Just over six months before winning a $300 million contract to fix part of Puerto Rico’s electrical grid, Whitefish Energy Holdings’ finances were not strong, according to emails HuffPost received through an open records request. The emails raise more questions about how the once unknown, two-employee company from a small Montana town secured the contract to help restore power on the island after Hurricane Maria.

In late 2016 and early 2017, Whitefish Energy sought to build a transformer manufacturing facility on the site of a defunct aluminum factory in Columbia Falls, Montana, just east of the company’s offices in Whitefish. CEO Andy Techmanski and the owners of the Brazilian transformer manufacturing company Comtrafo, which had purchased a 51 percent stake in Whitefish Energy several months earlier, approached local Montana investors and officials with their proposal.

The strength of the company’s bottom line came up in both a meeting and emails with Susan Nicosia, the Columbia Falls town manager, and Jerry Meerkatz, president of West Montana Economic Development, a nonprofit which helps local entrepreneurs. In one email in mid-December 2016, Meerkatz expressed his skepticism about the company’s finances to Techmanski.

“I know you have been asked for financials,” wrote Meerkatz, “but what keeps coming up (and will continue during the discussions I believe) is how WEH [Whitefish Energy Holdings] is going to mitigate the concerns about its own balance sheet. I believe this needs to be creatively addressed by you and your majority holders.”

“It seems this will continue to be an impediment for investment on the order side as well as the build out,” wrote Meerkatz.

Techmanski agreed with Meerkatz’s evaluation about the company’s bottom line. “Comtrafo’s balance sheet is far more attractive than WEH,” he wrote, but added that “ours is getting stronger every day.”

But in another email, Meerkatz raised questions about Comtrafo’s financials as well. “Based on Comtrafo’s financials, the profitability is modest,” he wrote to Techmanski, adding that the company’s net income for 2015 was just under $1 million.

“Not sure whom is sharing our confidential financials with you,” Techmanski replied. The problem wasn’t the company’s finances, he said, but “in procuring sales from USA utilities that are complacent in buying from the same foreign providers that they have purchased from for the last 30+ years.”

These preliminary talks did not seem to come to fruition. Both Meerkatz and Nicosia say they haven’t heard from Techmanski about the proposal since those discussions.

Meerkatz told HuffPost that he evaluated Whitefish Energy’s financials in terms of its ability to establish a manufacturing facility. “We knew Whitefish Energy was more of a service provider, with an ability to subcontract, but felt they were not ready for the proposal they put on the table,” said Meerkatz. “I verified Comtrafo could do it in Brazil, but was not sure if Whitefish can do it in the U.S.”

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Eight months later, Whitefish Energy won a massive contract from the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority to repair transmission lines after Hurricane Maria. PREPA later canceled the contract following public outcry and a congressional investigation over how the inexperienced company ― which happened to be from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s hometown ― landed the deal. The FBI, however, has reportedly been looking into the deal. Zinke has denied any involvement, saying Techmanski is nothing more than an acquaintance.

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