Well I wonder when Areva will be breaking ground on its new nuclear fuel plant in eastern Idaho?

Gov. Butch Otter signed the two Areva incentive bills into law this week.

The package is the most significant piece of economic incentive legislation to come out of this session.

The French company charged into Idaho earlier this year saying it would like to build a new plant in eastern Idaho, but it just wasn’t happy with Idaho’s tax system. The company also made sure to emphasize that it was looking at other states as well.

Now, all we can do is wait on Areva to see if Idaho’s quick action to cap the company’s property tax value at $400 million and eliminate sales tax on its equipment pays off.

If it works and Areva comes to Idaho, I’m sure they’ll be plenty of toasting with French champagne in the Governor’s office. And if it doesn’t , I guess the Governor and leaders in our Legislature can go to McDonald’s and console themselves with some American fries.

To sell this incentive package, the backers of the bills made sure to point out that it would apply to other companies as well.

But the reality is that just like the Micron tax property tax cap and the Corporate Headquarters Act — better known as the Albertsons’ bill — passed in 2005, this legislation is essentially serving only one company.

I think as you already know, I’m a pretty pro-incentive type of person. Especially if it’s going to bring better paying jobs to the state. I’m currently working on a story about how inflation in prices is making it harder for Idahoans to make ends meet.

We only need to look around to see that prices in the last four years for almost everything have skyrocketed. But if you look at Idaho’s average wages they are up less than $1,000 over that same time period.

But if we're going to offer one incentive for one company why not embrace incentives for others.

Many of the same legislators who whole-heartedly support Areva are the most vocal against other incentives for the industries that can’t afford the high-powered lobbyists.

For example, Rep. Dennis Lake, R-Blackfoot, is a big supporter of the Areva incentives yet he is leading an effort to eliminate some of tax incentives now on the books including the incentive for research and development and the broadband tax credit. He’s also a vocal opponent against the effort to provide incentives to the movie and television industry.

It’s also an indication that as a state, we really don't have a good idea of where we want to take our economic development efforts. Our current hit and miss strategy based on which industry hires the best lobbyists isn't working.

What if Areva doesn't come to Idaho? We're essentially left with a worthless law on the books that few companies can even qualify for.

We need to develop an economic development plan that treats all industries fairly and provides those industries with the incentives that will make us competitive with other states.