America's Most Endangered Rivers 2014

 American Rivers protects wild rivers, restores damaged rivers, and conserves clean water for people and nature.  Since 1973, American Rivers has protected and restored more than 150,000 miles of rivers through advocacy efforts, on-the-ground projects, and an annual America's Most Endangered Rivers campaign.  

 This morning river conservation organization brought our efforts to protect the Wild and Scenic corridor to even greater national attention by announcing the designation of the Lochsa and Middle Fork Clearwater rivers as among America's Most Endangered Rivers.  This designation shines "a national spotlight on the threat that megaload shipments bound for the Canadian tar sands pose to the rivers' unique Wild and Scenic character."  Further, American Rivers and its partners urge the US Forest Service to stop industrialization of the Lochsa-Clearwater U.S.12 corridor by banning megaload transports.

You can help protect our rivers by personally writing to Tom Tidwell, the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service ttidwell@fs.fed.us 

Or respond to the Take Action call via the American Rivers website

American Rivers protects wild rivers, restores damaged rivers, and conserves clean water for people and nature. Since 1973, American Rivers has protected and restored more than 150,000 miles of rivers through advocacy efforts, on-the-ground projects, and an annual America’s Most Endangered Rivers® campaign. - See more at: http://www.americanrivers.org/about/#sthash.9TuJgBJo.dpuf

Thank you!

 



 

The Wild and Scenic rivers’ coldwater fisheries, scenery, and whitewater are threatened by industrialization that would bring huge megaloads bound for Canadian tar sands onto narrow roads beside the rivers. - See more at: http://www.americanrivers.org/endangered-rivers/#sthash.z6qPowII.dpuf

The Wild and Scenic rivers’ coldwater fisheries, scenery, and whitewater are threatened by industrialization that would bring huge megaloads bound for Canadian tar sands onto narrow roads beside the rivers. - See more at: http://www.americanrivers.org/endangered-rivers/#sthash.z6qPowII.dpuf

USFS Report

As the Nez Perce Tribe & Idaho Rivers United vs. the US Forest Service megaload case slowly proceeds, this afternoon the USFS released a report titled "Perceived Values of the Middle Fork Clearwater and Lochsa River Corridor Potentially Affected by Certain Over-Legal Truck Traffic."  (That is, by megaload traffic.) You'll find the report here.

Although the top-of-page headline includes the word "study," the USFS notes:  "This paper is not an impact study..."  You may recall that on 9/12/13 (5.5 months ago), Federal Judge B. Lynn Winmill ordered the USFS to conduct a "corridor review" and consult with the Nez Perce Tribe -- a consultation yet to commence.

Our Megaload Story on This American Land

This week our local megaload story made news on This American Land:  Megaloads blocked from Wild and Scenic River Route. 

This American Land is a leading conservation news magazine program seen on public television stations nationwide.   

Photo by Roger Inghram

In other news, Exxon Mobil CEO sues to keep hydraulic fracking away from his Texas ranch while encouraging fracking in other places, highlighting the hypocrisy surrounding the oil and gas industry.  Read more.

 

 

 

A Win for Wild and Scenic Highway 12 in Court

Judge Winmill has granted the Nez Perce Tribe & Idaho Rivers United's requested preliminary injunction and ordered the Forest Service to issue a close of Highway 12 to Omega Morgan's megaloads until the corridor study and tribal consultation are complete.  Read the decision here.

Beautiful Lochsa Corridor

Photo by Roger Inghram

A message from Advocates for the West about the ruling:

Chief US District Judge Winmill rejected the Forest Service's claim that they had authority "to review but not enforce" scenic values protected in the Clearwater/Lochsa Wild and Scenic corridor. As we argued, the court agreed that the Forest Service's position was "obviously...an erroneous reading of the Court's [February 2013] decision."

The decision goes on to say that by allowing an initial General Electric mega-load to pass through Hwy 12 on the week of August 5th, the Forest Service ignored its own rules on oversized loads within the Wild and Scenic River corridor and willingly chose to abdicate their statutory responsibilities.

And, in response to the Nez Perce Tribe's involvement in the case, Judge Winmill's decision states: "The Court also finds that they [Nez Perce Tribe] are likely to suffer irreparable harm if no injunction is issued. The plaintiffs are not seeking damages; they are seeking to preserve their Treaty rights along with cultural and intrinsic values that have no price tag."

The decision also addresses defendant Resources Conservation Company International's (RCCI) claim that their company stands to lose over $5 million if they are not allowed passage through Hwy 12. The Court places the blame of that loss squarely on the defendant, stating: "RCCI decided...to proceed before the Forest Service could complete its corridor study and consultation with the Tribe. In other words, RCCI knowingly put its loads into a position where the company would incur $5 million in losses if it must wait for the Forest Service review."

The court injunction will not affect normal traffic on Hwy 12 at all; it only closes the route to mega-loads. This is a truly incredible victory for all of us. The Court's decision sends a clear message that we will not be bullied by corporate Goliaths such as GE, Omega Morgan, and ExxonMobil.

Sign the Stop the Megaloads Petition

Stop the Megaloads Petition
Created by Ciarra Green.  

 
Here's what she has to say:  The megaloads are manufactured outside the US, are shipped to the Inland Northwest, and then transported via highways through Idaho and Montana to the Alberta Tar Sands. The Alberta Tar Sands have destroyed the resources of the First Nations people of Canada. We cannot support or allow this injustice to continue.
Our land in the US is worth protecting! Here are the top 20 reasons US Hwy 12 is worth protecting:

1. Runs through the Nez Perces' ancient homeland.
2.The Nez Perce National Historic Park is located here, including the headquarters and museum
3. Nationally designated the Northwest Passage Scenic Byway.
4. Nationally designated 1 of the nation's 27 All-American Roads.
5. Crosses and parallels for 80+ miles the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.
6. Crosses and parallels for 80+ miles the Nez Perce National Historic Trail.
7. Runs for 70+ miles beside 2 nationally designated Wild and Scenic Rivers, the Middle Fork of the Clearwater and the Lochsa, and provides access to a 3rd, the Selway River.
8. Travels beside and provides access to the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, one of the nation's most cherished wilderness areas.
9. National & International - renown of the Lochsa River for its world-class spring whitewater run.
10. Named by Motorcycle Magazine as the #1 recreational motorcycle route in the nation (many curves, much beauty).
11. Comprises a segment of the nationally recognized TransAmerica Bicycle Route.
12. Bisects the old growth Bernard Devoto Cedar Grove.
13. Crosses the Pacific Coast Disjunct Area, which includes rare plants for Idaho environs.
14. Lies within yards of USFS campgrounds, dispersed campsites, USFS and Nat'l Park Service interpretive sites, beaches and picnic sites.
15. Provides access to suspension bridges and dozens of trails used by hunters, fishers and wilderness trekkers and horseback riders, including access to the Idaho Bicentennial Trail and the Lochsa River Historical Trail.
16. Provides access to the Lochsa Historical Ranger Station, the McBeth House, historical churches, Big Eddy Marina at Dworshak Reservoir, and Spalding Park.
17. Runs alongside streams providing habitat of vital importance to salmon, steelhead, eel, bass and trout fisheries.
18. Runs through the wild habitats of a myriad of birds and other wildlife.
19. Runs for miles as a narrow, winding, shoulderless roadway within feet of rivers that provide domestic water supplies for 3 towns: Kamiah, Orofino and Lewiston.
20. Provides both an access route and a destination for travelers/tourists and recreationists who spend millions of dollars annually at over 150 small businesses, Lewiston to Lolo Pass, as part of the single growing industry of the corridor communities which comprise an economically depressed region of Idaho.

Please sign the petition to Rick Brazell, US Forest Service, Skip Brandt, Idaho County Commissioners Office, Doug Havens, Nez Perce County Commissioners Office, Greg Johnson, Lewis County Commissioners Office, Don Ebert, Clearwater County Commissioners Office, The Idaho State House, The Idaho State Senate, Governor Butch Otter, The United States House of Representatives, The United States Senate, and President Barack Obama, which says:

"I urge the US Forest Service to enforce its jurisdiction over megaload shipments across the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest. The scientific process should be adhered to before the authorization of transport is allowed; This would include a complete assessment of the possible impacts from megaload transportation through the pristine scenic corridor, including tribal lands, recreation areas, historical sites, and other indispensable lands. The environmental and public welfare injustices will have long lasting effects that cannot be repaired through financial settlements."

Will you sign the petition too? Click here to add your name:
Stop the Megaloads Petition
 

Megaload Creates Delay and Protest in the Wild and Scenic Corridor

Thursday night, as the enroute Omega Morgan megaload crawled up Hwy.12 alongside the Wild and Scenic Middlefork Clearwater and Lochsa Rivers, approx. 75 people protested for over an hour at Fish Creek, Hwy.12 Milepost 120.  

At Fish Creek, as per its ITD-approved transport plan, Omega Morgan was required to cross Fish Creek Bridge by unhitching the transport's trucks and using a pull-cable.  By unhitching the trucks, the 644,000 lb. transport was reduced in weight to a point that ITD had determined would not likely damage or break the bridge.  The Fish Creek bridge is listed as a 'bridge of concern.'  

All traffic was blocked for 1 hour 20 minutes during the staging and crossing, while the actual crossing took 43 minutes.  All was observed by the protesters, including 4 NPTEC members and Idaho Rivers United Director Bill Sedivy, and recorded by a Fighting Goliath video camera.

In part because of its overnighting at Syringa, the transport was in the Lochsa-Clearwater Wild & Scenic corridor for 30 hours.  It's actual travel time was 13 hours.  You will recall that 1 of the 3 criteria that would trigger USFS review of megaload permits is that a transport not "require more than 12 hours to traverse US Highway 12 between MP 74 and 174."  However, ITD issued Omega Morgan a permit for the load regardless of the USFS criteria, and Omega Morgan pushed its way into the corridor with complete disregard for the criteria and Federal law.

Early Friday morning, as the transport navigated up the mountainside miles to Lolo Pass, it blocked all traffic, including several commercial trucks and a total of 20+ vehicles, for 40 minutes before crossing into Montana at 7:52 a.m

Idaho Rivers United & the Nez Perce Tribe File New Lawsuit Against the U.S. Forest Service

The lawsuit charges that the U.S. Forest Service’s failure to stop a megaload from entering the river corridor was “arbitrary, capricious, (and) an abuse of discretion.”  Read the full press release

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

Easter Sunday Hack Job

Driving up Highway 12 to enjoy the Wild and Scenic Lochsa River Corridor on this Easter Sunday my family was shocked and saddened to see an army of tree trimmers hacking away on the beautiful old trees that line the highway. Trees that stood long before the highway was built are now being altered in a most un-aesthetic way to make way for an Exxon Test Module (one that is too large for the corridor and doesn’t even have a permit to proceed beyond Lolo Hot Springs!)

Frank Church and Cecil Andrus along with the U.S. Congress protected the Lochsa River Corridor for future generations of Americans with the passage of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 1968 and now ITD and USFS are working hand in hand with Exxon/Mobil to undo those protections.

Anyone taking a Sunday drive upriver today or traveling home from a family gathering met with 40+minute delays as they were held behind flaggers and led haphazardly by a pilot car through a maze of tree-trimmers trucks.
What kind of transportation department schedules major road alterations on Easter Sunday?
Why wasn’t there any kind of notification on ITD’s website to inform the traveling public of the delays being experienced on Highway 12?
What kind of Forest Service allows for a nationally mandated Wild and Scenic corridor to be radically changed in a way that puts the trees that line the highway at increased risk of disease and weakens them to the affects of wind and snow damage?

This inane attempt of making Highway 12 into an over-sized shipping route must come to a stop. The time is NOW before anything worse happens. Already many of the concerns brought up by locals have come true – delays well over 15 minutes, trees along the highway damaged, power outages, pullouts blocked off to the public, the shipments not being able to make the trip in the time presumed, altering of the wild and scenic corridor and a highway shutdown - and all that after only 2 megaloads have made the full trip from Lewiston to Lolo Pass! What more has to happen before ITD acknowledges the truth? These loads are too large for Highway 12 and they place an unnecessary risk on the local citizens and businesses who rely on Highway 12.

Let’s stop this NOW before something worse happens. If one of these loads went into the river the damage to the riverbed would be devastating. Exxon has proven that they have not planned well for this transportation project. There are other options to get this equipment to Alberta. We do not need to sacrifice Highway 12. I encourage you to pick up the phone on Monday morning and call as many of the people on the following list as you can to express your concern and dismay at the disregard with which our government agencies are treating the public. The short-sightedness of those individuals charged with protecting the resources of the public must be addressed.

PLEASE CALL
USFS:Craig Trulock, Lochsa Ranger Station (208)926-4274
Rick Brazell, Clearwater Natn'l Forest Supervisor (208)476-4541
Leslie Weldon, Regional Forester (406) 329-3470

ITD:
ITD Director Brian Ness (208) 334-8876
Public Involvement Adam Rush (208) 334-8119
IDAHO TRANSPORTATION BOARD MEMBERS
Darrell Manning – Chairman (208) 334-8808
Jim Coleman (208) 762-4704
Jan Vassar (208) 743-5093
Jerry Whitehead (208) 344-2539
Gary Blick – Vice Chairman (208) 537-6787
Neil Miller (208) 681-3172
Lee Gagner (208) 529-5600

If you’d like to call more people at ITD here is a link to the complete phone list:
http://itd.idaho.gov/aboutITD/phonelst.htm