Here’s a link to my full story at spokesman.com on an Idaho House committee’s vote today to approve legislation attempting to nullify the EPA, though a state Attorney General’s opinion says the measure’s unconstitutional. Rep. Paul Shepherd, R-Riggins, said, “I don’t happen to agree.”

Shepherd noted that it’s late in the legislative session – lawmakers are hoping to finish their session next week. “We’re lucky to even have this hearing,” he said. “I can’t tell you what’s going to happen now.” No one testified against the bill, HB 473; seventy-six people signed in at the committee hearing in support. After dozens testified, including lots of suction dredge mining enthusiasts who don’t like a new EPA permit requirement that went into effect last April, the committee approved the measure on a voice vote with no discussion.

In the attorney general’s opinion, Deputy Attorney General Brian Kane wrote that the bill “would, with almost certainty, be found unconstitutional.” In a six-page analysis, Kane wrote that many mistakenly believe the EPA was “created by executive order” rather than by Congress. Actually, he wrote, it was created by President Richard Nixon in 1970 under a specific clause in federal law, and then, as required, ratified by both houses of Congress - twice. Congress then delegated regulatory authority to the EPA through “numerous federal laws,” he wrote, and those laws have been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. Shepherd said, “I think that the Supreme Court needs to go by their oath of office. The Supreme Court’s changing the Constitution.”

Jim Werntz, Idaho director for the EPA, said the agency chose to try to regulate suction dredge mining in Idaho, rather than just shut it down, as happened in California and Oregon. More than 80 of the new permits have been issued; they’re good for five years. But, he said, “Where there were species issues or protected waters or wild and scenic waters, those waters were protected and closed.” That included popular areas along the main and lower Salmon River near Riggins, where critical habitat for salmon and steelhead prompted closures to dredging.