ICL celebrates wins before Earth Day

As the Idaho Conservation League gears up for this year’s Earth Day events, director Jennifer Ekstrom said the organization has a lot to celebrate.

“The Idaho Club recently had a major setback for their proposed large private marina at Trestle Creek,” she said. “Saving this special place and its prime bull trout habitat is a priority concern for our community, with unprecedented numbers of people speaking up to protect it. Despite this, last fall the Idaho Department of Lands approved the permit, but before it was issued, we notified them about a land transfer that invalidated the permit application.”

Ekstrom said that once again, the community gathered together to voice the value of this area in letters to the governor and the Idaho Department of Lands.

After months of deliberation with the attorney general’s office, Ekstrom said that IDL notified the developer they must withdraw their application and reapply if they still wish to pursue the marina.

“The Idaho Club indicated they may want to form a homeowners association, which would allow them to reapply,” the director added. “We remain hopeful that they will be thwarted by ongoing setbacks and that the property will ultimately be purchased and placed in a conservation easement. Until then, we remain vigilant in protecting it with every tool we have available.”

Also in Bonner County, the Kootenai Ponderay Sewer District is taking new steps to upgrade its facility in attempts to improve water quality in the Boyer Slough — the most polluted part of Lake Pend Oreille. While the district was successful in its application for $13 million for the upgrades, Ekstrom said voters will need to approve the remaining amount that is necessary.

Ekstrom said the ICL is also working on ways to address the coal mine pollution coming across the border from British Columbia, which the director said has been polluting the Kootenai River for years.

“After more than five years of advocacy by ICL, and more than a decade of advocacy by tribes, First Nations and other partners, the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 was activated to address the transboundary coal pollution dispute,” she explained. “While this is a major milestone, the work of getting pollution reduced, at the scale necessary, is just beginning.”

Despite the unresolved pollution dispute, Canadian officials have entered into a permitting process for a new mountaintop removal coal mine called the Crown Mt. Coking Coal Project, which ICL is actively fighting against.

Closer to home, just north of Coeur d’Alene, Bunker Hill Mining Corporation is attempting to reopen the mine — which is the namesake for the Silver Valley’s Superfund site. Mine officials want to resume mining silver, lead and zinc as soon as this year.

“It is concerning that new mining would be approved while massive pollution clean up efforts from the same historic mine are not yet completed,” Ekstrom said.

Public comment opportunities should be available for this mining operation later in the year, Ekstrom said.