Senate committee hears two gubernatorial nominees for Idaho Board of Environmental Quality; vote deferred

Vice Chair Sen. Vierke, covering for Sen. Van Orden, opened a committee hearing on two gubernatorial appointments to the Idaho Board of Environmental Quality and invited the nominees to speak. The committee heard from Lance Boylan of Kellogg and Dennis Lecombe of Idaho Falls; members asked about water supply, agricultural impacts and potential conflicts of interest. The committee said it would schedule a vote at a later date.

The Board of Environmental Quality is a rule-making and advisory body for Idaho environmental regulation. Boylan and Lecombe told the committee their professional backgrounds and said they would apply their experience to review rules, permits and statutes.

Lance Boylan of Kellogg introduced himself as an environmental engineer who earned a bachelor’s degree from the Colorado School of Mines and said he holds an EIT credential earned in Colorado and a professional environmental engineering license in good standing since 2020. Boylan described more than a decade of experience in northern Idaho, including work at the Lucky Friday Mine in Mullan and later roles overseeing closed-operations, reclamation and closure projects across multiple U.S. states and the Yukon Territory. He described field tasks ranging from discharge monitoring and stormwater BMPs to tailings-impoundment closure, water-treatment design and hazardous-waste management. “I’m both honored and humbled to be given the opportunity to be here before you today,” Boylan said.

Sen. Shippey asked what Boylan saw as the biggest environmental challenge in Idaho; Boylan said the state’s rapid growth is stressing water systems, aging infrastructure and waste-management systems. On agriculture, Boylan said he would need to learn more about southern Idaho conditions but noted challenges tied to NPDES discharge requirements and phosphate management. Boylan disclosed his employer while answering a question about conflicts: “I wanted to be fully transparent in my history, who I work for. We are an operator in the state of Idaho,” he said, identifying his employer as Hecla.

Dennis Lecombe of Idaho Falls said he holds a master’s degree in geology and is a registered geologist in Idaho and California with more than 20 years in environmental management. Lecombe described Idaho’s regulatory climate as “a system of collaboration that both protects the environment and allows businesses to thrive,” and cited work on water reuse within industry as an example: “I work for Idahoan Foods and we reuse our water four times maybe on average inside the plant before we finally send it out to our recycling project,” he said. Lecombe suggested education and outreach on fertilizer application and benchmarking, referencing the Potato Sustainability Alliance as a source of conservation practices.

Committee members asked both nominees how they would balance industry and environmental protections. Boylan said he would focus on statute-rule-permit alignment and listening to stakeholders; Lecombe said he favored less-prescriptive permits that allow operators flexibility while ensuring compliance. Both nominees described priorities of reviewing proposed rules against statute and seeking regulatory clarity.

No formal committee vote on either appointment was taken. Vice Chair Vierke said the panel would set a later date for the committee’s vote and notify the nominees.

The committee’s consideration of these appointments will be added to a future agenda; no final action or confirmation occurred during this session.