The Daily News serves a very important role in our communities. It has the responsibility of providing factual, unbiased information allowing its readers to make informed, rational decisions.
Overall, we feel it does a pretty good job with this. However, when misleading, false headlines and incorrect information are printed - as was the case in the recent article headline and the editorial regarding the rerouting of U.S. Highway 95 south of Moscow - the public is not well-served.
On Nov. 1, the Daily News ran the following headline in reference to the U.S. Highway 95 realignment project south of Moscow: "Group files appeal to stop Highway 95 realignment, widening."
The "group," Paradise Ridge Defense Coalition, whose 100-plus membership includes citizens throughout Latah County, including Moscow small-business owners, does not want to stop the project. While PRDC has always recognized that this section of highway needs to be reconstructed to modern safety standards, we have always been opposed to the Idaho Transportation Department's preferred alternative, E2.
Because this eastern alternative is the most environmentally damaging in 15 of 16 environmental categories, and because we believe that it will be less safe, we support the central alternative, C3. ITD justifies its preference for E2, which is much higher and bisects high quality big game habitat, because they predict that it will be 0.09 mile shorter and slightly safer than C3, despite the fact that more severe weather and more frequent wildlife collisions on the E2 alignment were not considered in their safety calculation.
In the Nov. 7 editorial entitled "Driver safety is more important than a few backyards," several factual errors need to be corrected. PRDC agrees that safety is more important than a few backyards.
The editorial incorrectly states that E2 will eliminate all of the dangerous curves, whereas the other alternatives will not. Actually, all proposed alternatives fully meet the stringent, safety design criteria used to build the four-lane from Thorncreek Road to the top of the Lewiston Grade.
However, the most dangerous curve (at the bottom of Reisenauer Hill) will remain as a county road with E2. Only construction of another alternative will remedy this dangerous curve. This is important because Eid Road residents will have to traverse Reisenauer Hill to gain highway access if E2 is constructed. The editorial incorrectly states that E2 will affect "a" wetland and "possibly" remnants of the Palouse Prairie.
ITD's Environmental Impact Statement concluded that E2 will destroy "several" high quality wetlands (3.5 times more than C3) and 24 of the last remaining remnants of Palouse Prairie "will be" negatively impacted.
Finally, the editorial also incorrectly states that the Least Environmentally Damaging Practicable Alternative that also provides the most safety must be selected. It is correct that the Army Corps of Engineers must not grant a permit under the Clean Water Act for any alternative other than the LEDPA. "Providing the most safety" does not factor in.
ITD's own documents show that all three alternatives are practicable, meet federal highway safety standards, and that C3 is clearly the least environmentally damaging of the three. The regulations state that the permit may be granted only to the LEDPA - period.
Diane Baumgart, Cass Davis, Stephan Flint, David Hall, Al Poplawsky, and Pat Rathmann are current or former board members of PRDC. None owns property on or near Paradise Ridge. None has a financial interest related to any of the alternatives.
