Highway 12: A Timeline

After the recent victory for Highway 12's Wild and Scenic corridor in a Boise courtroom, we thought it would be a good time to present a timeline of Highway 12 from it's creation to the present:

1961-1962: U.S. Highway 12 was built and paved through Idaho and into Montana.

1968: With passage of the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act, eight of the nation's most pristine rivers were designated Wild & Scenic. Among them were three Idaho rivers: the Selway & Lochsa, which join to form the third, the Middlefork Clearwater. For about 90 miles, the latter two -- Lochsa and MF Clearwater -- flow immediately alongside Hwy.12, and at Milepost 97, the Selway flows in from the southeast.

1995: The USFS, which has jurisdiction over these three rivers and the wild corridors through which they run granted a highway management easement to the Idaho Department of Transportation. Many residents, fearful that ITD would ignore Wild & Scenic protection mandates, spoke against the easement. In 1997, some revisions were written into the easement. Five small stretches of the highway were inadvertently, or otherwise, left out and remain left out today.

2008-2010: "Improvements" were madeon Highway 12, including the widening and rock filling of some turnouts, projects partially paid for by Exxon Mobil/Imperial Oil.

2010, spring: ITD and Exxon/Imperial made public a proposal to ship 200+ tarsands modules on U.S.12. Following consultations with Idaho Rivers United and Friends of the Clearwater, The Rural People of Highway 12 Fighting Goliath was launched, and in Montana, NoShipmentsNetwork and All Against the Haul, among others, had entered the fray. Numerous organizations and hundreds of individuals joined the anti-megaload fight, and Advocates for the West lawyer Natalie Havlina and director Laird Lucas began documenting developments.   An Idaho District Court win involving ConocoPhillips' shipments, followed by a Supreme Court appeal, two unsuccessful contested cases (but that caused significant and costly time delays for the corporations), a court case win in Montana that stopped Exxon/Imperial in its tracks, protests, monitorings, comments and letters, and so much more. And then ...

 

2011, March: IRU filed its lawsuit against the USFS & FHWA.

 

2012, December: The Nez Perce Tribe filed a motion for amicus status in the case.

 

2013, Feb. 6th: Advocates for the West's Laird Lucas presented final arguments before U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill, and Tribal lawyer Michael Lopez argued for amicus status.

 

2013, Feb. 7th: Judge Winmill ruled in IRU's favor. 

 

Now: With the IRU win secured, all of us must remain engaged in order to ensure that the USFS does step up to protect the Wild & Scenic Lochsa--Middlefork Clearwater corridor from the kind of industrialization megaload transports would bring.

 
 Recent Articles about case:

   The Mega-Myth About Mega-Loads

  equities.com: If not industrial corridor's demise, something close

  Judge Sides with Conservationists in Mega-Load Case

Megaload Accidents: Public Safety at Risk - A Year in Review

Likely you've learned of the Imperial/Exxon megaload-and-van crash that occurred Dec. 6th on U.S. Hwy. 95 south of Moscow ID. (KLEWTV article). In response to that crash and other megaload-related incidents, citizens are raising questions of safety. The public has reason for concern because those incidents are adding up:

ConocoPhillips' megaload cliff collision at U.S.12 Milepost 52 and resulting 1-hour highway closure. (article)

Imperial/Exxon's "test module" collision with a large tree branch in Lewiston and its collision with a guy wire at U.S.12 Milepost 46.5 resulting in a 5-hour electrical outage for hundreds of people and 1-hour highway closure. (article)

Nickel Bros. Nov. 1st-2nd unreported megaload's unsuccessful attempt to regain access to Highway 12 from the Kooskia kiosk parking area at Milepost 73.9, which resulted in Nickel Bros.' having to put the load on blocks and repair the damaged dolly transporter.

A Ryash Transport incident on Highway 200 in Montana involving a motorhome whose side mirror was scraped off and whose passengers' safety was compromised by a megaload. (article)

A Nickel Bros. megaload incident on Highway 287 in Montana involving a heart attack victim traveling to the ER who was forced to wait for the megaload (article). (This megaload had first traveled U.S.12 through Idaho.)

Crash #1 on U.S.95 involving an Imperial/Exxon convoy and private driver Frank Bybee, who says the lack of a flagger with a "stop" sign and the presence of bright blinding convoy lights were factors in the accident in which he ran into a car "I couldn't see" that was moving slowly towards the convoy.

Crash #2 on U.S.95 involving an Imperial/Exxon megaload whose driver mistakenly moved forward and crashed into the van of private driver James Irquidez. The van was totaled and Irquidez notes that he was nearly killed. (LMT article & photo, AP article, AP followup article)

Multiple citizen-driver accounts describing confusion caused by the "unsafe" traffic control management procedures of megaload convoys on U.S.12, accounts given in sworn testimony, legal affadavits, and video and monitoring reports admitted into evidence during the contested case hearings, as well as numerous less formal accounts.

On U.S. Highway 12, we are now facing megaload shipments with no ISP escorts. The recent 8 Nickel Bros. shipments traveled sans ISP. The Selway Corp (Stevensville MT to Snoqualmie WA) megaload shipment is scheduled to run tonight with no ISP escorts. The 40-60 proposed Harvest Energy megaload shipments may be being planned minus ISP escorts. With incidents stacking up and actual crashes occurring, citizens are asking why ITD's mandate to first and foremost ensure public safety is not, in turn, mandating ISP escorts for all megaload convoy travel.

The necessity of ISP escorts was a focal point of the contested case hearing regarding Imperial/Exxon's megaload shipments. In his Conclusions, hearing officer Duff McKee confirmed the need to use ISP escorts, and ITD Director Brian Ness adopted those Conclusions as his own in his final order to allow the Imperial/Exxon shipments to go forward.

Of course, there is also the larger looming question: If -- even when accompanied by ISP escorts -- the megaload convoys are causing incidents, some of which endanger lives, can megaload travel on Idaho's highways ever be safe?

MONTANA JUDGE RULES AGAINST MEGALOADS

A Montana District Court Judge granted an injunction to stop the Montana Department of Transportation from issuing Imperial/Exxon any more permits related to its Kearl Transport Project and agreed that the MDT violated the Montana Environmental Policy Act in the permitting process for the Project's 200+ megaloads.

Read the story in the Missoulian:
http://missoulian.com/news/local/article_79672c4e-b26a-11e0-8434-001cc4c002e0.html

Or the Calgary Herald:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Imperial+faces+another+roadblock+moving+Kearl+oilsands+equipment/5132377/story.html


This is not the first problem Imperial Oil has run into when it comes to insufficient environmental assessments. To read about some of the troubles Canadian citizens have had with Imperial Oil (ESSO) check out this website:

http://railroaded.wordpress.com/

Highway 12: A National Treasure

Now that contested case hearing officer Duff McKee has recommended the permitting of of Imperial/Exxon's 200+ megaloads for travel on U.S.Hwy.12 it's time to write again. I’ve been at a loss for words these past few weeks, wondering why someone in Boise has the power to decide the fate of the highway that runs through my community as well as the fate of the nationally mandated Wild and Scenic Clearwater and Lochsa River corridors. I’m disappointed in the amount of spin being used by those in favor of shipping megaloads along Highway 12 and disturbed by the affects their distorted half-truths are having on my community as well as the debate at large.

Why does Exxon have more clout with my political representatives than I do? Why is our society so short sighted when it comes to issues that pit economics against the environment?

The deaths in May of two young men who died when a boulder crushed their vehicle while traveling eastbound on Highway 12 saddened me. It's an increase in these kinds of accidents that are my major concern when it comes to megaloads on Highway 12. I’ve put in many hours driving on 12. I’ve made tracks through fresh snow, barely making it under downed trees during a snowstorm. I’ve missed my nephew’s birthday party stuck on the west side of a swift truck wreck sprawled across both lanes of the highway. I’ve come upon distraught members of a caravan who watched their friend and traveling companion incorrectly negotiate a turn sending his truck into the river when the water was so high there was no chance of survival. I’ve seen rocks fall, land slide, guard rails crushed, creeks blown-out and the residue of diesel spilled into the river. I helped reassemble my friends front end after an elk left the river running right in front of his truck. I've seen too many close calls on Highway 12 to take it for granted.

But the Exxon and Imperial execs at the Kooskia meeting last year did not have the same experience with Highway 12, in fact they had no experience with 12 short of looking at it on a map and calculating the money they could save by using 12 as shortcut from manufactures in Korea to the tar sands in Alberta. The trip from Lewiston to Kooskia that day was the first trip many of them took on the highway. Their lack of understanding about the nature of the highway and their willingness to overlook the details in favor of fancy brochures and projected profits was disquieting. ITD’s director Brian Ness has never even driven the section from Kooskia to Lolo Pass and yet he's the one ultimately in charge of permitting megaloads.


From a local perspective Exxon’s megaloads are too big, too heavy, too wide, too tall and too dangerous for Highway 12. Just as Exxon’s corporation is too big and too profit hungry to understand the nature of Highway 12 or the risks they are taking in their attempt to turn the Wild and Scenic Lochsa corridor into a tar sands shipping route. When will people learn that Exxon is not capable of keeping anything pristine? Nor are big oil & gas corporations up front about problems once they arise as can be seen playing out today along the banks of the Yellowstone River. Why let Exxon gamble with the Lochsa?

Highway 12 is an America treasure – a drive-through wilderness without all the schlocky commercialism and consumerism that lines other wilderness highways. A drive that is in and of itself wild – where you need to be ready for the unexpected, prepared for the worst and open to the best nature has to offer. The beauty and wildness of Highway 12 can not be risked.

Exxon can not be trusted with this national treasure.

Video of Megaload on Highway 12

To view Vickie Garcia's video, shown at the contested case hearing during her testimony, go here: "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehstxkkO6aQ"
Vickie and her husband Walt Bailey were among the 3-4 dozen north central Idaho residents and Missoula residents who monitored and observed the 2 ConocoPhillips' shipments and the Imperial/Exxon so-called "test" shipment. Vickie's video clearly shows that the ITD-approved traffic management plan of the first ConocoPhillips' shipment was woefully inadequate at best, and at worst, seriously chaotic, inconvenient and unsafe.

Contested case hearing starts Monday, April 25th

The ITD contested case hearing related to the 207 Imperial/Exxon megaloads that were permitted but with a stay on Feb. 14th will begin at 9 a.m. on Monday, April 25th.

Hearing Dates: April 25-29th, with carryover May 2-6

Time: 9 a.m.- 4:30 Monday-Thursday and 9-11:30 a.m. Friday, with 1 1/2 hour lunch breaks

Place: Main Auditorium, ITD Building, 3311 W. State Street, Boise.

If you are going to be in the Boise area, we'll welcome your presence at the hearing.
Attending anytime and any length of time is okay; i.e., walking in and out is fine.

Exxon Fails First Test

Local citizens who rely on Highway 12 were told not to worry when they brought up their concerns to Exxon representatives at last summers open house. They were assured by the Kearl Oil Project spokesmen that Mammoet was the best shipper in the business. When asked about the specifics of the road and how these megaloads would handle things like rock faces, ice, landslides, soft shoulders, etc. the representatives seemed unfamiliar with the nature of Highway 12 and unable to give adequate answers. Instead of taking the concerns of local citizens seriously Exxon spent time and money on a PR campaign to make it look like this project would benefit the local economy while ignoring the many ways this transportation project could hurt the area.

Now, almost a year later, on the first night of the Exxon's Test Validation Module there were problems. The Exxon megaload hit a guy wire that knocked the power out to 1,300 homes and shut the highway down for over an hour.

ITD has asked the shipper, Mammoet, to address the problems from last night before they continue their journey. I would like to ask ITD to consider this transportation plan from the point of view of local residents who rely on Highway 12. Knocking out power and shutting down the highway are minor issues compared with what could happen with these loads. But even these types of minor problems could result in a life or death delay for someone racing to the hospital.

We've learned over the past year that there are other routes available to these megaload modules. We've learned they can be broken down into smaller units and shipped on alternate routes. We've also learned that these megaloads can be made on site in Alberta. So why does ITD and Exxon continue to push for an unsafe use of Highway 12?

Here's more info on Exxon's trouble Monday night:

Big rig test module hits wire, cuts power to 1,300 homes, businesses off Highway 12 by Kim Briggeman, Missoulian, 4/12/11
The big blue megaload that a Canadian oil company says will validate its plan to send many more up U.S. Highway 12 in Idaho and Montana got off to a rough start.

The 30-foot-high load hit a guy wire near Orofino, Idaho, early Tuesday, setting off a sequence of events that led to power outages in some 1,300 area homes and businesses for almost five hours, and causing the highway to be closed for an hour.

It happened around 1:45 a.m., a few hours after the big rig struck and broke off a giant tree branch near the Lewiston Rose Garden as it left town. The branch was 10 inches in diameter and 20 feet long. No traffic delays resulted.

Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil's practice load finished the night parked 13 miles short of its designated stopover near Kooskia. It appeared the plan to make the 182-mile trip to Lolo Hot Springs in Montana by Thursday morning was off....ITD ... said Mammoet would not be allowed to proceed with the move until [an investigative] report had been received and approved.

"When we're working with haulers and shippers, our approach is to have an exchange of information with them and to improve transportation plans moving forward," Rush said. "We don't like to levy fines right from the get-go or flat out deny people permits, but we do ask them to make changes.".... Read more:

http://missoulian.com/news/local/article_4ba1f8a4-654c-11e0-82d1-001cc4c002e0.html

Exxon Test Module Postponed Once Again - Locals Recommend Megaloads Stay Off Fragile Highway 12

The first mention in the press of an Exxon megaload test module came in the fall of 2009. The test run was postponed until the spring of 2010, early summer, late summer and eventually fall of 2010. At the start of 2011 Exxon and ITD started putting out specific dates – February 22nd, February 28th, March 7th, March 28th and most recently April 4th. The reasons have varied over the course of the past year and half as to why the test module hasn’t been run. Yet the fact remains – Highway 12 is ill-suited to to be a megaload transportation route.

If you still think these loads have a future on Highway 12, I recommend you drive the route today. Look at the signs of rockfall and landslides – both large and small along the route. Notice the extra large potholes that have surfaced since the two Conoco loads labored over the route. Then look to the side and check out the river. With steady ran for the past week on top of better than average snowfall the creeks are all flowing at top capacity feeding the Lochsa and Clearwater Rivers into a frenzy. These are not the conditions to “test” out loads 200 tons over the national weight limit standard setfor interstate highways. Even with the weight distributed over numerous axels the pressure on the highway bed is much greater than that of a normal semi-truck. What effect will those weights have on the roadbed? How will pullouts that were not built to handle loads anywhere near this size hold up in these conditions? How does driving such a load at slow speeds with the increased noise and vibration affect all ready unstable hillsides? And what happens if there’s any kind of major problem?

These questions and many others were raised by local citizens at the informational meetings held in Kooskia last summer. Residents were told that Mammoet was the “best in the business” and that Highway 12 was the only route these modules could take. Since then we’ve learned that Mammoet had two accidents on dry, wide roads in the past year and that many of the modules can be broken down into smaller shipments as is evidenced by the work currently taking place at the Port of Lewiston. The representatives for Exxon/Imperial showed a general lack of knowledge relating to the nature of Highway 12 – they seemed unaware of snow and ice that covers the upriver section of the road for much of the winter as well as the risk of avalanche, the spring run-off and the landslides and rockslides that often accompany it as well as the large volume of summer traffic.

The best business decision Exxon can make at this point is to pack up those loads, ship them back down the Columbia and take the traditional route – through the Gulf of Mexico and up the central U.S. Had Conoco done that when they first ran into trouble their shipments would have arrived in Billings long ago.

Imperial to 'revisit' foreign input in oilsands

Remember when ...
Imperial Oil spokespeople said...
1. the modules are nonreducible;
2. they have no alternative routes;
3. South Korea is the best and pretty much only place the modules can be built;
4. they had no 'assurances' from Idaho & Montana transportation departments for transport permits.
Now read this... (especially note lines in bold... and you may also spot some lines to 'suspect' in italics...)

Imperial to 'revisit' foreign input in oilsands; Kearl project hit by logistical problems and protests over shipments of upgrader modules by road to Fort McMurray by Dave of the Edmonton Journal, published in the Calgary Herald, 3/30/11
EDMONTON - Imperial Oil will “revisit” its decision to buy massive modules from South Korea ... for the future expansion of its Kearl oilsands, its chief executive
... Bruce March said “we will revisit this for the expansion,” but added that his firm’s focus right now is getting the modules — stalled at the inland port of Lewiston, Idaho, amid protests from residents — on the road to Fort McMurray as soon as possible.

Currently, the $8-billion Kearl mine and bitumen production project is on time, scheduled to open late next year. Some of the modules made in Edmonton — which represents 80 per cent of the fabrication work — are ready to be shipped.
“We made the decision to order [the units from Korea] in the 2007-08 period ...
The Korean firm building the 207 mega-sized units — 33 of which are now being broken apart in Idaho ... so they can move as 60 smaller shipments on the Interstate highway — has supplied specialized ore-processing equipment to all oilsands plants in the past.

But in those cases the equipment has always been shipped in pieces and assembled in Edmonton.
March said Imperial could have done that with the modules, “but we opted to have it built in Korea. We could have gone either way.”
March said Imperial did its homework with the module transportation....
and got pretty good assurance from the state governments that they would allow it.”

But then came the protests, much of it from people opposed to the oilsands in general and rather than residents worried about the rural scenery. National advocacy groups have been sending out news releases for months denouncing the mega-loads....
...We are now seeing (protests) in the supply chain for the oilsands, in the pipeline projects like Keystone,” he said...

On Wednesday, commissioners in Missoula County, Montana, voted to file a lawsuit ... to stop oversized loads....
Read More:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Imperial+revisit+foreign+input+oilsands/4531382/story.html?cid=megadrop_story

Kooskia, Idaho ~ Gateway to the Wilderness or Pit Stop along Big Oil's Tar Sands Alley?

Kooskia Crossing is a lovely and informative tourist area at the entrance to Kooskia, Idaho. Volunteers have spent years developing this area, which now boasts a handsome, illustrated "Welcome" sign, multi-paneled information kiosk, and landscaped green space that volunteers spruce up and groom each year. One feature of the area is a beautiful metal sculpture celebrating the salmon and their native home, the Clearwater River. But now one's view of the salmon includes the giant megaload you see in the background. If the hundreds of proposed megaloads of Exxon/Imperial, Harvest, Shell and other tar sands oil companies are permitted for shipment along U.S.12, these giant loads will sit here almost daily for decades to come.

Speaking of salmon, one environmental concern of a megaload accident on U.S. 12 is damage to critical salmon spawning grounds. A load the scale of the megaloads could create an immediate dam if it fell into the Lochsa. Since Exxon's shipping company Mammoet had two accidents in the past year while driving on dry flat wide roads, it's no stretch of imagination to envision their having a slip-off or tip-over on curvy, narrow U.S. 12. A decline in salmon and other fish populations will be felt throughout north central Idaho's economy. Right now, today, in just a 2-mile stretch of the Middle Fork, 18 fishermen are fishing. They buy groceries, cafe meals, fishing gear, gas and rooms.

The question for local residents is what does the future hold for our children. We live next to the largest wilderness area in the lower 48 and enjoy 3 pristine wild and scenic rivers in our backyard. These are our greatest, most valuable natural resource assets. They are worth protecting - not just for their physical beauty, abundant hunting and fishing and many other recreation opportunities - but because they have value to visitors from around the nation and world and offer a substantial base for a healthy long-term tourism industry. Our area becomes more valuable to tourists and Idahoans alike only for as long as we protect the natural, remarkable wild and scenic qualities of North Central Idaho and ensure access to our wildlands and rivers. If instead we choose to take a few quick bucks now from oil companies wanting to turn our the highway into an industrial megaload truck route, we stand to loose normal access in the present and our only growing industry in the future. What may look like easy money to some comes with a price tag for our children and grandchildren - deteriorating roads, lower tax base, loss of access to public lands/rivers, and loss of value of our greatest asset.

Photo by Gail Renshaw

HIGHWAY 12 MEGALOAD UPDATE

UPDATE ON FIRST MEGALOAD SHIPMENT ON HIGHWAY 12
ConocoPhillips transport of megaload #1, which began Feb. 1st, had been scheduled to take 4 nights to travel from Lewiston, Idaho, to the Montana border. Instead it took 6 nights of driving over a two week period. According to ITD comments in news reports, weather held the load up in Kooskia from the morning of Thursday, Feb. 3rd, until Tuesday night Feb. 8th although local weather conditions were relatively mild during that period. It was snowing on the valley floor when they finally left Kooskia. Here are some stories and headlines from the first half of February:

Feb. 1 -- ConocoPhillips Megaload leaves Port of Lewiston, bound for Billings

Feb. 4 -- Megaloads hit mega snag, again (krem.com) ...The ConocoPhillips transport trailer...scraped a rock outcropping enroute on Wednesday night... Article, video, & scrape photo: http://www.krem.com/news/New-plan-required-after-megaload-causes-long-delay-115300374.html

Feb. 4 -- New plan required after megaload causes long delay (kxly.com) The Idaho Transportation Department says it is requiring ConocoPhillips to submit a new plan before allowing the oil company to send a second giant truckload of refinery equipment after the first caused a 59-minute traffic delay at a sharp curve on U.S. Highway 12. Article: http://www.kxly.com/news/26745699/detail.html

Feb. 5 -- Snowy roads, traffic delay violations stall ConocoPhillips megaloads (Missoulian) Big trouble for a big rig in Idaho: There's snow on Lolo Pass and non-moving violations below ... Inclement midwinter weather stalled CP's first megaload ...for the second night. Meanwhile, Conoco's moving company, Emmert International, was scrambling to come up with a new plan for a particularly winding stretch of U.S. Highway 12 on which traffic was held up 10 times for more than 15 minutes ... earlier this week. Article:http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_b2f65056-307a-11e0-8332-001cc4c002e0.html

Feb. 10 Megaload crawling toward Montana; Weather, other issues are causing journey to take longer than planned (Lewiston Tribune)

Feb. 12 -- ITD News Release: Saturday, February 12, 2011, ConocoPhillips shipment on U.S. 12 safely reaches Idaho/Montana border

INTERESTING NEW DEVELOPMENTS TAKE PLACE CONCERNING IMPERIAL OIL MEGALOADS:

Feb. 15 - When questioned by concerned citizens about the use of Highway 12 for such massive loads, Imperial Oil spokesmen as well as Governor Otter insisted that these loads could not be made any smaller and that Highway 12 was the only option to transport this equipment. Imperial/Exxon is now doing what they previously said was impossible by downsizing some of their loads and diverting other loads onto interstates. Read the stories here:

Imperial Oil downsizing megaloads at Port of Lewiston. http://www.klewtv.com/news/116282134.html

Massive Refinery Parts En Route to Kearl ProjectImperial/Exxon has begun diverting some megaloads onto Washington Interstates. Read the story originally printed in the Lewiston Tribune here:
http://www.downstreamtoday.com/news/article.aspx?a_id=25689&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

Crossroads

ITD ignored the concerns of local residents when it issued permits to ConocoPhillips earlier this week to transport 4 super-sized loads along Highway 12. The earliest the loads could roll is Feb. 1st, but the 13 intervenors, who for the past 5 1/2 months have been challenging the permitting of the shipments, are currently considering their next legal step.


The Missoula Independent recently published a comprehensive article on the mega-load issue titled 'Crossroads'. The story covers local opposition in both Idaho and Montana and addresses the issue of creating a permanent high and wide corridor between Pacific Rim nations and the Alberta Tar Sands.

Please read the full story here:
http://missoulanews.bigskypress.com/gyrobase/crossroads/Content?oid=1371483&showFullText=true

Upcoming Dates

Idaho Transportation Director Schedules Highway 12 Hearings
The contested case hearings are scheduled for Boise, December 8th and 9th, time and place yet to be determined. Merlyn Clark will continue to serve as hearing officer. The hearing is open to the public. Both sides in the case will present arguments and call witnesses to testify. No public comments from the floor will be taken.


Read more:

http://www.nwpr.org/07/HomepageArticles/Article.aspx?n=8091

Film about Highway 12 to be shown at Wilma Dec. 2nd, 7pm Local filmmaker Holly Schroeder will introduce "Big Rigs," her look at the nascent industrial corridor planned for the wild and scenic river corridor through Idaho and through Missoula all the way to Alberta's tar sands country. The film will be aired as part of the Wild & Scenic Film Festival Dec 2, at 7 p.m., at the Wilma Theater in downtown Missoula. Read more:

http://www.clarkforkchronicle.com/article.php/20101122154901747

End Of November Mega-Load Update

The latest news on the mega-load issue includes the ruling, by hearing officer Merlyn Clark, in favor of highway 12 residents, Candian Steel Workers Union upset about lost manufacturing jobs as well as the uncovering of a report backing the Kearl mega-loads that MDT denies is from their agency. Here are the links:

Ruling: ITD must hear from megaload opponents
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/nov/24/ruling-itd-must-hear-megaload-opponents

MDT says 'ghost' report backing Kearl big rigs isn't from agency
http://missoulian.com/news/local/article_3bb59d74-faa8-11df-90ef-001cc4c03286.html

Attorneys pour over state Department of Transportation big rig documents
http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_d66f6f62-faa7-11df-be72-001cc4c03286.html

Highway 12 megaloads: Union questions why oilfield modules were built in South Korea
http://missoulian.com/news/local/article_42ec429e-f8e8-11df-a091-001cc4c002e0.html

Award-Winning Journalist Speaks up for Highway 12

NAOMI KLEIN, award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist and author of the New York Times and #1 international bestseller, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, speaks out against the use of Highway 12 by mega-loads shipments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztgkGdS2plw&feature=player_embedded


Other Highway News:
- As of yesterday, there was snow on Lolo Pass.
- As of Sunday both lanes in the Mile 136 diesel spill area were open to traffic.
- As of Tuesday a second ConocoPhillips drum had been set up on stands
(trailer removed) in a lot adjacent to the Port of Lewiston, while the other two
drums remained on trailers at the back of the port lot.
- A Journal of Commerce Oct. 27th report indicates that more Imperial Oil modules
will arrive at the port this week.
- No response to date from ITD regarding the request for a contested case hearing
prior to permitting of the Imperial Oil shipments

Peaceful Protest in Lewiston Saturday Morning

With ConocoPhillips urging the Idaho Supreme Court to expedite their decision and Imperial Oil already moving their massive modules to the Port of Lewiston even though they do not have a permit-it's time to let all parties involved know that we're serious about protecting Highway 12 - it's infrastructure, residents, business people and travelers who rely on it daily.

The time has come for action. Your chance to make your voice heard has arrived.

Here are the details:

PEACEFUL PROTEST

When: This Saturday, Oct. 16th, starting at 10:00 a.m. (until approx. 11:30 a.m.)

Where: The public sidewalks on Memorial Bridge in Lewiston

Why:
> To publicly show how many people oppose the megaloads.
> To make the people's voice heard.

Please spread the word ... invite everyone who opposes the megaloads to be there.


Thank you!

ExxonMobil plans long-term 'High and Wide' corridor through Pacific Northwest

The Natural Resources Defense Council recently undertook the task of translating Korean business documents related to the Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil modules. Yesterday, NRDC released the attached report: Exxon's Plans to Permanently Industrialize the Lolo Corridor; NRDC Survey of Korean Documents Substantiates Plans by Exxon to Create a New and Permanent Industrial Transportation Corridor in the Pacific Northwest. The report states:

...NRDC has surveyed a number of Korean business documents, Korean press reports, along with SJG’s Korean press releases in order to fully establish an accurate representation regarding the fiduciary relationship between Exxon and Sun Jin Geotec in relation to plans to ship further modules. After an extensive effort to translate a number of these critical Korean documents, NRDC has discovered convincing evidence that Exxon’s contract with SJG constitutes a far-reaching and long-term commitment between the two parties – totaling at least $1.5 billion US that will continue to the year 2020. In the absence of any expressed alternatives, this financial commitment is likely to represent thousands of modules, and consequently, thousands of oversized industrial shipments through the Pacific Northwest.


Related story:
http://voices.idahostatesman.com/2010/10/14/rockybarker/contract_reveals_long_term_plan_oversized_shipments_us_12#comment-342414

Heads Up! Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil Modules Begin Arriving in Lewiston

Even though ITD has not granted Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil permits to move their massively oversized loads, nor has the Idaho Supreme Court ruled on legality of the ConocoPhillips oversized load permits – IO/EM modules are arriving by barge at the Port of Lewiston at this very moment. The first modules arriving are the smallest of the IO/EM loads. Most of the modules are almost as tall and wide as the Conoco Phillips's drums sitting now at the port and almost 3-times longer than the drums. The port area, previously open to drive-ins, is now secured by closed gates.

Articles and Events of Interest

1. Study: Trucks underpay for Idaho's ailing roads. (Spokesman Review) Idaho motorists are paying more and more of the costs of maintaining the state's roads, while drivers of heavy trucks are paying less, according to a new state study - though the trucks are causing far more damage to the roads. Read more . . .
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/jul/27/study-trucks-underpay-ailing-idaho-roads/

2. Trucks vs. Cars on pavement damagae. (Spokesman Review). . .one fully loaded axle on a big truck is equal to the pavement damage of 10,000 passenger cars. Task force members were stunned. . . Read more. . .
http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/boise/2010/jul/27/trucks-vs-cars-pavement-damage/

3. NWF representative says [Imperial Oil's] Kearl's [Module Transportation] project needs study like oil pipeline. (Missoulian) Read more. . .
http://missoulian.com/news/local/article_c1b31016-9a02-11df-992c-001cc4c03286.html

4. An opportunity to talk to the Governor of Idaho about the proposed Conoco Phillips and Imperial Oil massive shipments on U.S. 12.
Gov. Butch Otter and ITD Transportation Director Brian Ness, among other state officials will be in Pierce from 9am-3pm on Wednesday, August 4th. It will be on of Otter's "Capitol for a Day" sessions, including a question and answer period. The location will be the Pierce Community Center, 105 W. Carle St. For more information go to:
http://gov.idaho.gov/mediacenter/press/pr2010/prjuly10/pr_043.html