House Environment, Energy and Technology Committee
Key Moments
Megan Egbert — Moved approval of the minutes from January 14th and January 28th.
Heather Scott — Heather Scott introduced RS 3-2904, explaining that it came from the DOGE Committee task force review of obsolete code. She then urged the committee to print the bill and clarified that the Department of Environmental Quality had little involvement, noting that the DOGE Committee recommended roughly 160 code removals.
Heather Scott — Representative Scott thanked Dr. Wagner for the presentation and asked about the legislature’s role in the fast-tracked nuclear process, including whether the legislature could slow things down and what its role should be in the nuclear area.
Rod Furniss — Rod Furniss asked Representative Scott what involvement, if any, the Department of Environmental Quality had in preparing the bill. Representative Scott responded that the department had essentially none.
Rod Furniss — Rod Furniss thanked the chair and Director Wagner for the presentation, praised the discussion and the Oklo groundbreaking, and asked about Idaho’s potential role in used fuel storage and where that issue is headed.
Britt Raybould — Moved to introduce RS 3-2904.
Britt Raybould — Britt Raybould asked about the potential economic benefits to Idaho of becoming a destination for used nuclear fuel and what the state could do to attract nuclear energy companies. She then followed up by asking about transmission constraints and how Idaho would get power to where it is needed, continuing the broader discussion of what infrastructure and incentives are necessary to make Idaho a viable nuclear energy hub.
Dr. John Wagner, Director of the Idaho National Laboratory — Dr. John Wagner opened his testimony by thanking the committee and saying he would focus on what is different and happening at the Idaho National Laboratory. He described INL’s mission to change the world’s energy future and secure critical infrastructure, gave basic facts about the lab’s size, location, and workforce, and then shifted to the main theme of his remarks: how the laboratory is affected by the current administration. He noted that Secretary of Energy Chris Wright is the primary cabinet official overseeing INL and said the Secretary’s priorities are closely aligned with the laboratory’s mission.
Ben Fuhriman — Ben Fuhriman asked what Idaho policymakers should do to make the state’s regulatory environment more attractive to commercial nuclear businesses, and followed up by citing survey results showing strong public support in eastern Idaho and statewide for spent fuel storage as part of that discussion.
Steven Tanner — Asked what size power plant would be needed and what it would look like for an area in Idaho to receive such a project.
Chris Bruce — Asked whether battery storage can keep up with the pace of reactors given fluctuating data center demand.