Rep. With Wind Farm Ties Denies Power Play [View All]

[NVMojo]

(This guy is a jerk)

Aides to California Rep. Richard W. Pombo pressed officials of the U.S. Department of the Interior last year to suspend environmental guidelines opposed by the wind-power industry without disclosing that Pombo's family had a substantial financial stake in wind energy.

The guidelines, issued in 2003, seek to reduce the number of birds killed by the spinning blades of wind turbines, such as those that flank the Altamont Pass east of Oakland.

Pombo (R-Tracy), heads the House committee that oversees the Interior Department. His parents own a 300-acre ranch in the Altamont Pass and have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties from wind-power turbines on their land over the last 17 years — much more than the family gets from cattle on that land.

"I signed a confidentiality agreement so I can't tell you exactly" how much, said Ralph Pombo, the congressman's father, "but there is no comparison. I get a lot more from wind."

In an interview with The Times, Rep. Pombo strongly denied any conflict of interest.

According to price and production records obtained by The Times, his parents' royalties for the most recent year available, 2001, topped $125,000. That was at the peak of the California energy crisis when prices were unusually high.

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http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-pombo7apr07,0,7940207.story?coll=la-home-headlines