02/18/08 What ever happened to the Owyhee Initiative?

Farmers, ranchers, conservationists and government representatives spent nearly five years crafting the Owyhee Initiative, a comprehensive plan for Owyhee County's future. Idaho Senator Mike Crapo took the proposal to Congress with the hope that it would be passed into law. Here we are, two years later and the bill still sits on Capitol Hill with little or no apparent action taking place. CRAPO "The Democratically controlled Senate now we ran into a whole new regime of requirements that we needed to implement for the legislation. And as a result of that we've been spending most of the Congress to this point reworking the bill with the legislative leadership in the Senate Energy Committee, primarily with the chairman Senator Jeff Bingaman." Crapo says fellow Idaho Senator Larry Craig is working with him on some of the changes which he says are significant. CRAPO "Its been mostly restructuring. I think the best way for me to describe it is to say the basic approach and the objectives are all still in place. The way we get there has been changed a little bit." Crapo is hopeful that the revamped Owyhee Initiative will be passed out of the Energy Committee within the next two to four weeks so it can go to the Senate floor for a vote. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott