Engineer A DOE Coal Bed Methane Governmental Employee Private Consulting Conflict
O · Obligation
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/129#Engineer_A_DOE_Coal_Bed_Methane_Governmental_Employee_Private_Consulting_Conflict
Properties
Instance of
GovernmentalEmployeePrivateConsultingConflictNon-EngagementObligation
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#GovernmentalEmployeePrivateConsultingConflictNon-EngagementObligation
Case context
BER Case No. 07-12: Engineer A was employed by the US DOE working in coal bed methane while simultaneously providing consulting services for private coal bed methane companies. The Board found this created a clear conflict of interest making it virtually impossible for him to work as a part-time consultant in the same area for private clients.
Compliance status
unmet
Confidence
0.91
Importance
high
Obligated party
Engineer A (DOE Employee, Private Coal Bed Methane Consultant)
Obligation statement
Engineer A was obligated to refrain from providing private consulting services for coal bed methane companies while employed by the US Department of Energy in its coal bed methane division, as this dual engagement in the same substantive domain breached his faithful agent duty to his governmental employer and created an irresolvable conflict of interest.
Temporal scope
Throughout the period of simultaneous DOE employment and private coal bed methane consulting
Relationships
defeasibleUnder
Engineer A DOE Coal Bed Methane Dual Role Conflict
Source Evidence
Source text
As an employee of the US Department of Energy, working in its coal bed methane division, Engineer A had a clear conflict of interest that would make it virtually impossible for him to work as a part-time consultant in this same area for private clients.
Text references
As an employee of the US Department of Energy, working in its coal bed methane division, Engineer A had a clear conflict of interest that would make it virtually impossible for him to work as a part-time consultant in this same area for private clients.
It was unethical for Engineer A to serve as an expert witness under the circumstances.
To do so would be to breach the basic trust as an honest and faithful agent for his employer.
TTL
@prefix case129: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/129#> .
@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix proeth: <http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#> .
@prefix proeth-core: <http://proethica.org/ontology/core#> .
@prefix prov: <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .
case129:Engineer_A_DOE_Coal_Bed_Methane_Governmental_Employee_Private_Consulting_Conflict a proeth:GovernmentalEmployeePrivateConsultingConflictNon-EngagementObligation,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Engineer A DOE Coal Bed Methane Governmental Employee Private Consulting Conflict" ;
proeth-core:competesWith case129:Engineer_A_DOE_Coal_Bed_Methane_Expert_Witness_Credential_Misrepresentation ;
proeth-core:defeasibleUnder case129:Engineer_A_DOE_Coal_Bed_Methane_Dual_Role_Conflict ;
proeth-core:prevailsOver case129:Engineer_A_DOT_Traffic_Engineer_Airport_Consulting_Dual_Role_Conflict ;
proeth:casecontext "BER Case No. 07-12: Engineer A was employed by the US DOE working in coal bed methane while simultaneously providing consulting services for private coal bed methane companies. The Board found this created a clear conflict of interest making it virtually impossible for him to work as a part-time consultant in the same area for private clients." ;
proeth:compliancestatus "unmet" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Obligation" ;
proeth:confidence "0.91" ;
proeth:derivedFromPrinciple case129:Conflict_of_Interest_Disclosure_in_Advisory_Engagements_Invoked_By_Engineer_A_DOE_Coal_Bed_Methane_Expert_Witness,
case129:Dual_Role_Appearance_of_Impropriety_Avoidance_Invoked_By_Engineer_A_DOE_Coal_Bed_Methane_Expert_Witness ;
proeth:discoveredincase "129" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-02-27T19:43:57.085266+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "129" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-02-27T19:43:57.085266+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:obligatedparty "Engineer A (DOE Employee, Private Coal Bed Methane Consultant)" ;
proeth:obligationclass "Governmental Employee Private Consulting Conflict Non-Engagement Obligation" ;
proeth:obligationstatement "Engineer A was obligated to refrain from providing private consulting services for coal bed methane companies while employed by the US Department of Energy in its coal bed methane division, as this dual engagement in the same substantive domain breached his faithful agent duty to his governmental employer and created an irresolvable conflict of interest." ;
proeth:sourcetext "As an employee of the US Department of Energy, working in its coal bed methane division, Engineer A had a clear conflict of interest that would make it virtually impossible for him to work as a part-time consultant in this same area for private clients." ;
proeth:temporalscope "Throughout the period of simultaneous DOE employment and private coal bed methane consulting" ;
proeth:textreferences "As an employee of the US Department of Energy, working in its coal bed methane division, Engineer A had a clear conflict of interest that would make it virtually impossible for him to work as a part-time consultant in this same area for private clients.",
"It was unethical for Engineer A to serve as an expert witness under the circumstances.",
"To do so would be to breach the basic trust as an honest and faithful agent for his employer." ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 129 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-02-27T19:54:29.983809"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 129 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
129
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-02-27T19:43:57.085266+00:00
First case
129
Generated
2026-02-27T19:43:57.085266+00:00
Attributed to
Case 129 Extraction
Generated
2026-02-27T19:54:29.983809
Generated by
ProEthica Case 129 Extraction