Region
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, November 22, 2017
A9
BLM approves 300-mile transmission line
Feds release
record of
decision for B2H
By George Plaven
EO Media Group
The Bureau of Land Man-
agement signed off on a con-
troversial 300-mile, 500-ki-
lovolt overhead transmission
line that would run from
Boardman to near Boise,
boosting electrical capacity
between the two regions for
future growth.
It is a major step forward
for the Boardman to Heming-
way project, or B2H, which
was first proposed by Idaho
Power in 2006. More than
a decade later, the BLM re-
leased its record of decision
for the power line on Friday,
which would cross five East-
ern Oregon counties en route
EO Media Group/E.J. Harris
A crew works on a transmission line tower Friday outside
of Boardman. The Bureau of Land Management has
announced a 300-mile, 500-kilovolt transmission line that
will be built from Boardman to just outside of Boise.
to southwest Idaho.
Secretary of the Interior
Ryan Zinke said in a state-
ment that building B2H is a
Trump administration priori-
ty, focusing on infrastructure
that supports America’s ener-
gy independence.
“Today’s decision is the
result of extensive public in-
volvement and will support
the environmentally responsi-
ble development of resources
to meet the needs of commu-
nities in Idaho, Oregon and
the surrounding region,” Zin-
ke said.
Yet despite the announce-
ment, B2H is still years away
from becoming a reality. The
BLM record of decision only
addresses the power line as it
crosses over federal lands, so
Idaho Power must now shift
its efforts to obtaining state
permits through the Oregon
Department of Energy, and
specifically the Energy Facil-
ity Siting Council.
Mitch Colburn, who man-
ages transmission and distri-
bution of strategic projects for
the utility, said the line will
not be completed until 2024 at
the earliest. Idaho Power has
already invested $90 million
in B2H, and the total cost is
expected to be $1 billion to
$1.2 billion when all is said
and done.
Do the math, and that is up
to $4 million per mile of trans-
State ethics commission denies Kitzhaber settlement
By Paris Achen
Capital Bureau
The Oregon Government
Ethics Commission on Fri-
day voted 7-to-1 to deny a
proposed settlement in which
former Gov. John Kitzhaber
agreed to pay $1,000 to re-
solve ethics complaints
that he and first lady Cylvia
Hayes used their public po-
sitions for profit, failed to
disclose conflicts of interest
and inappropriately accepted
gifts.
Kitzhaber on Wednesday
admitted he violated state eth-
ics laws on four occasions and
said he did so unintentionally.
The former governor said he
did not disclose a conflict of
interest related to Hayes’ paid
consulting contracts based on
the advice of his attorney at
the time.
Kitzhaber said he was sur-
prised by the commission’s
decision, because ethics com-
mission staff members had
proposed the terms of the
agreement. He had made no
further comment as of 12:30
p.m. Friday.
News of the proposed
settlement earlier this week
spawned criticism that the
penalty was too lenient on
Kitzhaber’s missteps during
his role as the state’s highest
elected official.
Several ethics commis-
sioners said they wanted to re-
quire Kitzhaber to pay a more
severe fine given the former
governor’s high-profile posi-
tion. Accepting the settlement
could threaten the legitimacy
of the watchdog agency, they
asserted.
“That is really troubling to
me that we are excusing the
behavior of the highest offi-
cial of our state because he
sought counsel,” said Com-
missioner Charles Starr.
“I think a larger fine is nec-
essary for our reputation as a
commission ... because any-
body serving at the highest
level has a greater responsi-
bility to the public.”
Commission
Chairman
Dan Golden was the dissent-
ing vote in the rejection of the
settlement. He said the $1,000
sanction was appropriate,
based on the commission’s
formula for calculating fines.
Kitzhaber had no prior eth-
ics violations, which factored
into the recommended penal-
ty, said Ron Bersin, commis-
sion executive director.
The proposed settlement
“treated this former governor
like we do other officials at
a higher level,” Golden said.
“There is no amount that ad-
EO Media Group
Former Gov. John Kitzhaber has agreed to pay a $1,000
fine to settle ethic complaints against himself and former
first lady Cylvia Hayes that alleged they used their
offices for personal benefit.
dresses the loss of credibility
and the things associated with
the fall of this public figure.”
Friday’s denial means that
ethics investigators will write
a report on the findings of
their probe of the allegations.
Once submitted to the com-
mission, the report becomes
a public record. Settlement
negotiations could continue
simultaneously.
The proposed settlement,
which Kitzhaber signed, stat-
ed that he violated Oregon
law four times by benefit-
ing from frequent flier miles
he accrued from state travel
between 2011 and 2013 and
failing to disclose conflicts
of interest related to Hayes’
consulting company in
2013.
The company, 3E Strate-
gies, received paid consult-
ing contracts from 2011 to
2013.
In a statement Wednesday,
Kitzhaber said he accepted
full responsibility for the vi-
olations.
“I apologize to Orego-
nians for failing to disclose a
potential conflict of interest,
although the ethical viola-
tions at issue were wholly
unintentional,”
Kitzhaber
said.
“In the case reviewed by
the Ethics Commission, I did
not perceive a conflict of in-
terest because I understood
the work that Ms. Hayes was
doing for various non-profit
organizations was not direct-
ed at trying to shape or influ-
ence state policy but, rather,
to educate people regarding
the issues to which she had
committed her professional
career.”
Kitzhaber argued that he
also received advice from
his attorney that he did not
need to disclose a potential
conflict.
Ethics Commissioner Ali-
son Kean said she would like
to see evidence of that legal
advice, which had not been
revealed to date as part of the
investigation.
The commission voted
unanimously in July to pur-
sue an official investigation
of the former governor and
his fiancée.
The agency in February
2015 had suspended a pre-
liminary review of three
complaints of alleged ethics
violations against the couple,
triggered by pending state
and federal investigations.
Kitzhaber and Hayes had
been under criminal inves-
tigation for more than two
years after Willamette Week
reported the first lady may
have used her position to win
several consulting contracts.
The scandal eventually
prompted Kitzhaber to resign
from office in February 2015.
The commission resumed
its ethics investigation in late
June after the U.S. Attorney’s
Office announced no crim-
inal charges would be filed
against the couple. The state
Department of Justice aban-
doned its investigation of the
couple because its statute of
limitation had expired during
the federal probe.
Even though Hayes was an
unpaid adviser in Kitzhaber’s
office, she and other volun-
teers are still subject to state
ethics law.
Disclosures at the time
showed Hayes used a desk,
office and computers at the
Capitol, according to a re-
port by The Oregonian.
Complaints further state that
Hayes filed expenses with
the state, advised on energy
policy related to her environ-
mental consulting business,
and had staff from the gov-
ernor’s office make her travel
arrangements. She benefited
from receiving consulting
contracts as a result of her
public office, according to
the October 2014 complaint.
An Oregon Business Council
grant paid $35,000 to give
Hayes her own spokesperson
while Kitzhaber was promot-
ing the council’s interest in
the Oregon Business Plan,
the complaint states.
mission. Still, Colburn said
B2H remains the most cost-ef-
fective way of filling the com-
pany’s projected demand.
“The need is still strong,”
he said.
According to project doc-
uments, B2H is intended to
share roughly 1,000 mega-
watts of electricity between
the two regions, which tradi-
tionally experience peak de-
mand at different times of the
year — summertime for the In-
termountain West, and winter-
time for the Pacific Northwest.
Routing the line, however,
has been a source of contro-
versy in Umatilla and Morrow
counties, especially among
farmers worried about los-
ing high-value cropland. The
BLM decision, meanwhile,
takes into account things like
sensitive vegetation, wildlife
and cultural resources as di-
rected under the National En-
vironmental Policy Act.
While Colburn said there is
no such thing as a transmission
line without impacts, he feels
the chosen route takes steps to
minimize environmental im-
pacts.
“This is the culmination
of much analysis, and many
stakeholders coming togeth-
er,” Colburn said. “It’s a long
process, and we’re certainly
supportive of getting it right.”
As expected, the transmis-
sion line would plug in to Or-
egon at the Bonneville Power
Administration’s
proposed
Longhorn Substation east
of Boardman. From there, it
would run approximately 12
miles south along Bombing
Range Road in Morrow Coun-
ty before heading east through
Umatilla County, south of Pi-
lot Rock and the Umatilla Indi-
an Reservation then southeast
through Union, Baker and
Malheur counties on its way
to Idaho.
OHA director details
another $112 million in
possible Medicaid errors
By Claire Withycombe
Capital Bureau
Oregon may have er-
roneously paid, allocated,
inaccurately recorded or
over-claimed $112.4 mil-
lion in health care funds,
according to a letter Or-
egon Health Authority
Director Pat Allen sent to
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown
Friday.
That figure is on top of
the state’s estimated over-
payment of $74 million to
coordinated care organiza-
tions, or CCOs, the state’s
regional networks of Medic-
aid providers, between 2014
and 2016.
Allen’s letter follows
his statement to legislators
this week that the state was
likely to see more process-
ing problems come out of
the state’s health agency.
“... We note that this is
likely not an exhaustive
and final list of all known
issues facing the agency,”
Allen wrote Friday. “It is
also likely that the details
of these issues will evolve
as we research them and
consult in more detail with
subject matter experts.”
Allen documented two
main types of issues: those
relating to $44.5 million in
possible payment errors;
and issues relating to the
allocation of about $67.9
million of funds, which
range from charging the
wrong section of the state’s
budget to claiming federal
funds for certain proce-
dures that cannot be paid
for with federal money.
Allen was careful to
note that all of those num-
bers are estimates, and
subject to change based
on deeper research into the
problems.
Two weeks ago, it came
out that the state had over-
paid CCOs by approxi-
mately $74 million for
certain patients who were
eligible for both Medicaid
and Medicare due to clas-
sification errors.
But the state says $74
million is still an estimate.
Medicare, a program fund-
ed solely by the federal
government, may share
some of the tab.
The state has already
recouped $10.1 million
of that $74 million figure
from CCOs.
In Oregon, about 1.1
million people are on
Medicaid, which is fund-
ed jointly by the state and
the federal government and
covers the poor and other
qualifying groups. Medi-
care is the health care cov-
erage program for those 65
and older.
Allen said in the Friday
letter that the agency will
create an issue log to docu-
ment ongoing problems and
provide bi-weekly reports to
the governor and state law-
makers.
The news also comes pri-
or to the completion of an
OHA audit by the secretary
of state, expected to be re-
leased by early December.
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