Idaho and Montana members will lead Council in 2009

January 21, 2009

Bill Booth, ID	Joan Dukes, OR
Melinda Eden, OR	Tom Karier, WA
Bruce Measure, MT	Dick Wallace, WA
Rhonda Whiting, MT	Jim Yost, ID

Bill Booth, an Idaho member of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, has been elected to his second term as chair of the four-state energy and fish and wildlife planning agency. Council members elected officers for 2009 last week (January 15) at a meeting in Missoula, Montana. Bruce Measure, a Council member from Montana, was re-elected vice chair.

Booth, of Hayden, Idaho, was appointed to the Council in January 2007 by Idaho Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter. He also serves as a member of the governor’s cabinet. A resident of Idaho for 48 years, Booth is a former U.S. Air Force officer and senior minerals industry executive in environmental and public affairs. Booth holds a degree in business administration from the University of Idaho and earned a master’s of business administration from the University of North Dakota while serving in the Air Force. As an instructor for the North Idaho College Extended Campus, he taught micro and macro economics, environmental economics, and accounting. In his spare time Booth enjoys exploring the Idaho backcountry. He is an avid fly fisherman and a member of Trout Unlimited.

Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer appointed Bruce Measure to the Council in January 2005. Measure has been a practicing attorney in Kalispell since 1988. Prior to 1988 he was employed in the forest industry and served as vice president of the East Side Forest Practices Committee in 1984 and 1985. Measure served in the Montana House of Representatives from 1991 to 1993 and served on the Natural Resources; Fish, Wildlife, and Parks; and Judiciary committees. Before joining the Council, Measure was president of the Board of Trustees of the Flathead Electric Cooperative.

Booth announced that the Council’s committee chairs will remain unchanged in 2009. Melinda Eden, a Council member from Oregon, will continue as chair of the Power Committee. Rhonda Whiting, a member from Montana, will continue as Fish and Wildlife Committee chair, and Dick Wallace, a Washington member, will continue as chair of the Public Affairs Committee.

The Council is an agency of the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington and is directed by the Northwest Power Act of 1980 to prepare a program to protect, mitigate and enhance fish and wildlife of the Columbia River Basin affected by hydropower dams while also assuring the region an adequate, efficient, economical and reliable power supply.

Contacts:

• , Chair, 208-660-4127
• , Information Officer, 503-222-5161