Otter Helped Idahoans by Helping Himself

Gov. Butch Otter got a political dividend when the Department of Environmental Quality Board signaled its intent to tighten state regulation of mercury.

Otter opposes federal plans to consider storing 11,000 tons of mercury at the Idaho National Laboratory near Idaho Falls. INL is one of seven sites being looked at. Hanford nuclear reservation is another.

How did the first move strengthen the second? Look no further than a recent statement from DEQ Director Toni Hardesty.

"The INL sits atop porous basalt formations and the Snake River Aquifer, which provides water to thousands of farms and people across eastern and southern Idaho," Hardesty wrote. "Protection of this resource is essential. Given the availability of sites across the country, locating the nation's mercury repository materials atop these porous formations and the aquifer is an obvious and unnecessary risk."

Speaking at a public forum Tuesday, Otter said storing mercury in Idaho would be "inconsistent with our hope, prayer, mission and vision for Idaho."

Otter and Hardesty can take that stand - as well as argue the feds operated in quiet and without notifying the state - because the DEQ board last month publicly opted to launch rules limiting how much mercury Idaho industries can pump into the atmosphere. A small number of companies emit about 500 pounds of mercury into the air each year, which then travels into the water. The substance accumulates in fish.

Mercury is a neurotoxin, and it can cause irreversible brain damage in fetuses and children. Children and pregnant women have been warned not to consume fish caught from Priest Lake, Lake Pend Oreille, Lake Coeur d'Alene and 16 other waterways.

However, the state is glossing over some recent history.

After passing measures to block mercury-emitting coal-fired plants and curb mercury contamination blown into the state from Nevada gold mines, the DEQ board began investigating how to toughen restraints upon Idaho-based sources of mercury emissions.

But, in the face of industry opposition earlier this year, the DEQ board backed away from adopting rules. Likewise, critics note the state hasn't gone out of its way to warn people about the dangers of mercury-contaminated fish while it has made considerable effort to alert them about invasive weeds and the quagga mussel.

Only when Monsanto - whose phosphate mine is responsible for 98 percent of mercury emissions in the state - joined the Idaho Conservation League in seeking a new regulation, did the board agree to proceed.

It's only a start. The process could last 18 months. Other industries, notably Simplot and Amalgamated Sugar, have signaled their intent to oppose more stringent controls. Even if the DEQ board eventually proceeds with a plan, lawmakers get the final word.

If the cause of keeping mercury out of the INL leads to less mercury on the dinner table, so be it. Ordinary Idahoans will collect an environmental and health dividend in return.