This case (as I know about it in general with only some specifics) was sure gray.  I thought that our position was reasonably defensible........ didn't turn out to be a winning defense but in my opinion certainly defensible. 

I believe that the appeal was warranted and the use of PWC reasonable.  I don't see any conflict with the use of PWC.

Joe's point about spending $60,000 to attempt to save $1,000,000 is the same view I have.  I would have voted to write the check.  In my opinion it was such a close call that it was not unreasonable to attempt to win.

Moving forward I agree with writing the check from reserves.  You suggest that we might be able to offer a lump sum settlement and receive a discount but the health of our balance sheet will not help our discount offer.  Wrtie the check and move on.

At this stage I'm up in the air about the move on part. In terms of overall benefits to the OPA membership perhaps we are better off building the tax liability into our cost structure and keeping the useability the same.  On the other hand perhaps with some very fine tuning we can avoid the tax and only slightly diminish the membership's use of the resource.