Environmental Stick Wielded, Along With Carrots Threat To Prosecute Winery Indicates Limit To Batt’s Work-With-Business Rule

Idaho environmental regulators under Gov. Phil Batt are using carrots more than sticks to get polluters in line.

But that does not stop the state from threatening to take intransigent companies to court, even if the owner is Batt’s friend.

Only the threat of prosecution caused Canyon County’s Ste. Chapelle winery to cooperate on water contamination problems.

Once Ste. Chapelle began working with regulators, the state bent over backward to help. Today, the company, now under new ownership, is cooperating in full for the first time in six years.

“His agency has been tougher than it was before,” Ste. Chapelle’s former owner Dick Symms said. “They threatened to prosecute me.”

Batt’s new flexible approach has resulted in reduced enforcement actions and criticism from environmentalists. But the state has reduced hazardous waste, improved air quality and worked toward improved water quality.

An audit by the Division of Environmental Quality at Batt’s request showed hazardous waste generation down 28 percent from 1995 to 1996. The number of unhealthy air days dropped from 11 in 1991 to no more than two annually since 1993.

But the number of public drinking water systems exceeding contamination guidelines rose from 190 in 1993 to 292 in 1996. However, most of those systems serve fewer than 500 people.

“We would like to think that by utilizing some common sense working with people we have a much better atmosphere to do business in than one of confrontation,” division Administrator Wally Cory said.

In a small state like Idaho, the personal approach may still work sometimes, said Rick Johnson, Idaho Conservation League director.

“On the other hand, business is calling a lot of the shots, and in the long haul our environment might suffer,” he said.

In 1991, most of Ste. Chapelle’s drinking water samples - not water used for the wine - tested positive for coliform bacteria. That means more dangerous bacteria may be present.

Ste. Chapelle argued it was not a public water system. But workers and concertgoers drank the water, the state argued, so it was one.

The debate lasted five years, and despite a notice of violation the Southwest District Health Department could not force Symms’ hand. It turned the case over to the state. In May 1995, the division threatened to bring in the attorney general if Ste. Chapelle did not monitor its water and improve the system.

In March 1996, when Symms heard the requirements, he balked and complained to Batt.

Batt’s office sent a memo to Cory, asking for a quick response. Batt said his involvement was not improper, even though Symms is an old friend.

“All I did is what I’d do for anybody, ask them to look into it,” Batt said. “I didn’t tell them to be soft or hard.”

Cory agreed. The consent order was negotiated in May 1996, requiring Ste. Chapelle to monitor its water monthly and check if surface water was getting into the system.

It also had to correct deficiencies, including cleaning and recoating a huge storage tank by December 1996.

But the company was tardy. Instead of a fine, the division amended the order to allow recoating or replacing the tank by July 31, 1997.

Ste. Chapelle sent a letter from an engineering firm confirming the tank’s coating was sound. That was good enough for the division.