[Vision2020] Stimulus Could Fund Idaho Cleanup

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of today's (March 3, 2009) Spokesman Review.

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Stimulus could fund Idaho cleanup
Money would expedite project at Bunker Hill, create seasonal jobs
Betsy Z. Russell / Staff writer  
  
BOISE – Thanks to the federal economic stimulus bill, there could be 70 
new seasonal jobs in North Idaho’s Silver Valley this summer and next as 
part of the Bunker Hill cleanup.

“It’s doubling the effort for two years,” said Toni Hardesty, director of 
the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.

The Bunker Hill funding is one of five pots of money Hardesty has 
identified in the federal stimulus bill that would benefit Idaho if the 
state DEQ applies for the funds. She’s submitted proposals to Gov. Butch 
Otter, and she briefed legislative budget writers on the prospect Monday.

In every case, the money meets criteria that Otter has laid out: It 
wouldn’t require Idaho to commit to state funding in future years; it 
wouldn’t require the hiring of permanent state employees; and it wouldn’t 
require the state to start programs.

“These are all existing state programs,” Hardesty said.

The Bunker Hill money would expedite the cleanup, Hardesty told lawmakers, 
by doubling the number of yards to be cleaned of mining contamination over 
the next two years. That would cut overall cleanup time to three to four 
years, from five to six years.

“This is cleanup that we need to do anyway,” Hardesty said. “It’s just 
sooner rather than later.”

The state would hire two or three additional temporary employees in 
Kellogg and an additional contractor. The contractors would hire the 
additional seasonal workers.

“From my perspective this would be a part of the stimulus package that 
meets … the goals that most of us have in mind, in terms of one-time 
money,” said State Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint. “… There are very few 
strings attached that don’t already exist.”

The state is hiring local contractors to do the cleanup, Hardesty said. 
The state does have to match 10 percent of the federal funding, but that 
money was already set aside.

Other areas where Hardesty said DEQ programs could benefit from stimulus 
funds:

•The state could receive $1.3 million to clean up sites contaminated by 
leaking underground storage tanks. Idaho would have four years to spend 
the extra money, which would cover 30 sites. There are 130 sites on the 
waiting list for cleanup.

•$1.7 million is available to retrofit school buses and other heavy 
vehicles with up-to-date emission controls. In addition, the state could 
apply for up to $2 million in competitive grants to make the same 
retrofits to vehicles in state fleets. The state would have up to two 
years to do the work.

•Idaho stands to receive a $38.7 million boost to its revolving fund for 
loans to local governments for drinking water and clean water 
improvements. “It’s a program in which we’ve already had greater need than 
money,” Hardesty said, noting that the DEQ has $761 million worth of 
requests.

•The state could get $194,000 in additional funding for water quality 
management. Water quality monitoring in the Clark Fork River – threatened 
by state budget cuts – could qualify for the federal money, Hardesty said, 
as could other projects now facing the budget ax.

If the governor approves Idaho accepting the money, state lawmakers could 
include it when they set the DEQ’s budget for next year.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 
"For a lapsed Lutheran born-again Buddhist pan-Humanist Universalist 
Unitarian Wiccan Agnostic like myself there's really no reason ever to go 
to work."

- Roy Zimmerman


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