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AOGCC: Dunleavy dismisses French; Forester to stay on temporarily
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Gov. Mike Dunleavy dismissed Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Chair Hollis French Feb. 26, following a public hearing earlier in February and findings from the hearing officer.
Commissioner Cathy Foerster, set to retire Feb. 28, told Petroleum News in an email that she has been asked to stay on for a bit until her position can be filled. AOGCC is a three-member commission, with two required for a quorum. French filled the public seat, Foerster holds the petroleum engineer seat and Commissioner Dan Seamount the geologist seat.
Petroleum News asked the governor’s office about the status of appointments to the commission but did not immediately hear back.
In a Jan. 17 letter, the governor notified French of five potential grounds for “removal from office for cause.” The governor said in his Feb. 26 decision on removal for cause that he based his decision on two of those grounds.
French contested the grounds for removal, exercising his right to be publicly heard and a hearing was held Feb. 6-8. The hearing officer presented his findings of fact Feb. 12.
The hearing officer, Timothy Petumenos, considered the five grounds the governor listed: chronic, unexcused absenteeism; browbeating fellow commissioners; publicly undermining the work of the AOGCC; security breaches; and failure to perform routine AOGCC work.
The governor said Feb. 26 that based on information from the public hearing, he based his determination to dismiss on the unexcused absenteeism and failure to perform routine work charges; he declined to base his decision on the charges of browbeating, publicly undermining decisions of the commission or breaching critical commission security.
Browbeating Petumenos said he found insufficient evidence for the charges of browbeating, publicly undermining the commission and breaching commission security.
He said he found “no substantial evidence to support a removal for cause” for browbeating.
“Commissioner French was persistent and energetic in pursuing his view that the jurisdiction of the AOGCC was being interpreted more narrowly than he believed that the enabling statutes intended,” Petumenos said. “While it may have been the case that Commissioner French argued his position forcefully, fervently and persistently, there is insufficient evidence that Commissioner French was unprofessional, rude or bullying when he did so.”
The balance of the testimony at the hearing “was not directed to the tone, respectfulness or professionalism of Commissioner French’s communications about views he held, but rather to Commissioner French’s persistence,” Petumenos said.
He said he believes it “would set a dangerous precedent” to remove a commissioner “for ardently pursuing a matter” on which the commissioner was in the minority.
Publicly undermining AOGCC On the issue of publicly undermining the commission, Petumenos said much of that assertion appears to be based on evidence related to French’s minority view of expanded jurisdiction. He also said the balance of the evidence shows that French was clear in his communications that the views he presented were his and not a quorum view of the commission.
Petumenos said he found “no substantial evidence” to support French’s removal for cause on the ground that he undermined the AOGCC.
Security breaches There were two security breach issues - one was allowing unescorted visitors between offices and the other was discussions French had about information from the KIC well being maintained in a safe at the commission.
Petumenos said he found insufficient evidence to support the claim that French allowed visitors to walk around the office unescorted.
After the issue arose of French describing the location of KIC well information to a reporter, the other commissioners moved the safe holding that information and Petumenos said after French discovered the safe had been moved, he and Seamount began to work together on updated written security procedures.
French defended his discussion of the location of KIC well materials on the basis that the settlement agreement with the owners of the data did not specify that the location of the data remain confidential.
Petumenos said the governor would have to decide whether the facts in this instance constitute a material cause for removal of French.
Failure to perform routine work There is substantial evidence that French did not perform routine work, which then fell to others, Petumenos, but said there is not sufficient evidence that French “did non-AOGCC work on office time in a material way.”
As to French attending the Alaska Federation of Natives during business hours, Petumenos said there are discretionary decisions as to the use of a commissioner’s time “that should not be subject to the second guessing of other commissioners rising to the level of grounds for cause.”
Governor’s decision Dunleavy told French in his Jan. 17 letter that there were five potential grounds for removal for cause, describing them generally as “neglect of duty and misconduct in office.”
In his Feb. 27 statement of decision Dunleavy said he affirms his original decision “as to charges of neglect of duty” but not on the other charges of misconduct (browbeating, publicly undermining AOGCC and breaching critical security).
On the browbeating and publicly undermining charges, the governor said Petumenos found that “Commissioner French’s behavior and strident advocacy, even when considering matters that had previously been decided by the Commission, was nonetheless within the scope of his discretion as a quasi-judicial, independent Commissioner.”
But on the neglect of duty charges, Dunleavy said Petumenos found “substantial evidence to show an ‘overall pattern’ of absenteeism and that it was ‘more norm than … exception.’”
Those absences from the office were “markedly different” from other past and present commissioners.
“My judgment is that Commissioner French neglected his duty to routinely show up for work, to work a full day, and to do his best to perform his obligations as a fulltime, quasi-judicial Commissioner. Although French did not devote office time to non-AOGCC work, he consistently failed to perform the work expected of him as a Commissioner,” the governor said.
- KRISTEN NELSON
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