Gov. Kate Brown has tapped Sen. Ginny Burdick, D-Portland, to serve on the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, giving her long-time political ally a well-paid position that would also deliver a major boost to her public pension after a single three-year term.
Burdick, 73, is not an obvious choice for the wonky position on the council, a federally funded panel that provides policy and planning leadership on regional power, fish and wildlife issues.
The council was created in 1980 as part of the Northwest Power Act to conduct regional electricity demand forecasting, identify opportunities for energy efficiency and create fish and wildlife programs to protect species impacted by the federal hydroelectric system.
The panel and its staff create a power plan for the region every five years. A draft of the next version is coming this summer. One of the key questions the council faces is how to reduce the power system’s carbon dioxide emissions while maintaining reliable and economical service at a time when the region is seeing widespread coal plant retirements and few new gas-fired plants.
After 25 years in the Legislature, Burdick has broad experience working with a number of different constituencies who come to the table with differing perspectives, which is something the four-state power planning council must do. She is a leading advocate for gun safety legislation and is the chair of the Senate Committee on Finance and Revenue. But she is not a legislative leader on energy issues and doesn’t bring the same depth of energy or fisheries industry and policy experience as appointees from the other three states.
The appointment, however, follows something of a pattern for Brown, who filled two open seats on the council in 2018 with long-time legislators: Sens. Richard Devlin, D-Tualatin, and Ted Ferriolli, R-John Day, a former corrections officer and public relations executive, respectively.
Ferrioli left the council earlier this year, and was replaced by Charles Sams, a leader of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation with deep experience in environmental policy development. Devlin will serve until November, when Burdick would take over if her nomination is approved.
The council positions carry a salary of $142,848 a year, more than four times the $33,000 annual pay of a state senator. The position also has the reputation of being somewhat relaxed, with the analytical heavy lifting performed by the council staff.
As it stands, under the Public Employee Retirement System’s full formula retirement method, Burdick’s 25-year tenure would give her pension benefits equal to about 42% of the average of her highest paid three years of public service. That average is currently about $28,900, according to PERS, so her pension under that retirement formula would be in the neighborhood of $12,000 a year. If she serves three years on the council and retires, her benefits could more than quintuple, to more than $66,000 a year.
That’s a straight calculation under PERS’ full formula benefit. She could choose another option with a beneficiary or a lump sum payout.
Burdick, who would be retiring in the middle of her current term in the Legislature, says she was approached by the governor’s office for the position and gave no thought to the salary or pension benefits the position could confer.
“If I was after the money in public service, I wouldn’t have been here 24 years,” she said. “I look at this as an opportunity to continue public service in a new and exciting way. I’m not opposed to the higher salary, but just doing something for the money would not be enough for me.”
She also pushed back on the notion that she brings little energy experience to the job and that legislators can’t make valuable contributions at the council.
She said reporting, research and consulting jobs on environmental and energy issues she’d held early in her career gave her substantial relevant experience. And while she wasn’t the Legislature’s leading expert on energy policy, she said she’d been involved in various energy related issues at the Legislature, including reform of the state’s controversial Business Energy Tax Credit program.
She said Devlin in particular had been a “rock star” on the council and was elected to serve as its chair two years ago. She said she had a particular interest in the interaction between the region’s energy supply and climate change.
“I’d like to get into the weeds on these issues,” she said. “This is a perfect opportunity to do that in an important area.”
Charles Boyle, a spokesman for the governor, said Brown was looking for “a strong leader with experience in standing up for what is right when it comes to energy and conservation; experience developing policy in complex issue areas; and experience with a wide variety of stakeholder engagement—and that’s what she found in Senator Burdick. Sen. Burdick has more than 20 years of leadership experience in the Oregon Legislature, and is committed to equity in Oregon climate and energy policy.”
The statement did not specifically address the question of whether Brown was using the appointments as a lucrative landing pad for former legislators.
Scott Simms, executive director of the Public Power Council, which represents public utilities in the region, said he’d worked with Burdick earlier in his career, and she’d likely bring a good balance listening to the different constituencies that have a stake in the council’s work.
He said energy resource adequacy is on everyone’s mind in the industry, with the region bringing more intermittently available renewable resources onto the grid while retiring workhorse coal plants and bringing few new gas plants on line to replace them.
Likewise, he said his members are deeply focused on which fish and wildlife programs yield the best scientifically-based results and are worried about ongoing pressure to breach dams on the Snake River at a time when pressure on the hydroelectric system is increasing.
Bob Jenks, the executive director of the ratepayer advocacy group, the Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board, said it would be “really helpful to have members on the council with deep energy and fish and wildlife expertise.” But he said the council members are served by a very well qualified staff.
In the past, he said, the council has dealt with deeply contentious issues, as Idaho and Montana have very different approaches to energy policy than Oregon and Washington, and the council’s stakeholders include a broad set of industry and advocacy groups.
“Political skills can help bridge those gaps,” he said.
-- Ted Sickinger; tsickinger@oregonian.com; 503-221-8505; @tedsickinger
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