Too bad that any public records request for the notes taken during the “negotiations” with Hoku are specifically exempt from disclosure per the Idaho Public Records Law.

9-340D.6 exempts any such disclosure of records if they were generated for the expressed purpose of assisting a company to locate to Idaho – and 9-340D.1 would exempt any data that Hoku may have divuldged about its manufacturing process (and the chemicals used) since it may contain trade secrets.

It would seem to me that the public’s right to know (and the press’s ability to gather and deseminate) such information must outweigh any “potential” economic benefit that such a deal might conjure. Especially when a physical site for the company has been identified and there’s a potential that the Snake River & its aquifer could be contaminated.

If Hoku is so eager to relocate to Idaho, it shouldn’t keep secrets from its new neighbors.

Let me work on a guess as to why the plant has to by the river. It was glaring that state’s water agreement wasn’t explained. I would still like to see that. But it is unlikely to be the driver. A polysilicon plant uses water but not huge amounts like a fab (Micron). The plant that Hoku plans to build is more like an ore refinery than a fab. The ore is melted by an electric arc process. It will take huge amounts of power. I suspect that its needs are large enough that the costs of transmitting the power over any distance will be costly. They will be building the plant adjacent to the river at the site of a hydro dam. There are three groups of the on the Snake: CJ Strike / Swan Falls near Kuna, Shoshone / Salmon Falls near Twin, and American Falls in American Falls. There is a fourth, Hells Canyon, but it is too far from a population center to staff the new plant.

I wonder why they didn’t consider locations on the Columbia in some of the defunct aluminum plants that located there for the same reason. Cheap Bonneville power and water.

Geeeze Guys. Sounds like you all won’t be happy until we all freeze to death in the dark!

Happy to Mojo.
If you are dealing with growth, there are only two options. Growth either expands or it shrinks. It is impossible to put in a “holding pattern”. The reason I moved here 35 years ago is because this was the best place to raise a family. Land was affordable, jobs were plentiful, the people were pleasant and crime was low. Interestingly enough, compared to the large cities most of us came from, by comparison, it still is.

We all moan about the traffic, the crime, the social problems, and our idiotic officials.
With the exception of the idiots,( I have to concede that one), all you have to do is go to one of our larger western cities for a couple of days. You will be more than happy to come back and deal with “our” problems.

My point is that if we think we can stop this train named Boise, we are being delusional. The very best we can hope for is to guide the inevitable monster called growth. After all, the only difference between those of us that have been here more than 20 years and those recent immigrants is they are late.

Great comments. I agree with many of them.

Relatively speaking, murder usually is a terrible thing. Therefore, relatively speaking, rape isn’t so bad. And since armed robbery isn’t as invasive as murder or rape, perhaps we should legalize and condone robbery . . . Perhaps I’ll just hang out in downtown Caldwell, looking like another lemming, until I get mugged. Then I can say, “Wow, that wasn’t too bad. I’ll bet in South L.A. they would have shot me in the head!”

This Hoku “deal” is just one more of the “smart growth” issues that too many people want to see continue. They would like to help pay for shenanigans like it until Idaho has experienced its last, gasping, raspy, pollution filled breath. At that point, even with the oft touted “relativity” statements about southern Idaho “still” being “better” than other western metro areas, the old, “good” Idaho will be officially dead.

Negative growth for the foreseeable future? Sounds damn good to me. Although I feel like a silent partner in them, I have bought my last Buck knife, HP printer and Micron product. I have NO plans to visit Cabella’s state subsidized endeavor. South Dakota really is sounding better every day. Don’t know how they feel about old Idahoans but I may have to find out. . . There certainly isn’t much to recommend staying in this area anymore.