Last night, the Coeur d’Alene City Council approved the services contract for Ruen-Yeager & Associates (RYA) to serve as the engineers tasked with evaluating the levee that runs along Rosenberry Drive and then certifying it in accordance with FEMA requirements (44CFR, Section 65.10). RYA is a local consulting civil engineering, planning and land surveying firm that has been doing work in North Idaho since 1983. more »
The City of Coeur d’Alene recently received a letter from the Army Corps of Engineers stating, “the levee certification (evaluation) letter provided to the Federal Emergency Response Agency (FEMA) and the City in July 2007 for the Coeur D’Alene Flood Control Project will be considered invalid by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) on August 31, 2013.” Apparently back in August 2010, the Army more »
Late today, we were forwarded a copy of issued by a U.S. District Court in California denying the Army Corps of Engineers motion to dismiss a case over levee vegetation in Sacramento. The Court rejected each of the Corps of Engineers arguments to dismiss the case outright. Indeed, the order constitutes a complete rejection of the very same arguments which we were expecting in our more »
This is breaking news, and we are still absorbing the just-received document, but today the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers answered the complaint we filed in federal court to protect the dike road trees. The Corps of Engineers’ Answer to Plaintiff’s Complaint (pdf) is a detailed and formalistic response which will be used primarily to frame the case as it moves to the next phase of more »
We just received the lamest of lame responses from the U.S. Army in response to our petitions. Taking cover behind “pending litigation,” U.S. Army Assistant Secretary for Civil Works Jo-Ellen Darcy barely acknowledges our community’s outpouring of support for the dike road trees with a hugely disappointing “I cannot comment further at this time” letter. In its entirety: This is in response to your letter more »
Taking a closer look at the impacts of the Corps of Engineers mandate to remove trees from the Rosenberry Drive dike, a local engineering firm was engaged by North Idaho College to review options for the City of Coeur d’Alene. In the review, the firm estimated that the costs of removing trees and roots, and then reconstructing the dike, would cost upwards of $1.6 million. more »
Courtesy of Rep. Raul Labrador’s office, we received this photo of our local Congressman flipping through the big stack of Dike Road Trees Petitions. Rep. Labrador’s office agreed to carry the petitions to Washington DC to deliver them to Jo-Ellen Darcy, the U.S. Army Assistant Secretary for Civil Works, and here’s photographic proof! We haven’t heard from Secretary Darcy’s office yet, but we certainly hope more »
If there’s one thing we notice in the KEA office, it is that the days on the calendar keep flying at us. Every day is a new challenge. In the brief respite afforded by a slightly less frantic holiday week, here is a compilation of things we’ll be watching as the new year unfolds. 1. Dike Road Trees — At some point in 2012, we’re more »
Today, Kootenai Environmental Alliance filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers mandate to remove the trees along the Rosenberry Drive (“The Dike Road”) in Coeur d’Alene. The lawsuit alleges that the Corps failed to perform an adequate environmental analysis, and that the Corps is attempting to enforce a memorandum that isn’t actually a law. The Gonzaga University School of more »
With the generous assistance of our local Congressman, the dike road tree petitions are on their way to Washington DC. This morning, Adrienne and I delivered the stack of signatures to Rep. Raul Labrador’s Coeur d’Alene office. The Congerssman’s staff says they will take it from here. Our petition is directed at Hon. Jo-Ellen Darcy, the U.S. Army Assistant Secretary for Civil Works, whose office more »
