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JFAC approves $75.4M DEQ package including Triumph Mine remediation, ARPA reimbursements and $10M for water grants
Summary
The committee approved a multi-part Department of Environmental Quality package that includes targeted pay to reduce turnover, funding to remediate the Triumph Mine site, ARPA-funded infrastructure reimbursements, and a $10 million general-fund transfer for drinking water and wastewater grants.
The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on March 20 approved a comprehensive funding package for the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) totaling roughly $75.4 million across general, dedicated and federal sources. The package included a pay-targeting enhancement to reduce permitting turnover, a remediation appropriation for the Triumph Mine site, ARPA state fiscal recovery funds moved forward to speed reimbursements, and a $10 million general-fund transfer to the Water Pollution Control Fund for drinking-water and wastewater infrastructure grants.
Senator Woodward, who moved the main DEQ motion, said the targeted-pay item is intended primarily to retain permit staff and their supervisors and to reduce turnaround times for permits that affect private-sector projects. “This is really, shortly said it's an effort to keep government out of the way of private business,” Woodward said, arguing that improved staffing would reduce permit-processing delays.
The motion included a $1.5 million transfer from the Water Pollution Control Fund to the Environmental Remediation Fund for Superfund cleanup, $1,030,000 for remediation work at the Triumph Mine site, reimbursement of approximately $73.8 million to infrastructure grantees using ARPA state fiscal recovery funds (moved forward to address timing concerns), and a fund-shift for some personnel costs. The motion also added $592,800 for targeted pay to address turnover in permitting positions.
Analysts explained that the ARPA-state-fiscal-recovery funds were scheduled differently and moving them forward in the DEQ budget would allow the agency to issue reimbursements more quickly, which proponents said would accelerate infrastructure work. The committee additionally adopted language authorizing reappropriation for ongoing projects and imposing conditions and limitations described in the committee packet.
The DEQ package passed in committee (committee tallies reported: combined total 16 ayes, 3 nays, 1 absent excused across both chambers as recorded on the transcript). DEQ will implement the reimbursements, remediation work and grant transfers and must comply with any reporting and condition language the committee included in the adopted bill language.
Votes and next steps: DEQ will proceed to implement the approved appropriations and the agency must follow the reporting and limitation language included in the committee’s adopted motion; monitoring of remediation progress and ARPA reimbursements will be part of the committee’s follow-up oversight.
