"Illegal and questionable actions have not ceased at Interior with the election. For example, in the Klamath River Basin questions are being raised by a local supervisor and others concerning the legality of closed-door negotiations which have produced controversial water and dam deals.

Until she was forced to resign as part of the Abramoff scandal, the Bush Administration’s Klamath Initiative was lead by Bush appointee Sue Ellen Wooldridge. The legal and ethical questions which are being raised now on the Klamath all stem from actions which were put into motion under Wooldridge’s direction. Here are questions which some Klamath River activists want the Salazar review to answer:

• What role did Ms. Wooldridge and other Interior officials play in highjacking negotiations over Klamath River dams and using the dam negotiation’s confidentiality agreement to shield negotiation of a Water Deal from public scrutiny?
• Did these secret negotiations – in which Interior hired and paid for the facilitator and in which an Interior official chaired the meetings until legal issues were raised – violate the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA)? Did Interior officials know they were violating FACA? Did Sue Ellen Wooldridge and/or other officials conspire to violate FACA?
• Are Interior officials continuing to violate FACA – and to conspire to violate FACA – on the Klamath by organizing and conducting closed-door negotiations over public interest issues and resources?"

Get the Story:
The Goat Blog: "Top-to-bottom" ethical review at Interior (High Country News 2/5)