On Monday, the committee killed Moscow Republican Rep. Tom Trail’s would-be bill calling for the permit process to include public hearings.

In the case of the Conoco loads, Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) Director Brian Ness allowed a contested-case hearing (with lawyers on both sides arguing and questioning witnesses like in a trial), but ITD can approve the permits in-house.

Ness on Monday ordered a contested-case hearing over the permits for Imperial Oil to truck 207 loads across the state on Highway 12, from Lewiston to Lolo Pass, and then on up to Alberta.

Trail had called for an interim committee to work with ITD and the Legislature to develop guidelines for the approval process, and to raise permit fees so they cover the cost of what ITD invests in handling the permits, including administrative, legal, and technical costs. The two permits so far issued to ConocoPhillips cost $2,143 and $2,094. ITD spokesman Jeff Stratten said the fees are based on a formula that includes the number of axles and gross weight.

“The Idaho taxpayer is paying for every one of those,” Trail told IdahoReporter.com in an interview Feb. 3.

Following the committee’s rejection of the proposal, Trail said he was disappointed. 
Rep. JoAn Wood, R-Rigby, was most vocal among those opposed to the idea; she argued that ITD already has a permit-approval process and that new regulations could hurt  the department and business.

“What are we not doing?,” Wood asked Trail. “Can you tell me why we really need this?” 
She continued: “I do think there’s a danger for commerce to be impeded … I really hate to put another impediment in front of the department.”

State Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, supported printing Trail’s bill; she pointed out that the inaugural megaload haul was fraught with failure, including holding up traffic for an hour (the maximum ITD promised, according to agency policy, is 15 minutes), and scraping rocks off the sides of the narrow canyon walls, when officials had maintained that the loads would move through the chasm cleanly.

“Even now from the state point of view it’s being looked at purely as an engineering problem,” Ringo told IdahoReporter.com earlier this month regarding ITD’s approach.
 At Monday’s hearing, she said: “We need to step back from a policy point of view and look at what the payoff is for what we are  doing.”

ITD on Monday permitted Imperial Oil to transport one over-sized “test load” over U.S. 12 on Feb. 22.

“The permit issued is for a test load to assist Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil in validating planning for potential future loads. The load is 24 feet wide, 30 feet high, 208 feet long and weighs approximately 508,000 pounds,” read an ITD press release. 
The agency said Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil’s “request for additional permits complies with all requirements and should be granted.”
 But ITD Director Brian Ness has ordered a contested-case hearing, as he did in the case of the four Conoco loads, and, again, he has appointed Boise attorney Merlyn Clark to make the call; in the Conoco contested-case hearing, Clark sided with ITD, saying the agency had done everything by the book in allowing the cross-state transports.
 A timeline for the hearing has not been set, the release said.

“We really don’t have a dog in this fight,” Patrick Balducci of the consulting contractor Battelle told lawmakers Monday afternoon.  “The output of our model doesn’t typically discriminate against different vehicles.”  He is leading a six-month study that will offer more data to the Governor’s Task Force on Modernizing Transportation Funding.  His project began in December and a final report should be finished by the end of June.  The study will cost the state about $200,000, according to the Idaho Department of Transportation.

The new data should help lawmakers trying to decide on where to find new funding for road construction that is stable and politically palatable.  Gov. Butch Otter set up the task force after lawmakers rejected his proposals for tax and fee increases to fund highway infrastructure needs last year.  The task force has a December deadline.

“The study will guide us if we make decisions that ask for further funding from the public,” said House Transportation Committee Chair JoAn Wood, R-Rigby.  “If we have a study that verifies the responsibility of different users, then it would be much easier for us to carry a request to the public for added participation in cost.”  She said more fuel-efficient vehicles and rising prices of oil would likely skew the funding equity.  “We have to depend on something besides the fuel tax if it continues to go that way,” she said.  One alternative source she mentioned would be dedicating the sales tax on new and used vehicles as well as tires and auto parts to highway construction.  That money currently goes into the general fund.

Representatives for drivers and truckers both spoke in favor of the study to find equitable funding for roads.  Dave Carlson with AAA Idaho said the results would inform any discussion on new revenue for roads.  “It’s going to be a much easier pill to swallow, frankly, when we’re all asked to pay an equity that’s consistent with what we all use,” he said.

“There’s got to be more funds and they’ve got to be spent on the roads in order to protect the commerce of the state of Idaho,” said Clay Handy of Handy Truck Line.

The Highway Cost Allocation Study will look at how cars, trucks, busses, and other vehicles pay for highway construction, as well as how they use and wear out roads, bridge, rest stops, and other parts of the road infrastructure.  Balducci included several policy options from a similar study in Nevada in 2008.  Those options included raising the tax on diesel or gas, increasing registration fees for heavy trucks, and other taxing hikes and tweaks.  Balducci said he could examine other policy options that members of the task force or the Idaho Transportation Department want him to consider.

Both Mountain Home Air Force Base (MHAFB) in Mountain Home and Gowen Field in Boise are being considered as potential homes for the state-of-the-art jets.  According to some estimates, the planes would bring with them over $1 billion in economic impact and 3,000 jobs to the Gem state.

In what Col. Bill Richey, a special assistant to Gov. Butch Otter, calls “the great race for where the planes are going to be based,” Idaho looks to be in pretty good shape.  According to Richey, MFAHB could provide the Air Force with the best access to the most diverse training grounds in the country.  He added that the terrain of the Old Saylor bombing range, which is just south of MFAHB, is similar in many ways to both the desert terrain found in Iraq and the more mountainous terrain found in Afghanistan.   The bombing range is also particularly unique, said Richey, in that the area has no real environmental concerns, never suffers from noise complaints from neighbors, and has room to grow.   Richey also noted that Idaho weather is also optimal for training because it affords more than 300 flyable days per year.

Lt. Gov. Brad Little testified before the committee, saying that the administration is working hard to bring the planes to Idaho because having them here “will go a long way towards getting the economy of Idaho up to where we would like to see it.”  Little said he hopes the additional jobs would help jumpstart the economy, though the programs and jobs wouldn’t arrive until 2013.

According to Little, Idaho is fighting to bring three squadrons –each contains 24 planes – to each base, for a total of new 144 jets for the area.  He noted that while MHAFB and Gowen aren’t competing against one another, one could be selected for use by the Air Force and not the other.  According to Richey, two different programs are up for grabs for the bases.  One program would be for active military operations, for which MFAHB is competing.   The other program, for training only, could be stationed at Gowen.   The jobs would be split equally between the two programs.

Securing the new jets could be crucial to the longevity of both bases, said Don Dietrich, Otter’s commerce director.  Dietrich said that if the two bases can secure the new programs, they would be less likely to be considered for base realignment and closures.  Because the security of the jets is of utmost importance to the Air Force, they would have to be stored under cover, which could mean substantial upgrades for both Gowen and MFAHB.  Dietrich said the Air Force could invest as much as $400 million between the two bases in building upgrades.

The memorial will now go before the full House for a vote.  If it passes the House, it will move on to the Senate for deliberation.

(Note you can check out the F-35 jets at their military website, found here.)