Power Planners Warned On Conflicts Of Interest Council Members Urged To Consider Outside Affiliations

Concerned about the appearance of a conflict of interest, a member of the federal Northwest Power Planning Council stopped moonlighting last month as a consultant for a proposed fuel pipeline from Seattle to Eastern Washington.

Lawyers for the council followed Ken Casavant’s resignation from that consulting job with a stern warning to all council members last week about potential conflicts in outside work and investments.

John Etchart, council chairman, also said he wants an independent review of the panel’s policies to make sure members are free from undue influence as they ponder strategies to manage the Columbia River Basin.

The internal strife uncovered in interviews and documents obtained by The Associated Press comes as the eight-member panel is considering a variety of expensive plans to help save Northwest salmon from extinction.

Casavant, of Pullman, severed ties with Olympic Pipeline Co. of Renton, Wash., in August after council attorneys reversed an earlier opinion and advised him to quit because of the appearance of a conflict of interest with his $77,446-a-year council job.

Etchart called it a “regrettable” incident. He is considering several changes to better publicize members’ outside work and financial holdings.

“These things are very, very contentious and controversial. There is a highly charged political atmosphere,” Etchart said.

“It is my view that with a public agency like this, we can’t afford to have people suspicious about whether or not our members are free to decide on a conflictfree basis. I’m just sorry it developed the way it did,” he said.

Neither Etchart nor any other members have suggested Casavant did anything illegal or unethical by accepting the $9,800 consulting fee.

In fact, Casavant himself initiated the lawyers’ review last fall and later told the full council he wanted to do the work for the pipeline, which could become competition for barges transporting fuel upstream on the Columbia and Snake rivers.

Nevertheless, the flap has raised new questions about the propriety of outside dealings, from Etchart’s pension stock in Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. worth between $500,000 and $1 million, to Vice Chairman John Brogoitti’s Oregon farm land in the irrigated river basin valued at more than $1 million.

Council lawyers Bill Hannaford and John Volkman told members in a memo Sept. 3 that their finances might be increasingly scrutinized as the council begins voting on rules for drawing down reservoir levels on the Columbia and Snake.

The drawdowns have expensive ramifications for commercial fishing, barging, irrigation, logging, aluminum and hydropower production.

“This might be a good time for each member to take a careful look at his or her financial interests, including outside employment and investments,” the lawyers wrote in the memo, a copy of which was provided to the AP.

Examples cited by the lawyers of possible conflict include:

“A financial interest in a company that stands to be affected by what happens to the barging industry.

“Stock in a trucking firm or a railroad that stands to gain business if drawdown makes barging uneconomical.

“A financial interest in wheat, timber, agricultural or petroleum products, chemicals or other commodities shipped by barge.”