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Concerned Ratepayers Association v. Public Utility District No. 1 of Clark County9/9/1999
Oral Argument Date: 05/13/1999
EN BANC
We are asked to decide whether a public disclosure request for a technical document, which was reviewed, evaluated, and referred to by a public agency, constitutes "use" within the meaning of the Public Disclosure Act, thereby rendering the information a public record subject to disclosure. RCW 42.17.020(36) provides that any information which is "prepared, owned, used, or retained" by any state or local agency regardless of physical form or characteristics is a public record. Here, the trial court dismissed a request by the Concerned Ratepayers Association (CRA or Association), a nonprofit "utility watchdog" corporation, on grounds that the Clark County Public Utility District No. 1 (PUD or District) neither possessed nor "used" the requested technical document (IPS 10380). The Court of Appeals affirmed. We conclude that information which is applied to a given purpose or instrumental to an end or process is "used" within the meaning of the Public Disclosure Act. Where a nexus exists between the information and an agency's decision-making process, as is apparent here, we hold that review, evaluation, and reference to information constitutes "use" and, therefore, qualifies such information as a public record. Accordingly, we reverse the Court of Appeals and remand the case for further proceedings to determine whether the technical document is exempt and attorney fees appropriate.
FACTS
In 1994, the Clark County Public Utility District proposed the construction of a 248-megawatt power plant in Vancouver, Washington. The District awarded the contract to Cogentrix Energy, Inc. (Cogentrix), the project's general contractor, which in turn subcontracted with General Electric (GE) for the turbine generator component of the power plant. Betty Smith and Robert Wachter, Clark County citizens who later formed the Concerned Ratepayers Association, began making public disclosure requests for documents relating to technical specifications, engineering design, and financial records of the proposed power plant. The PUD disclosed all the requested information to the CRA, except for documents relating to the proposed model for the turbine generator that Cogentrix had originally proposed to install in the Clark County power plant.
After reviewing the numerous documents it had obtained from the District, CRA found several references to IPS 10380. Consequently, CRA made additional requests for the disclosure of the design specifications of the turbine generator, IPS 10380. Smith and Wachter wanted to review the technical specifications in the IPS 10380 in order to determine whether the proposed power plant would be capable of generating more than 250-megawatts of power, thus necessitating a public vote under RCW 80.52.040.
The main concern for the citizens was the power plant's generating capacity. RCW 80.52.040 provides that a public vote is required before a public agency or assignee may issue or sell bonds to finance the cost of constructing a major public energy project. A "{m}ajor public energy project" is defined as "a plant or installation capable, or intended to be capable, of generating electricity in an amount greater than two hundred fifty megawatts . . . ." RCW 80.52.030(2). See also RCW 80.52.050 for how elections for approval of major energy projects are to be conducted.
In the process of requesting various documents from the PUD for purposes of invoking the public vote provision of RCW 80.52, the CRA also contacted the Washington State Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (Council) urging it to assert jurisdiction over the proposed power plant on grounds that the pl
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