Huffman Releases Gov Watchdog Report, Finds Billions in Puerto Rico Grid Funding Stuck in Federal Pipeline Nine Years After Hurricanes

FEMA refusal to correct staff turnover, and agency dysfunction have stalled recovery as the people of Puerto Rico endure the worst power reliability in the nation

Washington, D.C. – A new Government Accountability Office report today released by House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) found that nine years after Hurricanes Irma and Maria destroyed Puerto Rico's electricity grid, the federal government has made limited progress delivering the billions of dollars Congress appropriated for recovery and modernization.

The report found that FEMA, HUD, and the Department of Energy have obligated approximately $14.3 billion for Puerto Rico's grid recovery since 2017, but roughly $10.7 billion of those funds have not reached the island.

“The people of Puerto Rico have waited nine years for their government to keep its word,” said Ranking Member Huffman. “They watched billions get appropriated and almost none of it arrive. Puerto Ricans are paying more for electricity than almost anyone in the country and getting the least reliable power in return. And now the Trump administration is pulling energy security funding away from seniors with disabilities and giving it to a bankrupt fossil fuel company to fund infeasible projects. This report makes clear that the federal government has broken its promise to Puerto Rico, and Committee Democrats are going to keep demanding accountability until that changes.”

“El informe del GAO confirma lo que hemos dicho por meses: Las deficiencias de este gobierno y la falta de coordinación entre todos los actores han retrasado el desembolso de fondos. Por eso en abril del año pasado, radiqué un proyecto para crear un mecanismo claro de coordinación, ejecución y rendición de cuentas. Puerto Rico necesita menos división y excusas y más trabajo en equipo con resultados,” dijo Comisionado Residente Hernández.

Among the report's key findings:

The federal government obligated $14.3 billion for Puerto Rico's grid recovery and modernization through FEMA, HUD, and DOE, but 75 percent of those funds remain undisbursed. FEMA alone has $8.4 billion in undisbursed obligations.
Vegetation overgrowth causes approximately half of the island's power outages, yet only about 400 miles of transmission and distribution lines had been cleared using federal funds as of February 2026, out of 16,000 miles planned. In San Juan, federally funded clearing stopped entirely when the money ran out.
FEMA's environmental and historic preservation review process was identified by multiple stakeholders as extending project timelines by months or years -- all 14 FEMA staff conducting these reviews for grid projects were temporary employees, and turnover among those staff rose from 3 percent in 2021 to 19 percent in 2024. A FEMA request for additional reviewers was denied due to a hiring freeze.
The Palo Seco generation plant “was withdrawn after obtaining the result of the initial feasibility analysis.” But a pipeline to service Palo Seco with methane gas is now funded by the Department of Energy’s Energy Resilience Fund (ERF), a program created to help protect low-income people and people with disabilities from hurricanes by providing them dependable electricity from solar panels and batteries.
DOE canceled up to $350 million in grants originally designated for solar installations for households with people with disabilities and low-income and reallotted an additional $365 million that was supposed to go to providing dependable post-disaster energy to rural health clinics as part of ERF.
While GAO suggested updating a memo that helped all the federal stakeholders in grid repair operate more efficiently, DOE replied that it would terminate the memo. Then it terminated the working group of all Puerto Rico energy stakeholders, which was designed to streamline grid repair, and replaced it with a meeting of their preferred stakeholders.

GAO issued five recommendations, three to FEMA and two to DOE, including updating guidance to reflect available flexibilities like categorical exclusions, ensuring sufficient staffing for environmental reviews, clarifying objectives and roles among recovery entities, and establishing a formal coordination mechanism. Both DHS and DOE agreed with all five recommendations.

Read the full report here.

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