Barge accident stops job

A small amount of rocky shoreline near the Blackwell Island pier sloughed into the water last week when a barge hit the bank while getting a load of landscaping dirt.

Although by all accounts the damage was minimal – cleanup will consist of hand-shoveling the dirt out of the channel – the fleet manager sees it as a sign of the times where an everyday occurrence on the Coeur d’Alene waterfront causes government agencies to file violations.

The Idaho Department of Lands put a stop-work order on North Idaho Maritime, meaning it can’t load barges at the Blackwell Island pier until the area is cleaned up and inspected. The Kootenai County building department also cited the company for moving dirt within the 25-foot buffer zone of the waterline.

“We’re not trying to fight it, we’re just trying to find out how to live with it and transition,” said John Condon of North Idaho Maritime, which has been running barges on Lake Coeur d’Alene and the Spokane River since 1918, hauling logs to waterfront mills.

Now that the mills are disappearing, the company—previously owned by Foss Maritime— is diversifying and using its barges to haul material for waterfront developments, docks and seawalls. This residential hauling is the future of the company and Condon said it needs to work with the county to find ways to make the business work on the ever-changing waterfront.

That means seeking other locations to load barges and protecting the shoreline with concrete sea walls or using steel sheets to protect the bank from the inevitable barge bump.

Carl Washburn of the lands department almost was leery talking about the violation because he considered it so insignificant, less than about 5 cubic yards of material.

“It’s just a small amount and they are going to have to take it out,” Washburn said.

Kootenai County Planning Director Rand Wichman said the disturbance was so small he doesn’t think the company would have had to get a permit to move that amount of dirt. Yet, he said the company still needs to follow the rules for protecting the shoreline.

Condon said the company is working on a cleanup plan. When the accident happened, he said, workers tried to smooth up the bank. After getting red-tagged, the company put in a silt fence to prevent the dirt from spreading further into the channel. But they haven’t yet shoveled out the dirt and gravel.

“We aren’t cowboys tearing up the lake,” Condon said. “It’s our livelihood.”