Submitted by Ken Watts
“Planning and Environmental Linkages, or PEL, is a collaborative and integrated approach to transportation decision-making that considers environmental, community, and economic goals early in the transportation planning process.” “The PEL process will screen alternatives based on the following environmental criteria: visual, agricultural and forest resources, air quality, biological resources, cultural resources, geology and soils, hazards and hazardous materials, hydrology and water quality, land use and transportation planning, noise, social and economics.” If we look at the first alternatives screening meeting for the US 20 Ashton to SH 87 highway project, were all these criteria represented by subject matter experts (SMEs)? The answer is clearly no. The meeting only included employees of the Idaho Transportation Department, ITD’s engineering contractor, Horrocks Engineers, ITD’s public relations contractor, HDR, and the Federal Highway Administration. There were clearly no SMEs for agricultural and forest resources, biological resources, cultural resources, water quality, land use, and social and economics. Without this required representation, ITD down-selected design alternatives from many possible options. The down selection appeared to be based almost entirely on engineering considerations. This is not unexpected when you consider most of the attendees were engineers. It is very concerning that local stakeholders were not present to represent the interests of the public. The concerns multiply when we see ITD marching to a single solution for the highway design. Of course, this single solution is a 4 lane, high speed, limited access freeway through the Island Park Caldera which will cause incredible environmental damage to this ecologically sensitive area. It will cause profound social and economic consequences also. It is obvious that ITD had already decided on the freeway option long before the public was engaged at the first public meeting in October of 2021. It is obvious because ITD had abandoned the two lane highway upgrade (documented by JUB Engineers) as far back as early 2020. Down selecting to a single solution, a 4 lane, high speed, limited access freeway, appears to violate the purpose, intent, and spirit of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Multiple concepts should be included in the NEPA process to assure the best concept is chosen. Our environmental and conservation friends should be outraged by this process that circumvents NEPA. We will see if they stand tall in protecting the Island Park Caldera or have some other objectives in mind. Time will tell.
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Making Sense of It All
This blog will help you make sense out of all the information on the website, how it affects IP, our history, and how efforts continue to put IP into various forms of conservation status. Archives
May 2023
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