Becky Kramer

Avista Corp. reported lower third-quarter earnings of $10.7 million, or 18 cents per share, compared with $12.3 million, or 22 cents per share, for the third quarter of 2010. The results, released Wednesday, were in line with the Spokane-based utility’s expectations, said Scott Morris, Avista’s chairman and chief executive officer. The company reported robust earnings through the first nine months of the year. Avista’s income was $75.6 million, or $1.30 per share, through Sept. 30, compared with $66.7 million, or $1.20 per share, for the same period in 2010.

Here’s a sign of Christmas creep – the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest is advertising Christmas tree permits for sale. The $5 permits went on sale the day after Halloween, although some customers were asking for them weeks earlier.

Avista reports slightly lower earnings

The Sierra Club brings its anti-coal campaign to Spokane on Thursday, urging local residents to oppose terminals at Washington seaports that would ship coal to Asia. Coal producers are seeking permits to build terminals near Bellingham and Longview to ship up to 130 million tons of coal mined in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin to China, India, Korea and Japan.

Anti-coal campaign coming to Spokane

ConocoPhillips planned to reopen a six-mile stretch of the Yellowstone Pipeline along the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River late Tuesday, after a series of recent tests confirmed the line’s integrity, a company spokesman said. The 10-inch line transports unleaded gasoline and diesel fuel between Spokane and Thompson Falls, Mont. Authorities still aren’t sure what caused a gradual drop in pressure in that portion of the line on Oct. 1, said Jeff Callender, a ConocoPhillips spokesman. But he said tests conducted since last Thursday don’t indicate leaks or other problems.

Ground Force leasing Plummer plant

ConocoPhillips plans to reopen a six-mile stretch of the Yellowstone Pipeline along the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River later today, after a series of tests confirmed the line’s integrity, a company spokesman said.

One of Spokane’s oldest continuously operating industrial sites is slated for a $1.7 million cleanup aimed at keeping decades of fuel spills from reaching the aquifer. BNSF Railway Co.’s rail yard on East Trent Avenue has been in use since the early 1900s.

North Idaho’s black bears are better behaved this year – generating fewer complaints for raiding bird feeders, upsetting garbage cans or scrambling onto decks in search of dog food. Matt Haag, a senior conservation officer for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, attributes the decrease in problem bear activity to more-abundant natural food supplies.

About 75 ConocoPhillips workers are monitoring a 6-mile stretch of the Yellowstone Pipeline along the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River after the pressure in the pipeline mysteriously dropped last weekend. No leaks have been detected in the 10-inch pipeline, which transports unleaded gasoline and diesel fuel between Thompson Falls, Mont., and Spokane, said Jeff Callender, a ConocoPhillips spokesman.

A Silver Valley contractor has paid back wages to some of his employees after an investigation revealed that he wasn’t complying with prevailing wage laws. Stewart Contracting paid less than the $24.66 per hour federal prevailing wage for general laborers on Superfund cleanup jobs, according to the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.

Inland Empire Paper Co. has become the fourth Washington discharger to receive a new permit to pump treated wastewater in the Spokane River. Through the permit, the Washington Department of Ecology set new limits on the amount of phosphorus and other pollutants that the Millwood newsprint plant can discharge. Inland Empire Paper is also required to monitor its discharge of PCBs, which will be subject to future regulation.

The federal government has reached an agreement with one of the world’s largest mining companies on a $193 million cleanup of a defunct uranium mine on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Newmont Mining Co. and its subsidiary, Dawn Mining, will pay for the majority of the restoration costs at the Midnite Mine. The U.S. Department of the Interior will contribute $42 million to future cleanup activities for failing to fulfill federal trust responsibilities to the Spokane Tribe through proper oversight of the open-pit mine.

Avista Corp. announced a multiple-party settlement Friday that could cut the amount of its proposed electric and gas rate hikes for Washington customers. Meanwhile, the Spokane-based utility has reached an agreement with Idaho regulators that should result in a slight decrease in bills for its Idaho customers.

Yellowstone National Park officials say they’ll review park policies following two fatal grizzly attacks this summer. One incident involved a solo hiker, John Wallace, 59, of Michigan, who died Aug. 25 of injuries after being mauled. His body was discovered the next day.

Unsafe work practices caused the cave-in that killed an employee at the Lucky Friday Mine in April, federal investigators have concluded. Larry “Pete” Marek was buried in a 25-foot-high rock pile when his work area collapsed. The integrity of a rock pillar that had provided ground support was compromised when the pillar was mined for its silver ore, according to a report by the Mine Safety and Health Administration.