KEA is surrounded by great Waterkeeper activism, and we are partners with keepers in a lot of clean water efforts in North Idaho and the Spokane River. In an email we received yesterday, Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper, our water quality neighbors to the north, announced the appointment of a new waterkeeper, replacing founding keeper Jennifer Ekstrom who is moving on to new adventures. Shannon Williamson more »
After more than 1700 online signatures, and about the same number of signatures on paper, the most frequent hesitation to our Save the Dike Road Trees petition has been of the “I don’t live in Coeur d’Alene” variety. Our response is: go ahead and sign. We want all the signatures we can get, of course, but our response is not without some rationale. First, the more »
On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives will hold a hearing on at least one bill to address the expiration of the Secure Rural Schools Act (SRS), which supplies rural counties with federal cash to counterbalance declining forest products revenues. As it turns out, the federal government is out of money. The imminent end of SRS is of some serious concern to North Idaho counties more »
I’m pretty sure that if you’re reading this blog post, you’re doing so with a reasonably operable computer. (Or you know someone with a reasonably operable computer who prints out the KEA Blog posts for you.) You can probably also guess that we are also using computers to write these posts and place them on the internets for your perusal. What you might not know, more »
We were pleased to hear this morning from neighborhood residents near Athol that the Bonner County Planning Commission unanimously rejected a proposal to site a gravel mine just across the Kootenai County line. Residents, worried about noise, truck traffic, dust, property values, and the applicant’s history of environmental problems, convinced the Commissioners that it was a bad idea. (We were unable to attend the hearing, more »
There’s simply not a travel destination in the world where the most memorable feature is plenty of free parking. A vast expanse of pavement is usually not where you want to be, rather it’s an unfortunate and forgettable layover separating you from your real destination. Indeed, increasingly, the lack of parking or very expensive parking are considered a reliable indicator that you’re in a great more »
This Thursday, noon, at the Iron Horse, we’ll have an update briefing on the Corps of Engineers death sentence for the dike road trees. Coeur d’Alene City Councilman John Bruning will give an update from the City’s perspective, including a discussion of a new ad hoc committee being formed. And Terry Harris from KEA will give an update on what is becoming an extraordinary campaign more »
The Bonner County Commissioners didn’t even blink when, yesterday, they approved the Sandpiper Shores subdivision on the north end of Priest Lake. The development crams 14 building lots on narrow uplands above a rare and valuable wetland habitat. Ignoring several hours of testimony about wildlife impacts, wetland impacts, and legal inconsistencies, the Bonner County Commissioners unanimously allowed the development to move forward. The 72 acre more »
At their regular meeting Tuesday night, the Coeur d’Alene City Council indicated that they will be taking a significantly tougher stand to protect the dike road trees. Recall that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has told the City that it’s flood control dike protecting the Fort Grounds and the North Idaho College campus cannot be certified unless some 500 trees — and their roots more »
“Spitting in the face of the physical laws of the universe is a fool’s game. Mother Nature does not do bailouts, nor does she forgive stupidity.” Jules Gindraux, a longtime aquifer advocate, had a wonderful letter to the Coeur d’Alene Press recently regarding the BNSF refueling depot. The BNSF facility goes before a Kootenai County hearing examiner this evening for renewal of their conditional permit more »
