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Around the Valley(Times-News (Twin Falls, ID) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Mar. 1--Twin Falls gets grant for water planning The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality has awarded the city of Twin Falls roughly $85,600 for drinking water planning, the state agency announced this week. The money will be used to help develop ways to treat the city's arsenic problems, including updating its facility plan to address the need for an enhanced drinking-water supply and creating an environmental information document. The city will contribute matching funds for the project for a total of $171,000. Basin advisory group seeks new members The Upper Snake Basin Advisory Group, a citizens' group that helps evaluate water quality in the region, is looking for people to represent hydropower and mining interests. The group works with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and also helps develop improvement plans known as Total Maximum Daily Loads. The basin covers 35,800 square miles, from the Snake River's headwaters in Wyoming to King Hill in south-central Idaho. For more: Sonny Buhidar, 208-736-2190 or [email protected]. DEQ seeks grant applications to protect drinking-water The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality is now accepting applications for grants to protect sources of drinking water. Eligible applicants for the annual grants include public water systems, local governments, soil conservation districts and similar groups, nonprofits and educational institutions. Projects can be both local and regional, but the money cannot be used for operations and maintenance or exclusively for personnel. About $120,000 is available for grants this year, with a maximum of $20,000 per grant. Applications are due April 3. Info: Amy Williams, 208-373-0115 or [email protected]. Idaho Power seeks $11.15 million for contract breach Idaho Power Co. is seeking $11.15 million in damages from a Glenns Ferry cogeneration plant for an alleged breach of contract, the Idaho Public Utilities Commission announced Tuesday. Glenns Ferry Cogeneration sold power to the utility from its natural gas plant under a 20-year contract for small-power producers, from 1996 until deliveries stopped in October 2007. The plant's operators are arguing that Idaho Power's complaint is a contract dispute and should be resolved in district court, since the PUC is not the contract administrator. The utility in turn argues that shaping, reviewing and approving contracts between facilities is a proper function of the PUC and that it should be the one to hear the case. The PUC has scheduled oral arguments for 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at its hearing room, 472 W. Washington St., Boise. Jerome hosts workshops on hazard-mitigation Jerome County Disaster Services will host two community hazard-mitigation workshops next month, the culminating event of a planning project that started last year. Whisper Mountain Profes-sional Services Inc., the county's emergency-management consultant, will facilitate the workshops and present the profiles it has completed for the county. The first workshop is planned for 6:30 p.m. March 10 at the EMS Building in Jerome. The second will be the same time at the fire station in Hazelton. The public is invited to both, and a draft of the hazard plan can be found at http://www.whispermountain.net/JeromeCountyAHMPDraft.pdf. To see more of The Times-News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.magicvalley.com Copyright (c) 2009, The Times-News, Twin Falls, Idaho Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |