Local briefly: PUD to pay Enron $18 million to settle dispute
Published 10:22 pm Tuesday, January 8, 2008
EVERETT — The Snohomish County PUD expects to write a check for $18 million to Enron Corp. within the next few days, PUD officials said.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Tuesday approved a settlement between the PUD and Enron in a dispute that dates back to the 2000-01 West Coast energy crisis, utility officials said.
In 2001, the PUD canceled a high-priced electricity contract it signed with Enron after just eight months of service when it looked like the energy wholesaler would go bankrupt. Enron bankruptcy lawyers sued the PUD, claiming the utility owed $180 million for canceling the nine-year contract.
Early last year, the PUD and Enron reached an agreement to have the PUD pay 10 cents on the dollar — or $18 million — to end the claim, eliminating the possibility that the PUD would have to pay the full amount and ending litigation that could have continued for years.
“We actually have a reserve ready to go, so it doesn’t have any rate impact,” said Eric Christensen, assistant general counsel for the PUD. “Obviously, in the end, any litigation where you wind up paying 10 percent of the face value of the claim — that has to be considered a victory.”
Seattle: Man gets 7 years in murder
An Arlington man was sent to prison for seven years for helping two former Hells Angels murder another Arlington man.
Paul Foster, 52, led Michael “Santa” Walsh to his death in 2001, assistant U.S. attorney Bruce Miyake said on Tuesday. Foster admitted that he wanted to join the Hells Angels and lured Walsh to his property, where Rodney Rollness and Joshua Binder shot Walsh.
Foster in September pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to murder. He admitted that he helped dispose of Walsh’s body and destroyed evidence. Prosecutors allege that Foster lied to Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives about his involvement in the slaying.
“When people remain silent, justice is silent,” Miyake said. “We are now at the end of a long road we started when (Foster) led Michael Walsh to his death.”
Testimony at trial revealed that Rollness and Binder wanted to punish Walsh, who they believed was claiming to be a former Hells Angel. Rollness, of Snohomish, was sentenced to life in prison for Walsh’s murder and other racketeering charges. Binder, of North Bend, was sent to prison for 15 years for his involvement in the slaying.
Foster is the last person to be sentenced in the exhaustive investigation into the Hells Angels Nomads Chapter in Washington.
The conviction marks the first courtroom win for the Snohomish County sheriff’s cold-case homicide unit, made up of detectives Jim Scharf and Dave Heitzman.
Monroe police detective Barry Hatch helped uncover evidence needed to solve the Walsh murder, the sheriff’s detectives said.
