Idaho’s senior
senator optimistic
Craig sees promise in Idaho’s diverse
future
By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer
Idaho’s senior senator said he sees
promise in a diverse new Idaho economy that maintains its established grounding
in the agriculture and recreation industries.
"I’m high on where we’re headed," said
U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, during a recent interview at Sun Valley Lodge.
"I think there’s great opportunity here."
Craig said many things have helped Idaho’s
economy arrive in the mainstream, including the 1990s technological boom, which
brought huge growth to Idaho-based tech giant Micron and the Idaho branch of
Hewlett Packard.
"When I grew up here, it was agriculture,
timber and mining. If those slumped, Idaho was out of business," Craig said. "Of
course the decade of the ’90s brought tremendous diversity into Idaho."
Craig repeatedly stressed diversity as an
important component to Idaho’s financial success, but he also said there is no
way to avoid the ups and downs of the overall economy.
"We are now linked to the national and
world economies. There’s no question about that, and we will ebb and flow with
it as it obviously goes through its normal cycles."
In an effort to restart a U.S. nuclear
program and to spur diverse job growth in Idaho, Craig has been lobbying his
Washington, D.C., peers to pass a $1.1 billion advanced nuclear reactor
expansion project at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental
Laboratory.
The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources passed the legislation on April 10.
If passed, it would be the largest single
construction project in the history of Idaho, Craig said.
"This plan is very bold and still has a
long way to go, but there will not be a better alignment between the goals of a
reactor demonstration like this and the energy needs of the nation than exists
right now," Craig said. "The benefits to Idaho and the nation will be immense,
and I will continue to pursue this opportunity."
According to Craig, the reactor design
would generate electricity and hydrogen for use in moving the nation toward a
hydrogen-based transportation economy as outlined by President Bush in his State
of the Union address in January.
INEEL would be the lead Department of
Energy laboratory for all stages of the project, Craig said.
"You liken it to the space program. It’s
pushing the future out there a long ways, in terms of our energy program."
On Idaho’s overall economy, Craig
continued his steadfast optimism.
"Yea there are downturns, and, yes, we’re
in one, but I believe we’ll be starting out of it, if we’re not already starting
out of it," he said.