BETTER UTAH RAISES CONFLICT OF INTEREST CONCERNS WITH COMMUNITY IMPACT BOARD: URGES RECUSAL ON COAL TERMINAL ISSUE

Salt Lake City, UTAlliance for a Better Utah sent a letter this afternoon to the Chairman of the Permanent Community Impact Fund Board (CIB) raising concerns over a potential conflict of interest on the Board. Mr. Gregg Galecki, a member of the CIB, appears to be a current employee of Bowie Resource Partners, a coal mining and exporting company that will likely benefit from decisions of the CIB in the near future providing for the shipping of Utah coal to foreign markets, particularly in regards to the implementation of S.B. 246. In the letter, Better Utah questioned whether this conflict of interest has been disclosed to the CIB and whether Mr. Galecki has taken any steps to recuse himself from CIB actions that would raise this conflict of interest.

Chase Thomas, policy and advocacy counsel with Alliance for a Better Utah, issued the following statement:

“Unfortunately, it is not surprising to find conflict of interest concerns continue to arise surrounding the funding of this coal terminal. From the very beginning, this funding deal has reeked of corporate cronyism. To uncover that one of the board members responsible for approving this handout to the coal industry is actually employed by that very industry only adds to the many reasons why this deal has left a bad taste in the mouths of those across the state.  We ask the chairman to investigate this issue in a timely manner so the CIB and its decisions can be transparent and held accountable by the people of Utah.”

A copy of the letter sent to the CIB is attached.

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