This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
State Reps. Aaron Tilton and Mike Noel shamelessly beat the drum for nuclear power in the Utah Legislature. And now we know why. They're knee-deep in a private deal that creates an unacceptable conflict of interest.
It turns out that Tilton is an owner and CEO of Transition Power Development, a firm that will attempt to secure, and then sell, a license to operate a nuclear power plant in Utah. He will purchase the precious water needed to run the plant from the Kane County Water Conservancy District, where his buddy Noel works as executive director.
If the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission grants the license, and Tilton is able to sell it to a utility, well, let's just say the Tilton kids will never want or worry. Also, the water district would net millions of dollars in sales, allowing Noel to score points with his employer and justify a controversial pipeline from Lake Powell to southwestern Utah that already may be doomed by the diminishing Colorado River.
Tilton changed hats and hopped over the table Wednesday to testify before the Public Utilities and Technology Interim Committee, on which he and Noel oh-so-conveniently serve. That's kind of like a defendant serving on the jury, because the committee has been debating nuclear power, including legislation that would make it easier for Tilton to sell his license by allowing utilities to bill consumers in advance for the cost of building a nuclear plant.
Last month, Tilton, who refers to himself on his Web site as "Someone you can trust," flatly denied to The Tribune that he had ties to the nuclear industry. But last week, eight months after becoming CEO of TPD, he belatedly revealed his nuclear ambitions and corporate position on a House conflict-of-interest disclosure form. "We weren't, as a company, ready to release that information," Tilton said in lame defense of his lie.
Tilton and Noel vehemently deny they have a conflict of interest. And, under the Legislature's laughably loose ethics law, they're probably right. That law defines a conflict as "legislation or action by a legislator that the legislator reasonably believes may cause direct financial benefit or detriment to him ... or a business in which the legislator is associated."
But what, you might ask, do "action" or "reasonably believes" really mean? Sorry. We can't help you. Terms aren't defined in laws written to be winked at. Worse, legislators only have to reveal a conflict, but they can still vote their own self-interest. Tilton and Noel should be bumped to committees that play no role in shaping the state's energy policies. The Legislature, if it cares a whit about honest government and public perception, should clearly define "conflict of interest" and forbid legislators voting when they have one.
And Tilton, who lied to the public when he lied to this newspaper, should change his Web site to read: "Someone you can't trust."