FOIA FRIDAY |
|
This week's document: Memo: Potential Conflict-of-Interest Violation of Ethics Requirements by Former NRC Commissioner Klein Originating agency: Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of the Inspector General (NRC OIG) Document date: September 28, 2010 Every Friday, POGO will strive to make one document available that we or others have obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), especially documents that have not previously been posted online. Some of these documents will be more important than others, some may only be of historical interest— although relevance is in the eye of the beholder. POGO is doing this to highlight the importance of open government and FOIA throughout the year. |
By BRYAN RAHIJA
If a top federal regulator of the nuclear industry joined the board of a company that owned nuclear power plants shortly after his departure from government, would he be violating any conflict of interest or ethics rules?
In the case of former Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Commissioner Dale E. Klein, the answer is no, according to this week's FOIA Friday release, an NRC Office of Inspector General memo.
"OIG found that Klein's acceptance of board-of-director appointments did not violate Federal post-employment regulations," the memo states. "Furthermore, OIG did not identify any evidence that Klein violated conflict-of-interest statutes by considering post-employment offers made to him by private companies while still employed at NRC."
As indicated in the memo, the NRC IG began investigating whether Klein ran afoul of conflict of interest rules after word got out that he joined the board of Pinnacle West Capital Corporation and its subsidiary Arizona Public Service Company, which owns Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station.
Klein also joined the board of directors for Southern Company, which owns a trio of nuclear plants—a detail that came to the OIG's attention during the investigation, according to the memo. Klein joined Southern Company's board in July 2010, just four months after leaving the NRC in March of that year.
As part of its investigation, OIG interviewed former NRC legal advisor Roger Davis, who said Klein was aware of the conflict of interest rules:
Klein had planned to return to the University of Texas after resigning from NRC and that Klein was very cognizant of conflict-of-interest issues. Klein wanted to avoid any conflict of interest. Davis told OIG that Klein would not consider offers of employment that he received while employed as a Government employee so as not to violate or be perceived in violation of any regulations or statutes.
As the OIG points out, current law (18 United States Code, section 207, to be precise) "is not intended to prevent private sector employment after an individual terminates Federal service." The memo continues: "Instead, it restricts an individual from engaging in representational activities before NRC after the individual has terminated Federal service."
But are there sufficient controls in place to ensure that NRC Commissioners are acting with the public's best interest in the waning days of their regulatory careers? That's certainly a question worth asking, especially in light of some of the recent criticism about the NRC's excessive coziness with the industry it's tasked with overseeing.
Bryan Rahija edits POGO's blog.
Comments