News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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The Bureau of Reclamation has canceled a contract to build its new fire station for the second time, it announced, but construction is expected to restart sometime this spring with a new contractor doing the work, perhaps even while lawsuits among the parties persist, if court records are an indication. The government originally awarded the contract in 2016 to build the 22,000-square-foot fire station, with completion expected in April 2018. Innovative Construction and Design (ICD), a small...
Will the Laser Light Show and Visitor Center at the Grand Coulee Dam, which saw nearly 200,000 people in 2019, open this spring? The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation didn’t answer the question from The Star with a straight yes or no, but did answer. “At this time, the laser light show and Grand Coulee Dam Visitor Center will remain temporarily closed in support of the recommended guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” said Public Affairs Specialist Erika Lopez, who works in Boise, Idaho, in an email. Lopez said that the G...
The Banks Lake Pumped Storage Project, which would bring an estimated 1,000-2,000 workers to the area during construction and add an extra 500 megawatts of hydropower electricity per hour, is still in the works, if a little Covid delayed. Secretary Manager Darvin Fales of Columbia Basin Hydropower spoke to The Star on the phone Tuesday, with an update on the project for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The gravity-feed system would power two 250-megawatt generating units, or...
Newly elected Grant County Commissioner Danny Stone spoke with the Grand Coulee City Council during their Feb. 16 meeting held via Zoom. Stone is the first county commissioner from the northern part of the county in recent memory, possibly since Fred Ludolph in the 1940s. Stone introduced himself and told the council that he was available to talk with them. "If you need something," Stone said, "I can't tell you I can always fix or help, but I can sure be a part of the discussion and be...
In response to the shocking news about the sandy beach area at Steamboat Rock State Park being permanently closed due to a government mystery: oh Ya and EROSION, I’m thinking why stop there? Shut the entire Banks Lake and Lake Roosevelt down. Certainly, the rise and fall of water levels and tourist enjoyment has and will cause more erosion. If that’s the case, then I also feel I’m in danger while driving through the Coulee Walls and beside any natural hillside or formation caused by erosion. I hate to be the bearer of bad news people, but t...
The closing of Steamboat Rock Park’s Boat Camp and access due to erosion doesn’t make sense. The fact that there is reluctance to identify the reason more succinctly leads one to suspect there is more to the story than reported by the Bureau of Reclamation and State Parks. The lack of information from the Bureau of Reclamation, at least, gives me a chance to guess on the reason. In the early part of this century, the grave of a Native American was found in that general area. It did not appear to be a part of a burial ground, but one has to won...
Coulee Dam Federal Credit Union is seeking approval of regulators to merge with Spokane-based STCU, a joining that would rebrand the local institution but retain jobs and offer more services, both credit unions say. The move, approved by both institutions' boards of directors in December, will require the approval of state and federal regulators - and a majority of CDFCU's members. It's a change following dominant industry patterns, as smaller banks and credit unions find it increasingly challen...
An addition to the local airport that would make it safer and more usable is on the horizon and may land if a major grant comes through to pay for it. A new Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS) at the Grand Coulee Dam Airport would offer various aviation advantages, specifically by increasing safety and ease of landing. The estimated $274,000 AWOS project should be paid for in part with a 90% Federal Aviation Administration grant, and a 5% Washington Department of Transportation Aviation...
A popular beach at Steamboat Rock State Park, located northeast of the boat launch, is being closed permanently due to erosion, authorities say. "The Bureau of Reclamation in cooperation with Washington State Parks will permanently close a beach area located in Steamboat Rock State Park in order to provide resource protection," a legal notice published throughout December 2020 in the Columbia Basin Herald states. "The closure will take place on January 1, 2021. Washington State Parks will...
Early on Saturday, November 14, 2020 beloved great grandmother, grandmother, mother, aunt, sister and wife Mavis Gorman passed away in her home surrounded by her three children. She was 89 and passed just a few days shy of her 90th birthday. Mavis was born on December 8, 1930 in Jamestown North Dakota. The first child of Ed and Alvina Klundt she was soon joined by her sister Betty. Ed farmed wheat with a team of draft horses, Alvina kept a garden. The farm had a family cow, raised turkeys and...
If you really want to know when the Bureau of Reclamation fire station will be completed, keep track of the sani-cans outside. Star reporter Jacob Wagner gave a good rundown of the history of the project in the newspaper a couple of weeks ago. I would like to fill in the story a bit. The estimated cost of the project was $13.6 million. It is now estimated that the fire station will be completed in 2021. The project was started in 2016, with the awarding of the construction contract. Total cost is a number that would be embarrassing even for any...
Our local Star newspaper has always done a good job of sharing a diversity of viewpoints: It is extremely hard for me to share these thoughts. Numerous people over the last few years have shared frustrations with me about our local school district. Many have felt they were treated poorly or even ignored. Some have taken their students out of our district. I’ve listened and shared productive solutions. I have lived in Coulee Dam for almost 40 years and have always supported our school district no matter what. I also show up and cheer on our R...
The long-anticipated Bureau of Reclamation fire station is expected to be completed in 2021. Construction began on the fire station on SR-155 across from Pole Park back in April of 2017, with a $13.6 million contract originally awarded to Innovative Construction and Design in 2016. The termination of that contract was confirmed by the bureau in March of 2019, and construction resumed in April of 2019 by Northcon Construction, which took over the contract. The bureau would not comment on why they changed construction companies. “There are many f...
The construction of additional campsites at Steamboat Rock has resumed after a nearly four-year delay. The construction of 30 full-hookup RV sites at what will be called Cove Loop at Steamboat Rock State Park is on track to be finished in February of 2021, with the sites likely to be ready for campers in late spring or early summer next year, according to Dennis Felton, area manager for state parks in the Coulee Corridor, including Steamboat Rock, Sun Lakes-Dry Falls, and Potholes. A...
Edward "Peanuts" Haven, 86, passed away peacefully in his home Wednesday, October 7, 2020, with his wife and son by his side. Peanuts was born May 3, 1934, in his Golden Valley, North Dakota home to parents Ralph and Ellen (McLaughlin) Haven. He was the oldest of his siblings, Harvey Haven, Betty Dennis, and Anita Register. The Haven family moved to the Coulee Community in 1944 where Peanuts graduated from Grand Coulee High School in 1952. Peanuts was then soon drafted into the U.S Army and...
Many of us are familiar with how our school districts are funded. Construction costs, maintenance updates, teacher salaries, and more are funded by local taxpayers. With local property taxes, levies, and bonds, superintendents and school district administrators work to ensure our students receive the high-quality education they deserve. Over the past several years, many of our school districts have expanded to accommodate growing numbers of students. But what happens when a school district is on or surrounded by federal land? To fulfill our...
Construction was started on October 13, 1938 of the first boat to navigate what would become Lake Roosevelt. The project was started on the east shore of the forebay, just above the dap. It was to be 64 feet long, with a 24-foot beam and designed to draw 5 feet of water. The boat, which was sponsored by the Bureau of Reclamation, was also going to be used by the Works Progress Administration to help clear debris from the lakebed of the future reservoir. Afterwards it was to be used for...
“Standing at the foot of History” were the titles of Roger Lucas Reporter’s Notebook in the Star. This is really true in the Grand Coulee Dam Area. We live under the shadow of one of the Greatest Project ever built, Grand Coulee Dam. But there is some much more history in the Grand Coulee Dam Area than Grand Coulee Dam which visitors from all over the world flock to this area to see. I am glad that Roger and his family have had to the opportunity to visit so maybe places of history around these United States. I was born in Seattle and because a...
Fire razed several buildings in Electric City early Tuesday morning, including an unoccupied house. When the call went out about 12:30 a.m., the fire was already well underway, said Mark Payne, fire chief in Electric City. The fire at the house at 118 Fifth Street near the edge of the city also started a small wildland fire that burned about an acre near the edge of the city on a windless night in dry brush. Payne, who could be heard asking dispatchers to call out more firefighters and brush...
Another step toward starting a major new hydropower project that would tunnel beneath the city of Grand Coulee happened Monday when the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation published its intent to take proposals for a lease for generating electricity using Lake Roosevelt. The Bureau published in the Federal Register that it will take applications from non-federal entities for a “lease of power privilege” (LOPP) for a “pumped storage hydroelectric” project that creates power by pumping water up to Banks Lake, then letting it back down through generators t...
The second time was not a charm for that yellow house at the top of the hill on the highway to Wilbur last week after a combine somehow started a fire in a wheat field, the second in three weeks, that totally destroyed the house and tens of thousands of dollars worth of wheat. The Sorenson Road Fire started at the end of that road, near the Herdrick home, Lincoln County Fire Protection District 8 Chief Dennis Pinar said. Pinar said the same three houses threatened in the Highway 174 Fire July...
Grand Coulee Dam's Third Powerhouse was renamed last week, a press release from the office of Rep. Dan Newhouse, who represents the state's 4th District in Congress, announced. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said the renaming is in honor of a father-son duo who were "instrumental in the conception, construction and implementation of operations at the dam." The announcement was made during a virtual roundtable event hosted by Newhouse (R-WA) and comes on the heels of Secretary Bernhardt's...
Grand Coulee Dam’s Third Powerhouse will be renamed, the secretary of Interior announced, according to the following press release from the office of Rep. Dan Newhouse, who represents the state’s 4th District in Congress. Press release: WASHINGTON, D.C. – On August 12, U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary David Bernhardt announced the Third Power Plant at Grand Coulee Dam would be renamed as the "Nathaniel 'Nat' Washington Power Plant," in honor of the father-son duo who were instr...
A fire in the "Wilbur Hill" area, called the Neal Canyon fire, burned about 70 acres of grass brush and light timber on July 24. The fire, the cause of which is still under investigation, started on a hill near milepost 27 on SR- 174 at roughly 11 a.m. on July 24 and had "high spread potential," according to Veronica Randall, public information officer for the Colville-based Northeast Washington InterAgency Communication Center. The fire had been moving toward wheat fields above the hill, where...
A wildfire burning in the "Wilbur Hill" area, near mile post 27.5 on SR-174, is mostly contained, fire fighters say. The fire, which started roughly at 11 a.m. today, July 24, had been moving towards wheat fields above the hill, where firefighters concentrated their efforts. The fire is also approaching the highway, and firefighters are keeping an eye on it, with traffic being stopped and one lane of travel being allowed at a time. Grand Coulee Fire Chief Ryan Fish, serving as incident command...
