This is from a weekly roundup of some of ICIE’s activities in and around the Idaho Legislature. Staffing limits mean we can’t cover every meeting. If there’s an item of interest to you at an upcoming meeting of one of the environment or agriculture committees, let us know and we’ll try to cover it. Agendas are available at http://www.state.id.us/. Click on “Legislative” and click on “Calendars and agendas.”
House Environment, Energy & Technology Committee, 1-26-09: At last week’s House Environment, Energy and Technology Committee, Office of Energy Resources Administrator Paul Kjellander presented a bill to create priority status for transmmission projects in Idaho. This week, he returned with more information about its impacts. Committee members were particularly interested in how the designation of priority status would impact local government agencies. Kjellander noted the benefits of granting transmission projects priority status include providing an open public forum and public records to facilitate better public understanding of such projects. “People may still not like (a particular) project,” Kjellander noted, “but at least they’ll have the opportunity to understand it and why the priority status was designated.” Kjellander noted that the bill would not challenge the decision-making autonomy of county government where transmission projects were concerned. The bill would only pertain to those agencies that the State and Public Utilities Commission deal with. Representatives from the PUC and the Association of Idaho Counties testified that they agreed with Kjellander’s assessment of the impact of this bill on local authority. The committee voted to send the bill to the floor with a do-pass recommendation.
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