 2,000
contracts during that period of time. And the block that that
particular contract was in, we did end up awarding six other
contracts to other suppliers, so we were able to meet the
demand. Didn't really impact our demand. And we also held this
individual and this company accountable. We did not pay them
$156 million, we only paid them for what they delivered--
50,000.
Mr. Lynch. You hired them and you didn't hire somebody else
who could do the job, so I don't want to gloss over that. But,
I mean, my point is that she should not have got that contract
in the first place. One, for capacity. Just one person. She
hired a wedding caterer, you know. You know, this was a
disaster. So there was a sense of urgency that I don't think is
being shared by FEMA, to be honest with you. And then she has
got a prior history here.
So here is what I am thinking. I mean, we have companies
that provide meals ready to eat to our military, and they do a
good job. Now, we don't need meals ready to eat because, you
know, they are more expensive because they have got to last for
5 years. However, we got companies that do that type of thing.
Why wouldn't we reach out to one of those companies, have
them bid, or just, you know, buy the stuff or arrange for
acquisition through one of those companies, and then we will
replace it later if we have to. But the thing is, we shouldn't
have waited 30 days to get the bid out. And then once it got
out, we shouldn't have given it to Tiffany Brown. And, you
know, I am not even mentioning the Jones Brothers who got the
contract for plastic roofing.
Mr. Byrne. So we did distribute over 63 million meals. And
even this week, we are still distributing every day, tens of
thousands of meals out there. But, look, we are all about
getting better. And if there is anything we can do to improve
and make sure that we are doing better and we don't even let
even one of our 2,000 contracts slip through the cracks and not
be effective, then we will do that. We will certainly work to
get better at that.
Mr. Lynch. Let me just say.You know, my background is
construction management. I was an ironworker for 20 years. That
is what I got my degree in. And we usually had a list of
qualified bidders, people that had a history and a record and a
reputation for doing the right thing and doing it effectively
and so that when the job came up, we had a pool of people that
we could actually reach out to that we could rely upon. And you
don't operate that way. And, you know, we also have performance
bonds where we have the contractor post a performance bond
where if they go belly up, we just grab their bond, and we go
on to the next person. I don't see that going on at FEMA.
Mr. Byrne. Well, we dealt with this contract quickly and
effectively. And we----
Mr. Lynch. Effectively?
Mr. Byrne. We did away with it, sir.
Mr. Lynch. Are you kidding me?
Mr. Byrne. We stopped the contract.
Mr. Lynch. No, no. Firing the person is not handling the
contract effectively. Having them go belly up and non perform
and then you fire them, that is not effectively. Picking a good
contractor that provides the relief that the taxpayer paid for,
that is efficiently, right?
Mr. Byrne. Well, we did manage to do that for the vast
majority of the--again----
Mr. Lynch. Except for this $156 million contract. I don't
know. I am not hearing what I thought I would be hearing after
seeing what is going on here.
I yield back.
Mr. DeSantis. The gentleman yields.
The chair now recognizes himself for 5 minutes.
Mr. Byrne, with this new language about allowing the
rebuilding to go up to industry standards, not necessarily just
the status quo anti, is that going to be a benefit for Puerto
Rico specifically? Because wasn't their infrastructure really
degraded? And so, yeah, it was a very bad storm. But because
some of it wasn't up to industry standards, the damage was that
much worse?
Mr. Byrne. Yes, Mr. Chairman. This language that you guys
give us really is going to streamline our process and enable us
to do the right thing. I mean, just imagine the discussions we
would have of ``he said, she said,'' of what was the condition
before, what wasn't, what was old, what was new. We now don't
have to worry about that. We are just focused on doing the
right thing.
And there was one other thing that you called for in the
legislation for us to develop a plan, with the Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico, to bring in the best and the brightest to design
the right solution, not just project by project, but what is
the right solution for the whole infrastructure system? And we
are going to--we have 180 days to put that together, and we are
going to let that be our guide as to how we build this back
better and stronger.
Mr. DeSantis. So they needed attention on the
infrastructure even before the storm. And so having to go
through as painful as this has been, on the back side, is it
your expectation that we will a much stronger infrastructure
system there in terms of the electricity and the water than we
had previous to the storm?
Mr. Byrne. Yes. That is exactly the opportunity that is in
front of us. We are going to be vigilant. We are going to be
direct. We are going to make sure that we use, when we bring
in, some of the experts, my colleagues on the panel with me, to
get their advice from their smart people so that--you know, we
are not the experts in power. We are going to rely on the
experts in power to tell us what the right thing to do. And we
are going to use the authorities you gave us to end, and the
funding you gave us, to make sure it happens.
Mr. DeSantis. Good. Well, we want to see that put to use.
And we want the folks back on their feet.
I am going to yield the remaining time I have to my friend
Jennifer, and so I will recognize her now.
Miss Gonzalez-Colon. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Again, another question is regarding the deeds or titles of
the home--of the owners of those homes, and that, you know, Mr.
Byrne. That is one of the major problems we got on the island.
The people have having a lot of difficulties applying for
housing and individual assistance as they cannot command their
home values, or even the homeowners, because they are leaving
and--lands that were family owned or living there from a lot of
years. And I actually filed a bill with Congressman Espaillat
that addressed this issue. I just want to know if FEMA is
willing to sit with me and HUD Department. Actually I already
did that with Deputy Secretary of HUD trying to address this
issue that has been there for many years.
Are you willing to do that?
Mr. Byrne. Yes. Absolutely. There is nothing more
heartbreaking than to see somebody lose their home, and then
have paperwork get in the way. We encourage those families to
go to the disaster recovery centers. We have got 64 of them set
up throughout the island. However you can get back on the phone
with us, we will find a way to work that. And I look forward
with you on it.
Miss Gonzalez-Colon. I am glad to hear that, because that
is one the biggest situation in the island even--I know that
even locally, the construction code grandfather a lot of those
informal kind of living. And actually the hurricane just
spotlighted the situation on the island. I know the situation,
and I will--this will be to EPA.
How has this situation, hurricane, affected the status of
the landfills in Puerto Rico? Because I know the debris and the
proposals made it for alternative debris disposal has been
increasing after the hurricane. And we already got a problem
with a lot of landfills before the hurricane.
And the third question, because I know I am going to run
out of time, Mr. Byrne, is regarding--you know that PREPA is
under the bankruptcy situation. So one of the main problems we
got is PREPA don't got the money to buy the materials, in the
first place, the liquidity to buy the materials and then got
the reimbursement from FEMA to make that happen.
So that will, you know, make longer the process of the
recovery. So that is one of the reasons I know the Department
of Energy and the Corps of Engineers were involved in the
process. How can we make that process a faster one, and with
your leadership there helping us out through your--faster
situation.
Mr. Lopez. Thank you, Miss Colon.
So in regards to landfills, we share your urgent concern.
And to answer your question, the storms have just made a
situation that was difficult, and really a crisis situation,
worse. So we have worked hard with FEMA and our colleagues to
intercept waste before it is put into the landfill. So whether
it is household waste, hazardous waste, vegetative debris, any
number of potential additions to the landfills we are working
to intercept it and then manage it. In some cases, shipping it
off island for proper assessment.
The issue, of course, is the long-term. And we are very
dedicated to working with the Commonwealth and USVI, because
they have the same problem on their islands to get them to a
point where they have landfills that are secure. We know that
many of the landfills, none of them, are in full compliance. We
have 11 that we have--13 that we have orders against because
they are potentially contaminating groundwater, they could be
hazards to the community.
Our challenge is that the ultimate responsibility lies with
the Commonwealth in terms of managing and operating. So our
goal, and we have developed a strategic plan in region 2 with
EPA, we would like to reach out to the Commonwealth, bring all
the stakeholders together, and begin looking at how do we
address solid waste universally?
How do we reduce the amount of waste going to landfills?
What do we do for source separation, recycling. We like to be
part of that process. How do we drive funding towards the
island which the island will control to put in secure landfills
with proper liners, proper leachate collection, to make ones
that are unsafe, close them down. So we are very much united
with you. The term ``crisis'' applies, and we are addressing
this very urgently. We share your concern.
Mr. Byrne. As to----
Mr. DeSantis. Let me--the time is up. I am going to
recognize--because we are going to have the vote called, so if
there is time on the back end, I would love to give you an
opportunity.
Before I recognize our friend from the Virgin Islands, I
have a statement from the American Public Power Association. I
would ask unanimous consent that this be made part of the
record. And without objection, it will be made part of the
record.
Mr. DeSantis. The chair does note the presence of Ms.
Plaskett from the Virgin Islands. I ask unanimous consent that
she be waived in and be allowed to participate. Without
objection, so ordered.
And then I now would like to recognize her for 5 minutes.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, ranking
member, for holding this hearing, and thank you, gentlemen, for
being here this morning.
Part of the oversight and government reform purpose is to
oversee and ensure that operations of the government are
working smoothly and efficiently.
In October, bipartisan members of this committee sent a
letter to DHS and have been requesting from FEMA response for
that letter related to these hurricanes. We have not, to date,
received the documents from that. And that is something that is
very, very unnerving, and, potentially, very problematic in our
ability to continue to do our work.
In the course of our own investigation in this committee,
one of the things that we have recognized is, in the response,
potentially some communications problem between agencies, and
how are agencies working getting supplies to the people that
are affected by these hurricanes.
One of the instances we found out were surrounding Walmart
and emergency food. We have emails and text messages between
Walmart and government officials, and Congress and Puerto Rico
who discuss the desperate need for fuel at the Walmart stores
to be able to sustain the food that was there. In one, on
September 23 and 24, a Walmart official wrote to the Puerto
Rico official saying: Walmart, any word on the fuel situation
on the island? Puerto Rico, there is some redaction, no word
yet. I put in numerous requests with FEMA and haven't heard
from anything. Because of your issue, I put in a request to be
imbedded into FEMA headquarters tomorrow which will allow me to
get this sorted out directly. I will let you know if anything
happens.
So our committee then issued to both myself and Ranking
Member Cummings sent a letter to Trey Gowdy, which I would ask
unanimous consent to be put into the record, which is a request
regarding our bipartisan investigation of the response to the
hurricanes and requesting information and outlining what we
found out from the investigation and Walmart.
So, Mr. Byrne, how was Walmart's emergency request for a
generator fuel handled by FEMA?
First, is there any objection?
Mr. DeSantis. Without objection.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you.
Mr. Byrne, what was Walmart's emergency request for
generator fuel handled by FEMA?
Mr. Byrne. At that point, I don't think I was at the
response, but I am familiar with the issue and the--at that
point in time in a response, we are focused--we have to
prioritize where we are going to get emergency fuel to, and our
focus was on hospitals, you know, dialysis centers, and
community health centers and public safety buildings.
Ms. Plaskett. How many generators were brought down to
Puerto Rico?
Mr. Byrne. A total of about 1,900.
Ms. Plaskett. 1,900. And is there a protocol to have
generators in places where food is being stored for food to be
able--is that within the purview of FEMA to get generators to
those locations?
Mr. Byrne. We do. But with the issue of private sector
companies, you know, I think we have to be cautious here. You
know, this really is--you know, if we are going to rely on FEMA
to be the single source for both private sector----
Ms. Plaskett. Okay. I guess the question is--the question
is are you--have protocols to be able to do it?
I understand the issue with private sector. But we heard
earlier in the testimony that there was issues in contracting
for emergency food to be brought down. So when you have food
there on the ground, does it then become a priority to make
sure that that food supply doesn't become perishable?
Mr. Byrne. We certainly take responsibility for everything
we bring in.
Ms. Plaskett. Okay. But one of the things I wanted to get
back to with regard to the documents that we requested in
October, do you have a date when you are going to respond to
the letter that was sent by Chairman Gowdy and Ranking Member
Cummings requesting the information from DHS?
Mr. Byrne. This is the first that I have been made aware of
that, but I am sure that I will take that back and we will make
sure we respond.
Ms. Plaskett. This is the first time that you heard about
the letter that we requested information through FEMA from DHS?
Mr. Byrne. Yes, ma'am. My role is to be the leader of the
response in Puerto Rico. I am not really involved in the
aspects that you just described.
Ms. Plaskett. Okay. So will you get the message to get
Brock Long for us?
Mr. Byrne. I will carry it forward personally.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you.
Mr. Byrne. Yes, ma'am.
Ms. Plaskett. And do you know, Mr. Byrne, if FEMA has a
plan for getting fuel to food storage generators in the event
of another hurricane if it is being knocked out.
Mr. Byrne. We are developing plans right now to have
prepositioned a lot of fuel and generators on the island. We
haven't worked out any details. But, again, I think we are
going to--we are going to ask the private sector to also make
plans, because this has got to be a whole community and not
just us that is supplying all the emergency----
Ms. Plaskett. I agree completely.
So as my colleague, Jennifer Gonzalez-Colon, said, we are
now several months before hurricane season again. Predictions
are that this hurricane season should be the same level of
activity as last year's.
Are we prepared for a hurricane in the Virgin Islands and
Puerto Rico, or one or two?
Mr. Parks, is the Department--is your department prepared
for that?
Mr. Parks. We have--we prepare every year for----
Ms. Plaskett. Are you prepared for the level of hurricanes
happening in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico that occurred.
That is a yes or no.
Are you prepared for it?
Mr. Parks. Well, our role--the simple answer is, I would
say we are not, because we are not--that is not our function.
Ms. Plaskett. If you are called upon, are you saying that
you have no role to play in that when----
Mr. Parks. No, ma'am. I didn't say that. You asked for a
yes-or-no answer.
Mr. Plaskett. Is your agency prepared when called upon by
FEMA to support that?
Mr. Parks. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes.
Ms. Plaskett. And, Mr. Byrne, does FEMA have in place
prioritization for the hurricane season that is coming knowing
the compromised state that the Caribbean Americans are in right
now?
Mr. Byrne. We are going to take extraordinary steps to make
sure we have stuff in place. But I would have to be honest, it
is going to be a rough year. There is a fragile, you know,
stability that we built, and we are going to need to take extra
steps to make sure we have extra on the island, and we are
doing that.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you.
I yield back.
Mr. DeSantis. The gentlelady yields back.
With that, I don't see any additional members.
Would you like to do another round?
Miss Gonzalez-Colon. Mr. Chairman, I would like, if you
don't mind, to introduce into the record a letter I sent to the
Corps of Engineers on the 13 of March of this year about the
power restoration, to the record, if you don't mind.
Mr. DeSantis. Without objection.
Mr. DeSantis. Mr. Lynch, you have something for the record?
Mr. Lynch. I just have one quick question, but I also have
observations on Federal response to Maria in Puerto Rico. I
would like to have this accepted into the record.
Mr. DeSantis. Without objection.
Mr. Lynch. Thank you.
And the question I had is, so, Mr. Byrne, I realize you
did----
Mr. DeSantis. Well, hold on. Let me just see.
Do you have any questions?
Let me recognize her.
Mr. Lynch. Oh, I am sorry. Sure. I thought she yielded. No
problem.
Mr. DeSantis. The gentlelady is recognized for 5 minutes.
Miss Gonzalez-Colon. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
This question will be to Edison Energy. My question will be
how stable or reliable is the repair grid right now?
Mr. Aaronson. Thank you, Representative Gonzalez-Colon.
So I want to point to some of the things that were said by
Mr. Parks and Mr. Byrne. While the grid before Hurricane Maria
made landfall was certainly--had--in disrepair, I think the
fact that we have the ability to not just repair and replace,
as FEMA rules would dictate, but repair and replace to code is
going to give us a leg up on a little bit more stability and
resilience from the grid. I'd also note the quality of work
under the unified command from the mutual assistance crews,
from the Army Corps of Engineers and its associated
contractors, and certainly from PREPA, is cause for some
confidence that we are going to be in a better spot.
And then the last thing I would say is, and this is true of
the entire hurricane season. Mother Nature did one heck of a
housecleaning, and took out a lot of the debris and vegetation
that obviously can interfere with the safe transmission and
distribution of electricity.
So while I think to the points that were just made, we need
to be vigilant and we need to continue to do the work. We are
in a more resilient situation than we were prior to the 2017
season.
Miss Gonzalez-Colon. You just brought me a question to
FEMA, and that is that some of the people from the Corps of
Engineers were telling me that they never got the mission for
FEMA to rebuild in a new way because they just got the
provision of repair. And I just want to put in the record that
we managed to include an amendment during the separate
supplemental and the Budget Act, an amendment to Section 2601,
the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management may
provide assistance pursuant to the Section 428 of the Robert T.
Stafford Act for critical services to replace or restore the
function of a facility or assistance industry standard without
regard to the pre-disaster condition of the facility or system,
to replace or restore components of the facility not damaged by
the disaster where necessary to fully effecuate the replacement
or restoration of the disaster-damaged component.
So that provision was included because precisely all of the
restrictions your office told me during that process, during
the hearings, during the codels that were on the island. So
that is included in the amendment this Congress passed. And I
think you already got the provisions and laws, so there is no
excuse now to say that the Army Corps, or FEMA, don't got a
provision to make that happen.
Mr. Byrne. Yes. Definitely. I mean, there is nothing that
we are more excited about than that, and the ability to
actually do the right thing. But the Corps was accurate. The
mission assignment we get was for emergency work, not permanent
work. And, really, now is the part where we got to be
deliberate. We have to take time to take a look and figure out
what the right thing to do is going forward, because we have
got an extraordinary chance, as you said. It did wipe things
clean, destroyed 80 percent of the infrastructure. Now we get a
chance. You know, the bad news is people have suffered, and we
feel for that. But the good news is, is we are going to be able
to--we have an opportunity to build this back the right way.
Miss Gonzalez-Colon. Mr. Byrne, another question regarding
the Army Corps and the mayors is about how long it takes the
reimbursement process? And during the last hearing from the
homeland security, most of the mayors were--even Mr. Long is
saying that you are dealing with a lot of requests from many
States, but without the resources to manage a lot of those
requests. Are you saying that you don't have enough people to
manage the request of many of the reclamation from the
municipalities?
Mr. Byrne. Well, we are in the--you know, as far as the
payback, you know, we recognize we want to move faster with the
mayors and the documentation process that we have got in place.
I think in any disaster that I have worked, the initial part is
usually a little bumpy, but I think we will smooth that out.
But as far as more people, my plan is to hire more people.
Hire more people on Puerto Rico. As I said, I have 52 percent
of my workforce is Puerto Ricans right now. I am going to try
to get to 90 percent by the 1-year anniversary. And we are
going bring on as many people as we need to provide the level
of service that you are looking for.
Miss Gonzalez-Colon. And, Mr. Chairman, one last question,
and I will ask Mr. Byrne to file that on record for the
committee, and it will be regarding the community disaster loan
that I know the FEMA and the Treasury Department--actually, the
Secretary of the Treasury is on the island today. Can you
submit to this committee information regarding the status of
the CDL for the municipalities and the State government
regarding that during the next 5 days?
Mr. Byrne. Sure.
Miss Gonzalez-Colon. Thank you.
And I yield back.
Mr. DeSantis. The gentlelady yields back.
Mr. Lynch.
Mr. Lynch. Just a follow-up.
Mr. Byrne, we also--following up on Ms. Plaskett's request,
we also have a request in for documents regarding the Tribute
Contracting, LLC, documents. And so we would like to have those
documents provided by Tiffany Brown in order to get that
contract. As you know, she is suing FEMA. She is seeking a $70
million settlement. And the wedding caterer is also suing to
get their money from her. And so these documents will be made
available in the core proceedings. We are going to get them
anyway, but it would be a sign of good faith if FEMA provided
those documents rather than us have to go to the court and get
those documents from them. Okay?
Mr. Byrne. Yes, sir. I will take that back.
Mr. Lynch. All right. Thank you.
I yield back.
Mr. DeSantis. The gentleman yields back.
I want to thank you. The votes--do you want to yield her
the rest of your time?
Mr. Lynch. Yeah. Sure. Sorry.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you.
Mr. Sutton, thank you, again, as so many of my colleagues
have thanked you, and all of the people who came to volunteer
in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands during the tragedies and
the issues that we had after the hurricanes.
You arrived, you said, about a week after Hurricane Maria
hit Puerto Rico. What was your visual account? And what do you
know about the food shortages that were going on there?
Mr. Sutton. Well, the, you know, visual account, I mean,
the island looked like a--not just a hurricane, a tornado hit.
I mean, you are talking from power lines, houses. I mean, all
that was left was the frame of a house, not a house.
Ms. Plaskett. Sure. Because there are tornadoes inside
hurricanes.
Mr. Sutton. Oh, pretty much. I mean, this one, yeah, I
would almost believe it the way it looked. I went there the
year prior. And, you know, Puerto Rico is beautiful.
Ms. Plaskett. So what about the food storage? Because I
don't have a lot of time.
Food shortages. Did you see any?
Mr. Sutton. Oh, yeah. You know, most of the food that was
there was available. You know, you are talking about San Juan
being in immaculate shape. But outside of San Juan, nobody had
food. No one had abilities to get that food either.
Ms. Plaskett. And did you see any, or were you witness to
anyone who lost their life during this time, not from injuries
from the hurricane but potentially from food shortages?
Mr. Sutton. Yes, ma'am. There were several elderly, young
children under the age of 5. People who, you know, died of
dehydration, died of malnutrition. And it is just, honestly,
because the lack of supply of food and ability to get to the
food. And a lot of those collection points for FEMA were ``You
come to us. We don't come to you.''
And the hard part is people lost their cars and buildings,
and they live up on the mountains or----
Ms. Plaskett. Right. Jeffrey Parks, who is a key member of
the joint task force of Katrina, arrived in Puerto Rico around
September 30 and stayed for 10 days. In his statement for the
record, he concludes that the lack of communications in the
aftermath of Hurricane Marie was, quote, ``the single largest
response failure.''
Mr. Sutton, do you agree with that assessment?
Mr. Sutton. I completely agree with that.
Ms. Plaskett. And why do you say that?
Mr. Sutton. I mean, there was no communications. When I
landed in the airport, the only communications were inside the
airport.
Ms. Plaskett. Right.
Mr. Sutton. Even 15, 20 days after, the only forms of
communication were inside of an RV in Eswado (ph). Outside of
that, no communications.
Ms. Plaskett. Mr. Byrne, I know that just trying to operate
in the Virgin Islands right after the storm, I remember
Jennifer and I were able to text a couple of times in between.
But you found people congregating in one small area because the
communications had gone out.
Do you have communications in place? What are the plans if
something like this happens again to get emergency
communication out to the critical areas?
Mr. Byrne. Yeah. We have taken steps. We have actually
given satellite phones to all 78 mayors. But we are going to do
more. We are trying to restore, get as much back of the
existing system and strengthen it before the season starts.
There is a huge effort under way for that. And that is really a
public-private partnership, because the normal communication
companies are also engaged in helping us get the powers and the
towers back.
Ms. Plaskett. And what about--you talk about the towers.
The same Jeffrey Parks says that he wrote to us, that he did
not see a single temporary cell tower in the 10 days that he
was in Puerto Rico.
How many temporary cell towers were installed within a
month after Maria? And what is the plans in terms of temporary
cell towers in the next instance?
Mr. Byrne. I would have to get back to you with the numbers
for that first month of how many temporary cell towers. But we
are getting together. We have a summit where we are going to
sit down with all the parts, the municipalities, the mayors,
the governor's staff, and to come up with additional plans to
make sure that we--no stone is left unturned in terms of being
as ready as we can to get through, as I said earlier, what is
going to be a--potentially a risky season.
Ms. Plaskett. Mr. Chairman, I just am really grateful for
you for having this hearing. I think it is really important for
us to do these assessments now as we are coming up to the
hurricane season. My concern is we have heard from the
witnesses with regard to do we have microgrids in place? Will
they be in place in time for us to be able to power back up as
quickly as possible to get things going.
You know, I worry about the people who were--areas where--
especially devastated and people are living in marginal lives
right now. People in Anna's Hope on St. Thomas and Coral Bay on
St. Johns, Awim (ph) and White Lady on St. Croix, Vieques.
People who live in Eduardo. Those are places that were
completely obliterated after the hurricanes, and they are
living on the edge as it stands. And my great concern is that
this commit does what it needs to do to hold the Federal
Government accountable, give them the tools that they need, the
support and financing that is going to allow them to be on the
ground if, God forbid, this should happen again.
So thank you so much, gentlemen, for being here and being
open and honest with us and getting this information back so
that we can all do our own part to ensure that American lives
are not lost and that the economy is continually moving.
Thank you.
Mr. DeSantis. The gentlewoman's time has expired.
I want to thank the witnesses again for appearing before us
today. The hearing record will remain open for 2 weeks for any
member to submit a written opening statement or questions for
the record.
If there is no further business, without objection, the
Subcommittee on National Security stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 12:25 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
APPENDIX
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