09/29/06 CIEDRA, Owhyee hearings

Don't look for immediate passage of legislation that would set aside nearly 830 thousand acres in Idaho as wilderness. Senator Mike Crapo's Owyhee Initiative and Congressman Mike Simpson's Central Idaho Boulder-White Cloud legislation needs more work according to Senator Larry Craig, the chairman of the committee that considered the bills on Wednesday. CRAIG "But the buyouts are yet to come. It will be the struggle of this Congress to produce from the treasury the necessary resources to honor that." Idahoans did testify and it's obvious there are some disagreements over both bills. Custer County Commissioner Cliff Hansen says the Simpson bill has provisions in it that the commissioners don't like but. HANSEN "It is in the best interest of Custer County if this bill passes to give us some of the resources that we may need to keep this county operating in the future." Singer songwriter Carole King, a Custer County resident is an outspoken critic of Simpson's Central Idaho legislation. KING "Some people call it CIEDRA. I call it a bill of broken promises. SIMPSON "Many people have worked a long time to try to create a bill for Idaho by Idahoans." Craig calls both bills 'a work in progress' and he promises to continuing working on them during October congressional recess. Work on Capitol Hill won't resume until after the November election. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott