Lavalley Has His Priorities In Place

Spokane County Commissioners Steve Hasson and Phil Harris mistakenly are putting protocol ahead of public health.

Hasson and Harris have ordered the Spokane County Water Quality Advisory Board to butt out of a controversy involving the Kootenai County commissioners - who are upstream from Spokane, as the aquifer flows.

They’d rather mollify their North Idaho counterparts than address a potential threat to Spokane’s drinking water.

Luckily, Kootenai County Planning Commissioner George LaValley isn’t shooed away easily.

LaValley, the candid former mayor of Harrison, Idaho, knows poor planning when he sees it. He was one of two Kootenai County planners who threatened to resign when a lousy ruling by Kootenai County Commissioners Dick Compton and Dick Panabaker rattled public health officials in North Idaho, too.

But instead, LaValley decided to fight.

LaValley has taken his commissioners to court, accusing them of violating the new comprehensive plan by allowing machine shops to be built without sewer hookup over Rathdrum’s portion of the aquifer. A month ago, he also lobbied the Spokane County water committee for support.

LaValley wasn’t overstating his concerns when he said: “I’ve seen screw-ups before, but never one with consequences that could be this far-reaching.” Panhandle Health District officials agreed that the 2-1 decision was poor planning by county leaders.

But the two Spokane County commissioners are worried only that the Kootenai County commissioners will get their feelings hurt.

In a letter to the water committee, Hasson and Harris criticized their own advisers for appearing to side with LaValley against the Kootenai County commissioners. The Spokane commissioners also wrote that LaValley had acted “in poor taste” by venting to the water board.

Oh, please.

If LaValley and Spokane’s water quality board don’t raise questions about the Rathdrum Prairie project, who will? The Kootenai County commissioners have run through every planning red light so far.

LaValley, a much-welcomed moderate on the Kootenai County planning commission, has served the region well by confronting his leaders. He deserves praise rather than criticism from neighboring Spokane County.

He doesn’t want heavy metals from an industrial project leaching into the aquifer.

All of us should be able to drink to that.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = D.F. Oliveria/For the editorial board