Eastern Lawmakers Say Hands Off Ineel Grants Budget Writers Want To Divert Money To Cope With Expected Spring Flooding

Eastern Idaho budget writers warned their colleagues on Wednesday to forget about federal economic development grants linked to the INEEL in their scratch for cash.

The Legislature’s budget writers are trying to find money anywhere they can as a hedge against the prospect of multimillion dollar spring flood damages.

“The Energy Department told me that money can be only spent in the seven counties in eastern Idaho … in lieu of the downsizing at INEEL,” Republican Rep. Jack Barraclough of Idaho Falls told the rest of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee.

The cash in question is the $30 million the federal government promised to provide Idaho in five $6 million annual payments as part of Gov. Phil Batt’s unprecedented 1995 agreement on nuclear waste dumping at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, which added to its name on Tuesday to reflect a new emphasis on environmental cleanup and research.

GOP Sen. Dean Cameron of Rupert asked Batt administration officials whether at least some of that money could be spent on economic recovery in communities that might be hit by spring floods. Cameron’s concern would be the likelihood of heavy flood damage in the Oakley area south of his hometown.

“As others start looking at that money and coveting it,” Idaho Falls Republican Sen. John Hansen declared, “we’re going to try real hard to make sure that original intent is protected.”

Hansen pointed out that long before Batt cut his deal with the government, the Energy Department had committed to granting $25 million directly to the seven counties from Rexburg to Pocatello to help compensate for elimination of several thousand relatively high-paying jobs at the INEEL.

Batt’s negotiations ended up rolling that cash and $5 million more into the agreement. The governor reassured eastern Idaho officials earlier this week that the money would be focused on economic development in their region.

But Cameron suggested that what constitutes the eastern Idaho and INEEL impact area is a matter of perspective and could be viewed as a much larger area than just the seven counties Hansen and Barraclough cited.

With revenues tight and spending proposals scaled back to fit within them, the prospect for a third flood disaster in less than 18 months has Batt and lawmakers concerned about where the cash will come from to pay the bills.

Flooding last February caused $49 million in damage in North Idaho, and the state paid just over $5 million for its share of the damages. And this month’s damage is estimated at more than $60 million, with the state’s share at $9 million and possibly more.