Last week Representative Vito Barbieri introduced House Bill 136 as an amendment to Idaho’s Local Land Use Planning Act. This bill would make the following of  the Idaho Local Land Use Planning Act (LLUPA) a discretionary decision of municipalities. The purpose of the  LLUPA is “to promote the health, safety and general welfare of the people of the state of Idaho” and “to protect life more »

The largest coal company in the world, Peabody Energy, is hoping to build an export terminal north of Bellingham, Washington, so that they can export massive amounts of coal from Wyoming and Montana to countries like China and India. The proposed Cherry Point terminal would export approximately 48 million tons of coal per year, which would make it the largest coal export facility in North more »

Did you know that nationally and locally, 75% of all glass ends up in landfills? Here in Coeur d’Alene, we throw away approximately 250 tons of glass per year!  Some of us diehard recyclers collect our glass bottles and drive them over to Spokane, where we ask a friend to include it with their curbside pick-up. But even in Spokane they are collecting it- just more »

Though thousands of us use Kootenai County’s lakes and rivers each summer and enjoy them all year, many of us take them for granted.  We assume they are clean.  We forget they are public property and their water quality needs protection. Amid the vocal claims about the sanctity of private property rights, public property rights sometimes get drowned out.  They are just as important, especially more »

You may notice a very formal “Hearing Notice to Consider a Resolution for Authorizing the FIling of a Petition for Judicial Confirmation Under the Idaho Judicial Confirmation Law” posted in today’s CDA Press today. What this really means is that the Coeur d’Alene City Council will be holding a public meeting on December 18th at 6:00 in the Community Room of the Coeur d’ Alene more »

Most of us measure air quality by: Can I see the mountains? Can I breathe the air without choking? Is the air so bad I can’t smell the roses? But there are a number of insidious pollutants affecting us that escape detection by the senses, and perhaps, our concern. Because the source, the automobile, is so imbedded in our culture, we tend to ignore the more »