Region in brief: Oil spills from Avista powerhouse

A light sheen of oil was visible Monday downstream of Upper Falls Dam on the Spokane River after lubricating oil was spilled at the dam’s powerhouse.

Approximately 50 to 100 gallons of oil leaked inside the building before the leak was discovered at about 7:30 a.m. Monday, said officials at Avista Corp., which owns and operates the dam. Most of the oil appears to have stayed within the powerhouse, according to company officials. Avista worked with the Washington Department of Ecology to set up a boom downstream of the dam.

Avista said the oil does not contain PCBs.

Habitat volunteers heading to Thailand

Ten volunteers recruited through Habitat for Humanity’s Spokane office will travel to Thailand next month to help build homes for 82 families.

The group will take part in the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project, which will use about 3,000 volunteers to build homes for about 175 families in the Mekong region that encompasses parts of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and China. The build will take place during the week of Nov. 15, according to a Habitat for Humanity press release.

Ten cents of every dollar donated to Habitat-Spokane goes toward building Habitat homes in developing countries, unless a donor specifies otherwise, the release said. “Our board is committed to tithe each year because we know the need for decent, affordable housing extends beyond our borders,” Michone Preston, executive director of Habitat-Spokane, said in the release.

Landslide area to get $2 million in aid

YAKIMA – About $2 million in federal and state money is being made available for new road construction and flood control after portions of a highway were wiped out by a landslide in Central Washington.

The federal government is releasing $1 million in emergency relief to accelerate construction of a new section of road that likely will be the permanent route for state Route 410 around the massive Oct. 11 slide that blocked the road and dammed the Naches River.

Democratic Sen. Patty Murray and Republican Rep. Doc Hastings announced the federal funding Monday.

The landslide demolished a half-mile of the highway about 15 miles west of Naches. It also destroyed at least two homes and changed the course of the Naches River, causing flooding.