KEA Requests Long-Overdue Forest Monitoring Reports

Kootenai Environmental Alliance has sent a letter to the Forest Supervisor for the Idaho Panhandle National Forest (IPNF) regarding monitoring reports it has failed to issue. Under the forest plan adopted for this region’s forest, and under federal law, the forest service is required to submit annual monitoring and evaluation reports to the public.  However, reports as far back as 2007 and 2008 have yet more »

KEA’s Summer Legal Team

A warning to all those who would despoil the environment in North Idaho – you might want to put it off until the end of the summer.  KEA is pleased to host three (yes, three) law students this summer. There is certainly no shortage of work for them to do around here — water quality, water rights, forests, and land use issues will keep them more »

Planning Commission to Consider Amendment of Site Disturbance Ordinance

This week, the Kootenai County Planning Commission will consider two draft amendments to the county’s site disturbance ordinance.  One draft, submitted by County staff, would add variance and appeal procedures to the ordinance. Another, submitted by a local planning and development firm, would create several potentially broad new exceptions to the ordinance.  The site disturbance ordinance, of course, provides detailed regulation on how a property can more »

Toyota, Massey Energy, Peanut Corporation of America, and now BP

We read with interest an excellent op-ed in the Baltimore Sun from Rena Steinzor, president of the Center for Progressive Reform (and a law professor of mine at University of Maryland’s law school),  that points out that the regulatory failures leading up to the BP mess in the gulf is just one of a continuing series of failures of government to properly regulate industry for the more »

Commissioners Pull Back on “Emergency” Bailout Bill

The Kootenai County Commissioners decided this morning that they would pull back on their draft “emergency” legislation to extend time to developers to complete projects. Instead, the Commissioners referred the legislation back to the Planning Commission for their evaluation without the “emergency” status.  The poorly-drafted legislation  would have granted developers up to two years of additional time to complete projects upon an application to the more »

Gov. Otter Says No to Wilderness? Or No to Collaboration?

We were pleased to have the opportunity to watch today’s live webcast of the U.S. Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests hearing today regarding the Boulder-White Cloud bill which would bring new wilderness to central Idaho. In a press release issued after the hearing, Idaho Conservation League noted that “the legislation will protect as wilderness 332,775 acres in the Boulder more »

The Wolf Hearing – Up Close

KEA member and sometimes volunteer Rich Hurry emailed this account from the federal court hearing yesterday in Missoula regarding the de-listing of wolves under the Endangered Species Act. In his account, Rich, who is very much a wolf advocate, suggests some important lessons for both sides of the debate. I attended Judge Molloy’s hearing in Missoula, MT yesterday about whether the gray wolf was improperly de-listed from the more »

Roots CSA Successfully Supplies Spinach for Salad

Although the growing season has barely begun, we were pleased to see that our brand new Roots CSA has already gained some level of success. We’re big fans of one of our CSA’s big fans, and we were pleased to see that the nice folks at ilovecda.com were able to take some early harvest spinach and turn it into something that looks absolutely scrumptious. Check out more »

Oil Spills and Mining Messes

We continue to watch in horror as the gulf oil spill expands and consumes beaches, marshland, birds, fish, and other wildlife. Even when the spill finally stops, the gulf region is facing years and years of cleanup. Those of us in North Idaho can relate as well as anyone south of Prince William Sound, Alaska.  Environmentally, the oil mess in the gulf is not unlike more »

Ugh. IDL Approves Moorage Buoys in Cougar Bay

In a stunning decision, the Idaho Department of Lands has approved a proposal by Kootenai County Parks and Waterways to locate moorage buoys for motorized boats in Cougar Bay.  We are reviewing the decision here at KEA, but on initial reading, we are deeply concerned. The IDL decision reduced the number of moorage buoys from the 12 in the original proposal to three. The IDL more »