Inel Contractor Not Interested In Lab

Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies Co., the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory’s prime contractor, is not interested in helping reopen and run the state’s idled agricultural testing laboratory.

“This doesn’t fit into the mission at all,” Lockheed Martin Idaho President John Denson said Tuesday. “That is a little out of line with what we’re going to be doing.”

The Quality Assurance Laboratory, on the College of Southern Idaho campus, was authorized by the Legislature six years ago to test Idaho farm products and certify they were free of chemicals or other hazards.

But Gov. Phil Batt ordered it closed in December after reports that mismanagement had resulted in falsified test information, lack of industry support and illegal disposal of toxic substances.

Batt has been behind efforts since the December closure to find a way to get the lab back in operation without spending state tax money to subsidize it.

Lockheed Martin Idaho employees, without Denson’s knowledge, recently approached the Idaho Department of Agriculture about playing some role in that effort.

Lockheed Martin Idaho officials have said since taking over management of the INEL for the U.S. Department of Energy two years ago that they want to bring economic development to the Twin Falls area, a hotbed of opposition to its nuclear waste mission at the eastern Idaho site.

But Denson said the problem is that the investment opportunities Twin Falls business leaders have presented to them have been vague.