Jess Byrne, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality – Reported the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality received almost $40 million from the federal stimulus for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure loans.  Additional money was received for yard remediation in the Coeur d’Alene Basin Superfund Site. Here is an update on both...

 

DEQ awarded a $2.1 million low-interest wastewater construction loan to the city of Melba. The loan from DEQ’s State Revolving Loan Fund carries a 0.00% interest rate, is payable over 20 years, and has $2,000,000 of principal forgiveness. The favorable loan terms represent a $3,126,001 savings to the community when compared to average costs for municipal general obligation bond issuances.

 

DEQ awarded a $4 million low interest drinking water construction loan to the city of Blackfoot in Bingham County. The loan from DEQ’s State Revolving Loan Fund carries a simple 1.75% interest rate and is payable over 20 years, saving the city approximately $1.43 million in interest savings over the life of the loan.

 

DEQ awarded a $2,676,550 low-interest wastewater construction loan to the city of Bliss. The loan from DEQ’s State Revolving Loan Fund carries a 0.00% interest rate, is payable over 20 years, and has $2,576,550 of principal forgiveness. The favorable loan terms represent a $3,952,302 savings to the community when compared to average costs for municipal general obligation bond issuances.

DEQ awarded a $3,160,000 no interest wastewater construction loan to the City of Potlatch. The loan from DEQ’s State Revolving Loan Fund carries a 0.00% interest rate, is payable over 20 years, and has $3,060,000 of principal forgiveness.  The favorable loan terms represent a $4,759,768 savings to the community when compared to average costs for municipal general obligation bond issuances.

 

DEQ awarded a $12,274,000 low-interest drinking water construction loan to the Central Shoshone County Water District, Shoshone County. The loan from DEQ’s State Revolving Loan Fund carries a 0.50% interest rate, is payable over 30 years, and has a 50% principal forgiveness.  The favorable loan terms represent a $16,482,355 savings to the community when compared to average costs for a municipal general obligation debt issuance.

 

As of the end of the last week in September, 3.2 million square feet of land had been cleaned up this construction season, equating to 344 families with new topsoil in their yards and reduced exposure to lead contamination. All of this work has been funded by federal stimulus money from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The work completed so far this year represents about a 28% increase from the 2.5 million square feet remediated last year. So far, over 14,820 dump truck loads of contaminated materials have been hauled to and disposed of at the Big Creek Repository and the East Mission Flats Repository during this construction season. Currently, more than 240 people are employed by DEQ and its contractors to work on the accelerated cleanup program. The goal of the property cleanup project is to reduce the level of risk to the public caused by exposure to lead and arsenic. This is done by removing contaminated soil and replacing it with clean soil, providing a clean barrier above any deeper contamination.

 

Representative Donna Pence, Idaho State Legislature - Reported the state budget in JFAC this session will be a challenge. The College of Southern Idaho now has a very successful energy program. It started as technical repair for wind energy only, but has now expended to wind turbines, geothermal, and other energy sources. The recession hasn’t hit the Gooding area yet because of large construction projects: Magic Valley Hospital, Gooding Hospital and the high school in Twin Falls. The Shoshone and Jerome schools were two of ten schools selected for a pilot project for the Idaho Education Network.

 

Representative Darrell Bolz, Idaho State Legislature – Reported a company is interested to locate in Ontario, Oregon, but Idaho Power is unable to guarantee their power needs. Idaho does not have sufficient power or transmission lines to draw large companies to the area. The state needs to research alternative sources for power and become less dependent on Wyoming and Nevada to ship their power to Idaho. Power is an important factor to draw large businesses to the state.  Representative Bolz explained the February and August projections for this year’s state budget.  There is currently a shortfall of approximately $150 million in the FY 2010 budget.

 

Harty and Marjorie Schmaehl, Idaho Development - Reported the Kamiah Chamber of Commerce is working hard to bring businesses to their town. The Schmaehls’ are running their businesses as green as possible. They are interested in divesting a couple of the five LLCs they have in the area. The preservation of historical buildings is another challenge they have acquired.   For the past year, Kamiah’s economy has not been as bad as expected. Assessments on property have gone down but nothing as bad as California’s 30-40%. After the large lumber mill closed, most of the workforce has been absorbed into the construction field. The lumber mill is for sale for $6 million.  

 

Matt Ellsworth, Office of Senator Jim Risch – Reported the healthcare issue is putting everything else, even appropriations, on hold.  The next thing on the agenda after healthcare will be cap and trade but it will stall out where it is right now.  The taxes of biomass projects are treated differently than other alternative energies and this could affect rural Idaho.  Senator Risch is working hard to put biomass on even par with the others.  The Idaho delegation is working well together on all issues.

 

Trent Clark, Monsanto – Reported that on August 13^th, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior approved placing a proposal for a new mine in Idaho out for public comment.  The mine is Monsanto’s proposed Blackfoot Bridge mine, and according the National Mining Association it is the first of over 247 pending proposals nationwide to go to public comment this year.  West Virginia has over 50 proposals currently on indefinite hold.  One reason Monsanto’s proposal has gone forward is that it is among the first to receive advanced testing and modeled approval from the Dept. of Environmental Quality to have zero measurable discharge, i.e. it is “pollution-free.” One local environmental watchdog group called the proposal “the best mining proposal it has seen for the area.”  It is possible that some workers at this mine will be classified as working green jobs.  Comments are currently being solicited from the public.  Other mines across the country are waiting and watching this proposal.  Outreach material is available by contacting Trent at trent.l.clark@monsanto.com.

 

Jim Werntz, Environmental Protection Agency – Reported the state has received an additional $1 million dollars of stimulus funds which will be used for 30 projects throughout the state for cleanup of leaking underground storage tanks. A major decision was made by the new administration to continue the use of the Silver Valley repository for their waste. There will have to be more repositories constructed in the future. The EPA has been conducting workshops on saving energy and water usage with small communities. Weiser has been the leader of this program by setting a goal to reduce their energy use by 7%. This program will be continued as it is being well received by the small communities. Some of the stimulus money can be used for replacing inefficient infrastructure. The announcement for the new regional administrator could possibly be made this year.

 

Marie Hattaway, Office of Congressman Walt Minnick – Reported the healthcare issue is putting everything on hold in the House just as it has in the Senate.  Yet aside from health care, as a member of the House Finance Committee, Representative Minnick is currently spending a great deal of time working on legislation that will overhaul the financial & loan industry (aka  Consumer Financial Protection Agency legislation).  Representative Minnick has a particular interest to insure that new regulations do not adversely impact rural and community banks.

 

Brian Dale, HUD – Reported HUD has no regional director yet.  FHA uses are very high making it a very busy time for them at HUD.  Homeless prevention and rapid re-housing money is slowly making its way to partner agencies.  The Idaho Fair Housing Forum will be conducting training in the Treasure Valley next April.  Some refugee agencies are working to learn more about available subsidized housing resources.  HUD teamed with Idaho service providers and created a process to assist them.  HUD’s Faith Based and Community Initiative staff conducted training in Pocatello for nonprofits last month.  The training was well received.  Additional training will possibly be offered in other parts of the state next year. 

 

Brent Ralston, BLM – Reported Idaho BLM is divided into 12 administrative units within 4 Districts. Each BLM District within the state is working on a land-use plan which is done every 20 years. These plans help guide BLM as to what will happen on public land for the next 20-30 years. This is a very lengthy process (4 years) involving State, Federal and local agencies; includes public meetings to obtain public comments. Coeur d’Alene, Snake River Birds of Prey and Craters of the Moon have each finished one. BLM is in litigation with domestic sheep grazing in the Cottonwood area. Other areas in litigation are livestock grazing in relation to sage grouse habitat in Southern Idaho. Because of the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009, the Boise and Twin Falls Districts are actively remarking and signing boundaries signs to inform the public of the changes.

 

Bob Ford, Office of Senator Crapo – Reported because of the health care bill, neither chamber will have time to take up other work or bills. The reauthorization of the FAA and the highway bill are deferred until healthcare is taken care of. Senator Crapo sits on the Senate Finance Committee. Senator Baucus will present some type of proposed legislation that will leave the committee, go to the Senate floor, be amended numerous times, and not resemble what it was when it left the finance committee.  There are two important factors within the State of Idaho that impact each and every issue we do: energy and water. It could be beneficial to have someone from the State Office of Energy Resources have representation at this board as biomass and other energies affect rural area. 

 

 

Lorraine Roach, The Hingston Roach Group – Reported she is heading up the tourism and recreation demand team for the Yellowstone Business Partnership.  The Yellowstone Business Partnership is working on a three state feasible study to create a seamless transit system in and around the 27 counties of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.  A co-op of existing transportation providers will be developed if the study is positive.  This transit system will provide service to both tourists and local residents.  The funding came from stimulus money through the Idaho Transportation Department.  More information is available on the Yellowstone Business Partnership web site:  www.yellowstonebusiness.org, under Our Programs and then Regional Transportation Initiative.

Lorraine also has been coordinating Phase 1 of a multi-state/international sustainable tourism development initiative called the Top 10 Scenic Drives in the Northern Rockies, involving five states and two Canadian provinces:  www.drivethetop10.com. The project connects National Parks, Monuments, Forests, and Recreation Areas via National Scenic Byways and National Historic Trails. The launch of the web site this month coincides with the premier of the National Parks documentary series on PBS by Ken Burns. The program also will link to the 2010 Winter Olympics in B.C. Lorraine briefly reviewed the Top 10 Scenic Drives Fact Sheet, Geotourism Supplier Agreement, and Sustainable Tourism Practices Checklist handouts.  The project is supported by the State and Provincial Tourism Offices, local/regional tourism organizations, National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Corps of Engineers, BLM, US Fish & Wildlife, Parks Canada, and the National Geographic Center for Sustainable Destinations.

 

Pat Barclay, Idaho Council on Industry and the Environment – Reported she has finished this year's ICIE workshop--Practicable Paths to Reliable Electricity.  It was a very successful workshop which covered among other topics utility projections for electricity 2 to 5 years out and beyond 5 years. One of the speakers was Jay O'Laughlin, Director of the U of I's College of Natural Resources Policy Analysis Group and Chairman of the Forestry Task Force of the Idaho Strategic Energy Alliance, who spoke on biomass projects and how they affect rural communities.  There are huge fuel build ups on national forest lands which could provide wood for biomass projects. The Department of Energy Resources is working with the Idaho Department of Lands regarding changing its 5 year contracts for forest land stewardship projects. The goal is to extend the state land contracts to 10 years and convince the Forest Service to do the same thing.  By producing energy, less carbon is produced than through prescribed burns or catastrophic wildfires.  For the year 2006, the forest fires in Idaho were equivalent to 3.6 million cars on the road.  Reducing the amount of fuel in the forest would cut down the amount of carbon released by limiting the number of acres burned in catastrophic fires. 

 

Senator Joyce Broadsword, Idaho State Legislature – Reported Bonner County has two very large transportation projects, the Sandpoint Byway (4-5 year project) and the Dover Bridge project (which will continue to be built during the winter), have kept the locals working during this rough economy. Shoshone County which is 78% federally owned is struggling. They are looking into woody biomass to generate revenue. JFAC will be meeting in the next two days to talk about the state budget, what the holdbacks have done, the impacts of the holdbacks, and future holdbacks and what they are going to do to the state agencies.

 

 

Celia Gould, Idaho State Department of Agriculture – Reported it is a difficult time for the agricultural community not only in the marketing perspective but also with lawsuits and regulations. The dairymen had a meeting last Friday in Twin Falls and for the first time in the last year, a ray of hope was seen. There is a real problem in the other agriculture industries in obtaining credit and keeping a float right now. The Department of Ag has been a recipient of earmarks several times. It has really saved the potato industry. The ISDA received $750,000 for specialty crop grants for this year with more available next year. This is a five year grant program directed towards 10-12 different specialty crops’ organizations.