Simpson likely to lead interior subcommittee

TWIN FALLS, Idaho – With the elections done, U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson has his work cut out for him.

The Idaho Republican is poised to likely become the chairman of the interior and environment subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, another result of the nation’s sweep of GOP victories that put Republicans in leadership of the U.S. House.

In Idaho’s 2nd Congressional District, that’s an assignment that would give Simpson a stronger voice in a slew of issues encompassing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, federal lands and national parks.

Simpson has been a critic of some EPA regulations, such as those regarding arsenic levels in drinking water, that have shouldered rural communities with financial hardships.

“I’m not one who is out to get the EPA, if you want to call it that,” Simpson said in an interview with the Times-News. “I’m out to make sure they do their job as Congress intended them to do.”

While it’s widely expected Simpson will get the chairmanship, he cautioned that it’s still up to a congressional steering committee to make the final call.

The subcommittee oversees funding for the EPA, the various agencies of the Interior Department, and the U.S. Forest Service, among others.

Simpson noted that spending reductions will be necessary, adding: “EPA’s one of the primary targets because of the huge increases they’ve received in the last couple years.”

Though the subcommittee’s work involves funding, there’s also a policy element because of amendments that can be attached restricting how the money can be spent.

For example, an amendment limiting the EPA’s regulation of greenhouse gases died in the subcommittee on a tied vote. Simpson also cited past successes in preventing the EPA from regulating methane releases from confined animal feedlot operations.

Of course, there’s much more ahead.

Simpson said he’ll be focused on issues like ensuring adequate funding for fighting wildfires. He also wants to make sure that the Bureau of Land Management addresses a backlog of grazing permits.

National parks have a backlog of maintenance needs, Simpson noted, while visitor numbers continually go up even in the economic slump.

The House’s Republican majority won’t remove all obstacles to Simpson’s efforts to make the Boulder Mountains and White Cloud Peaks in central Idaho a wilderness area.

U.S. Rep.-elect Raul Labrador, who will represent Idaho’s 1st Congressional District, said during this year’s campaign that he opposes the proposed Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act. But Simpson still expects an easier go of his bill in the House, where the chairman of the House Resources Committee is expected to be U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings of Washington.