Otter misses energy summit

BOISE – As governors or top policy advisers from 14 Western states met in Deadwood, S.D., Sunday to discuss how to speed development of carbon-trapping technology, Idaho Gov. Butch Otter was introducing his wife, Lori, at the 61st annual Girls State in Nampa.

On Tuesday, while leaders at the Western Governors’ Association in South Dakota were drafting a plan to combat global warming, produce cleaner energy and limit effects of climate change, Otter was marking a Boise park’s 100th birthday.

Among the WGA’s 18 dues-paying member states, Otter and just three other governors didn’t attend or send a representative to this year’s conference.

Those who did go said the meeting was a chance to develop a cohesive approach to global warming, what Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal on Tuesday called “the issue of our time. It makes no sense for us to ignore what is essentially a 900-pound gorilla on the public policy basis.”

If Oregon isn’t represented at such events, “we’ll be left out of those policy discussions,” said Jake Weigler, a spokesman for Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski, whose top energy adviser attended.

Otter had other concerns at home, said Jon Hanian, his spokesman, including a state Land Board meeting Tuesday where North Idaho houseboat mooring costs were discussed.

“We had other more pressing issues to deal with,” Hanian said.

He said it was unfair to say Otter only attended ceremonial functions in Idaho while other Western governors were in Deadwood.

Otter is also monitoring closely a dispute over groundwater in eastern Idaho, as well as funding for a program that teaches parents how to prepare their young children for school.

Singling out his appearances at Girls State and Boise’s Julia Davis Park is “cherry picking,” Hanian said, adding that Otter in May asked the state Department of Environmental Quality to inventory greenhouse gases and find ways to reduce them, so his position should already be clear.