As part of our regular lunchtime series at the Iron Horse, we are quite pleased to have the following on our schedule:

Thursday, November 5th: “Making Sense of Place--Portland,” a documentary film on the “quest for the livable city” produced by Northern Light Productions. Making Sense of Place examines the complex questions of urban planning and regional identity by exploring the ways in which people participate in and experience their cities. The film illuminates the tensions between growth, economic development and quality of life in downtown areas, local neighborhoods and surrounding regions. This is a “must see” film for those involved in our planning process in Kootenai County.

Thursday, November 19th: “Planning the Prairie” The Planning chiefs of Post Falls, Coeur d'Alene, and Hayden will be on a panel to discuss the long-term approach to development on the Rathdrum Prairie. How the prairie develops over the next 20 years will be a complex jurisdictional, environmental, and community planning endeavor. The County’s Comprehensive Plan is just one piece of a complicated puzzle, and it isn’t too soon to start thinking about how to move forward in a more coordinated and cooperative way. Join us for what will be a fascinating and lively discussion.

Visit our event pages.

In an acronym-overloaded 21 pages, the Gonzaga University Law School’s Environmental Law Clinic developed our comments on the draft of the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) calculation for the Spokane River, as issued by the State of Washington’s Department of Ecology for dissolved oxygen problems in the river. Basically, the Spokane River has entirely too much phosphorous, which results in severe dissolved oxygen shortages in portions of the River. This TMDL, which is required by the Clean Water Act, attempts to apportion the allowed loading of phosphorous into the river.

Although the TMDL draft already suggests that polluters will have a lot of cleaning up to do, we don’t think the calculations are quite right. In short, we don’t think the TMDL gives enough assurance that the dissolved oxygen problem will be actually solved without tighter limits on the array of dischargers into the Spokane River. All of the sources of pollution – our own Idaho sewage plants, the area’s industrial polluters, the massive Spokane sewage and stormwater effluents, agricultural runoff from tributaries, and leaky septic systems – will need to reduce the amounts of phosphorous pollution.

The Clean Water Act is pretty clear that if we are to use the river as a place to dump our wastewater, it can’t result in violations of water quality standards downstream. It isn’t clear how that will be accomplished under this draft TMDL. Our complicated comments on this complicated problem essentially ask that the Washington Department of Ecology strengthen the TMDL draft before issuing a final version, so that we know with much more confidence that the cleanup plan will work.

View our comments here.

Five years ago, the Kootenai County Board of County Commissioners approved a re-fueling depot for railroad giant BNSF on the prairie, above the aquifer – the sole source for drinking water for more than 500,000 people. As one of the conditions of approval, however, BNSF is required to come back to the Commissioners after five years, and report how they are performing. The hearing is scheduled for next week, November 12th, 6pm, at the Kootenai County Administration Building. We have prepared and submitted comments – noting that despite the testimony at the initial hearing that the facility was safe, the facility began leaking in its first six months of operation. The BNSF facility did not live up to its promises five years ago, it remains a threat to the area’s drinking water, and it still ought to be shut down.

We were lucky to be one of 50 finalists in the competition sponsored by Tom's of Maine to award a $20,000 grant, and we are grateful for your diligence in voting and your support of KEA. We have a very strong feeling that we will not be awarded the grant, not as a result your consistent voting which made a big difference, but simply due to population. However, if we get a case of toothpaste, we will let you know! The results should be in shortly. THANK YOU!

KEA Member and local educator, Polli Hamlin is offering a book club opportunity to gather together and engage in lively discussion and discourse on some of your favorite books on pertinent conservation and sustainability issues.

We will meet Saturday morning, November 7th at 11:00am, at 408 Sherman Avenue in Suite 310, at the opposite corner of KEA's office. We will talk about our first book, "Last Child in the Woods" and discuss other reading materials and meeting places.

Email your RSVP to Polli here or contact our office at 667-9093.

A special presentation of Garrett Russell's documentary, "Sipping Black Water" is brought to you by The Human Rights Education Institute, and co-sponsor, The Coeur d'Alene Tribe.

This short film documents the unconscionable lack of regard for the environment by Texaco/Chevron in Ecuador and the devastating impact on the indigenous people. The film was awarded "Honorable Mention" for short documentary at the Orlando Hispanic Film Festival, and was featured at the Hardacker Film Festival and the Naperville Film Festival.


When: Saturday, November 7th at 11:00 am - 12:15 pm

Where: The Kroc Center, Main Theater Room

Cost: None (suggested donation $5)

For more information contact Rachel Dolezal at 208-292-2359