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The Idaho LINE Commission meets at the University of Idaho in Moscow on November 16, 2012
credit:
Aaron Kunz
Liz Woodruff, a spokeswoman for the Snake River Alliance at a news conference held in November 9, 2012
credit:
Aaron Kunz
BOISE, Idaho — A task force in Idaho Monday issued a first draft of recommendations that could include the shipment of spent nuclear waste into the state.
Idaho’s Leadership in Nuclear Energy Commission offered 60 preliminary recommendations. The goal is to strengthen the role of nuclear energy in Idaho and establish a future for one of the state’s largest employers, the Idaho National Lab.
That would require state leaders to revise a 1995 agreement with the federal government that caps the amount of nuclear waste in Idaho.
At least one of those recommendations is likely to generate controversy. It calls for small-scale storage of spent nuclear waste from commercial facilities. The Northwest’s only such nuclear reactor is the Columbia Nuclear Power Plant in southeast Washington.
That would require state leaders to revise a 1995 agreement with the federal government that caps the amount of nuclear waste in Idaho.
The Snake River Alliance is the state’s leading nuclear watchdog group. On Tuesday, spokeswoman Liz Woodruff said commissioners failed to convince her group that allowing more commercial nuclear waste into Idaho would create jobs and benefit the economy.
“The LINE Commission is insisting on preparing for a nuclear future that is not grounded in economic or political reality,” Woodruff said. “There is not a new federal policy to respond to and there are no economic resources available for the projects the commission supports. This conversation is premature.”
This is a preliminary report from the LINE Commission, which now faces a month long public comment period.
Idaho Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter created the task force. After it released its draft recommendations, Otter issued a statement in which he encouraged the public to read the report and comment before a Jan. 4 deadline.
After that the commission will make its final recommendations to the governor. Any recommendation the LINE Commission offers the governor will be advisory only. It will be up to Idaho lawmakers and the governor to decide whether and how to act on its proposals.
Otter created the commission to sustain the Idaho National Lab and to explore ways the nuclear power industry could benefit his state’s economy.
“I think this progress report clearly points out that the environmental cleanup envisioned by my predecessors has largely been realized while at the same time we’ve established INL as the nation’s preeminent nuclear research and development laboratory,” Otter said.
Public comments will be accepted through January 4, 2013. You can make comments online by visiting the LINE Commission website here. Or you can send them to this address by mail.
LINE Commission C/O Idaho Department of Commerce 700 W. State St. P.O. Box 83720 Boise, ID 83720
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