Becky Kramer

The number of people taking part in curbside recycling in Coeur d’Alene has shot up since last fall, when the city doubled the number of items it accepts and allowed residents to toss their recyclables into single bin without sorting. About 60 percent of the city’s households now roll their blue bins out to the curb every other week. The non-sort recycling is easier for both residents and collection trucks, said Steve Wulf, principal planner for Kootenai County Solid Waste Department.

Idaho’s blueprint for managing millions of acres of backcountry roadless areas has been upheld by a federal judge, who said the plan won’t degrade habitat for grizzly bears or woodland caribou. In his ruling, U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill of Boise threw out a challenge to the plan filed by environmental groups.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk has asked for arbitration with Canada over allegations that British Columbia is selling subsidized lumber into U.S. markets. The dispute revolves around log prices for timber salvaged from a massive pine beetle outbreak in interior British Columbia. Officials from the U.S. timber industry allege that the B.C. government is selling high-quality logs from provincial forests for as little as 25 cents per cubic meter. Equivalent logs sell for about $20 per cubic meter on the U.S. open market, according to U.S. timber industry officials.

Avista Corp. filed a settlement agreement Friday with Washington state regulators that would, if approved, resolve all issues stemming from a December 2008 natural gas explosion and fire that injured two people and damaged a garage in Odessa, Wash. As part of the agreement, Avista would pay a $200,000 fine. The utility has reached separate settlements with the two people injured by the explosion in the small farming community about 75 miles southwest of Spokane.

Bob Hopper bought the defunct Bunker Hill Mine at a salvage sale and never lost his optimism that the old mine could return to its glory days as one of the world’s largest lead producers. Hopper, 71, died Tuesday at Kootenai Medical Center. He was an outspoken advocate for the mining industry in Idaho’s Silver Valley, but didn’t realize his dream of reopening the Bunker Hill on a large scale.

Avista filed a settlement agreement Friday with Washington state regulators that would, if approved, resolve all issues stemming from a December 2008 natural gas explosion and fire that damaged a garage and injured two people in Odessa.

Each year, BNSF Railway Co. pays about $100,000 for programs that protect the Spokane Valley/Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer. The money is funneled through the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, where it helps teach school kids about the aquifer that provides drinking water to more than 500,000 of the region’s residents; pays for inspections of industrial sites, including BNSF’s diesel refueling depot in Hauser; and funds collaborative work with other agencies aimed at keeping the aquifer free of contaminants.

State regulators fined Avista Corp. more than $60,000 for improper handling of customer accounts. Most of the violations were related to errors in how energy-assistance dollars were credited to low-income families. Avista was putting the money toward customers’ old past-due bills, instead of crediting it toward current and upcoming payments.

State regulators fined Avista Corp. more than $60,000 for improperly handling customer accounts, including disconnecting customers for nonpayment of their bills.

Not all of the phosphorus discharged into the Spokane River contributes to oxygen-robbing algae blooms in the reservoir behind Long Lake Dam, according to a new study from the University of Washington. Some of the phosphorus is in complex molecular forms and the algae don’t have the enzymes to break it down, said the study, which could have implications for future river cleanup plans.