The citizen watchdog group for Cook Inlet oil development has kicked off its board an environmentalist who has been a critic of the group. The Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council said the board held a special meeting in Kenai to boot Bob Shavelson from the board of directors.

Shavelson's "conduct violated the Cook Inlet RCAC policies," the group said. "The policies are based on the premises that nonprofit corporation board members have an affirmative duty of loyalty to the corporation, which means the director must act in the best interests of the corporation and not the director's own interests."

Shavelson had occupied an environmentalist seat on the 13-person board. He is executive director of Cook Inletkeeper, a nonprofit that advocates for environmentally sound practices in Cook Inlet.

At a June board meeting, Shavelson blasted his fellow board members for what he believed was lackluster oversight of the Inlet oil industry, particularly in how it has dealt with Chevron on the company's Drift River Oil Terminal, which was threatened last year during the Mount Redoubt eruption.

Other board members represent towns along the Inlet, commercial fishing groups, aquaculture associations, recreation groups, Native organizations and the state Chamber of Commerce.

Congress created CIRCAC after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound to give locals a voice in the movement of oil through Cook Inlet.

CIRCAC said it has notified the environmental groups Shavelson represented and that his replacement will be elected in March.