Batt Signs Epa Pact, But Has Suggestions Stream Cleanup Fight Shows Need For Tailoring, He Says

Gov. Phil Batt signed an updated partnership agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday, calling it a solid foundation for state-federal cooperation but urging the government to go even further in recognizing the unique circumstances each state faces.

“I do appreciate the cooperation you’ve afforded us,” Batt told EPA Regional Administrator Chuck Clarke. “But I think in many cases, they do not take into consideration what it’s like to live in a state enough.”

He specifically cited the continuing controversy over the water quality in 962 stream segments around the state. The state ultimately negotiated a modified cleanup schedule that gives it eight years, rather than the court-mandated five, to assure that those streams meet still-to-be-set water quality standards.

But Batt said that concession still leaves a small state like Idaho facing a deadline it will be hard-pressed to meet.

“There’s only so much we can do, and I would like somewhere along the line to get the reality of the situation into the discussion,” the governor said.

The state has redirected as many of its resources as possible to the stream quality project, incurring the wrath of the agriculture community when Batt essentially commandeered the Soil Conservation Commission for the effort.

Clarke told the governor that EPA was just as interested as he was in a longer compliance timetable than has been negotiated because it will be faced with assuring stream quality if the state fails to meet the deadline.

But he also said that with the partnership as a foundation, he hopes that in addition to heading off many disagreements and misunderstandings it will lead to some merged operations of his agency and the state Division of Environmental Quality.

State and federal officials said agreement appeared near on the water quality standards to be used in the stream quality project except where private waters, the Snake River snail in southern Idaho and the Kootenai River sturgeon in the Panhandle are concerned.

Division administrator Wally Corey said he believed some kind of compromise could be reached “without completely strapping the state.”