TUGS: Keep business on the land

In response to the Press article on 6/16/19 regarding the old tug boat days, realize John Condon, owner of NIM, has no grandfathered historical rights to Wolf Lodge Bay on Lake Cd’A. It is important to disassociate steamboats of yesterday from the waterfront construction boom today.

About 15-20 years ago, new owners renamed Foss Maritime as NIM. They had to train its own barge operators. In Nov. ’05 their barge collided with the bank by the Blackwell Island pier, causing the shoreline to slough into the channel. The landscaping dirt and hydraulic fluid leakage from the barge spilled out, worsening clean up. Reference Spokesman-Review 11/18/05; Barge Accident. Fleet Manager John Condon rebuffed, “It’s a sign of the times where everyday occurrences on the Coeur d’Alene waterfront cause government agencies to file violations.”

Careless attitudes and actions were also part of the violations NIM carried over into Cougar Bay, making non-permitted debris with overflow problematic. Valid concerns by homeowners, boaters, and osprey protection groups, were largely ignored by NIM.

NIM falsely asserts they provide safety by removing ice from the lake. NIM attains taxpayer dollars via contracts to profit as a business. More hazards to safety occur from unchecked dock building and artificial sea walls than accidents to the general public relative to ice.

NIM’s brief negative history regarding cooperation and stewardship of our treasured waters is lacking. Avoid trashing another lake bay by suggesting NIM use existing construction yards upslope, not the lake.

JULIE DALSASO

Coeur d’Alene