The hot new mechanism nationally for tackling regional issues and problems is the regional government coalition.
Impatient with federal inaction, Northeastern states have banded together to create their own mini-Kyoto attack on global warming, which, in turn, has stirred Northwestern states to begin their own assault on air emissions.
California is a whole different story. It has imposed its own auto emission rules on Detroit that could become a national standard, despite the Bush administration's adamant defense of the status quo.
Apply that matrix to Jerome County, where a new $1 billion coal-fired electric generating plant would be located by California-based Sempra Generation if approved by officials.
Since Idaho lawmakers imprudently rejected a proposal by Sen. Clint Stennett, D-Ketchum, to create a law to control siting of power plants, Jerome County could lead the way as other states have done in mustering more influence by fashioning governments into regional forces.
The proposed plant is of wider concern than just Jerome County. Plant emissions would float over a number of south central Idaho counties--Twin Falls, Cassia, Gooding, Blaine, to name obvious ones.
By enlisting other counties in shared consulting, the onus of the three-man Jerome County Commission deciding whether to allow construction of such a plant would be diminished.
Such a coalition of counties also could prove to be the seed for a renewed effort to enact a state siting law.
It would be too cynical to suggest that Sempra Generation prefers dealing with just Jerome County, whose elected officials have been romanced with visions of the plant creating new jobs, increased tax revenues and new prosperity.
Yet, even at that, the Sempra project has become snagged in controversy from the start. A community activist is now accusing the Jerome County Planning and Zoning Commission of violating the state's open meeting law in the matter.
Large companies with designs on small communities have learned that bowl-'em-over strategies can backfire. Ask Wal-Mart. Nor is it ever in the best interest of any county to go it alone and ignore the interests of neighboring counties when trans-county impacts are involved.
County officials and legislators have long memories: Pet local bills sometimes find themselves shelved or voted down because of some past inhospitable act.
Jerome County is perfectly positioned to become a leader in what could become a new ethic—counties collaborating for greater good beyond their borders.
