Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Lin & Borg win Max Dalton Open Government Award
Originators of FightingGoliath and on-the-front-lines anti-megaload activists Linwood Laughy and Borg Hendrickson were recently honored to win the 2011 Max Dalton Open Government Award.
As noted in a Dan Popkey blog post in the Idaho Statesman, "Hendrickson and Laughy pressed for the disclosure of transportation plans for shipments of massive industrial equipment bound for Canada over Idaho's scenic U.S.12. They also unveiled correspondence between oil companies and the Idaho Transportation Department and posted the material on their website ... "
"Their efforts, from realization of the problem to the present ongoing fight, resemble a spider web reaching every aspect of government and beyond," said Lee Halper of Jerome, who nominated the couple. "From two, there are now many who fight this fight..."
Read more:
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
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.
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.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Janice Inghram testifies at hearing
Megaload opponent Janice Inghram was the first witness to testify at ITD's Imperial/Exxon contested case hearing this morning. Janice spoke of the continual use she and her husband Roger Inghram make of U.S.Highway 12 for business and volunteer work, as well as for social and recreational purposes. She noted that once on the highway above Kooskia, she, Roger and anyone else on or alongside the highway has only one route to anywhere for any reason -- including emergencies -- and that route is U.S.12. If it is blocked by a megaload, she and everyone else traveling above Kooskia will be blocked from traveling west. She also noted that when she and Roger travel on the highway, as they frequently do, between Kooskia and the Selway River Road at Lowell, the ITD traffic counters, which are above Lowell and below Kamiah, do not count their vehicle. No vehicle that travels between those 2 counters is counted as part of the highway's traffic numbers. Janice noted that she travels that section of the highway 18-20 times per month most months of the year.
Following Janice's testimony, opponents' lawyer Natalie Havlina of Advocates for the West called 2 ISP officers to the stand. Among other topics, they testified about the number of officers available to serve as "overtime" escorts to the megaloads. They stated that there are 17 officer positions in the district, but 2 positions are vacant and 1 officer is in Iraq, leaving 14 available officers. They also noted that of the 14, some officers choose to not serve as escorts for megaloads, which further narrows the number of available officers. Of the 14, the number of ISP officers accompanying Imperial/Exxon's so-called "test validation" shipment is 4. Although ITD staff had testified yesterday that up to 3 of IO/EX's shipments could be on U.S.12 all at the same time, the ISP officers understood -- evidently erroneously -- that only 1 shipment could be on the highway at a time. The officers said that if 3 shipments are on the highway at the same time, ISP would not have enough officers to serve as escorts.
At 11:30 a.m. the hearing was adjourned until 9 a.m. Monday, when opponent Linwood Laughy will take the stand.
Following Janice's testimony, opponents' lawyer Natalie Havlina of Advocates for the West called 2 ISP officers to the stand. Among other topics, they testified about the number of officers available to serve as "overtime" escorts to the megaloads. They stated that there are 17 officer positions in the district, but 2 positions are vacant and 1 officer is in Iraq, leaving 14 available officers. They also noted that of the 14, some officers choose to not serve as escorts for megaloads, which further narrows the number of available officers. Of the 14, the number of ISP officers accompanying Imperial/Exxon's so-called "test validation" shipment is 4. Although ITD staff had testified yesterday that up to 3 of IO/EX's shipments could be on U.S.12 all at the same time, the ISP officers understood -- evidently erroneously -- that only 1 shipment could be on the highway at a time. The officers said that if 3 shipments are on the highway at the same time, ISP would not have enough officers to serve as escorts.
At 11:30 a.m. the hearing was adjourned until 9 a.m. Monday, when opponent Linwood Laughy will take the stand.
Contested Case Hearing: Imperial/Exxon, April 29, 2011
Yesterday's testimony at the ITD contested case hearing regarding Imperial/Exxon's 200+ megaload shipment permits got underway in the morning with witness Alan Frew of ITD. He, and later ITD's Dave Couch, testified about Imperial/Exxon's transport plan, including its traffic management plan, and ITD's permit approval process. Advocates for the West's lawyers Laird Lucas and Natalie Havlina represented the opponents.
With about 1 1/2 hours of the session remaining, Wild & Scenic Middle Fork Clearwater resident Vickie Garcia took the stand, and by day's end, the approximate dozen opponents present were calling her their "star witness." Vickie testified on the topics of inconvenience, safety, and megaload traffic management, which she had experienced firsthand. During the Kooskia-east leg of the first ConocoPhillips' shipment, Vickie and her husband Walt Bailey had traveled out on the highway to experience what being on the road during a shipment would be like so that should more shipments follow over months and years, they would know what to expect. During her testimony, Vickie showed a video she had taken out the front windshield of their car the snowy night of that leg of the shipment. The video gave the Judge and others in the room an opportunity to understand the chaotic nature of the ITD-approved traffic management and the risks to safety and convenience caused by that chaotic management.
Today's contested case session will begin at 9 a.m. at the ITD building, and first to take the stand will be opponent's witness Janice Inghram of Grangeville.
With about 1 1/2 hours of the session remaining, Wild & Scenic Middle Fork Clearwater resident Vickie Garcia took the stand, and by day's end, the approximate dozen opponents present were calling her their "star witness." Vickie testified on the topics of inconvenience, safety, and megaload traffic management, which she had experienced firsthand. During the Kooskia-east leg of the first ConocoPhillips' shipment, Vickie and her husband Walt Bailey had traveled out on the highway to experience what being on the road during a shipment would be like so that should more shipments follow over months and years, they would know what to expect. During her testimony, Vickie showed a video she had taken out the front windshield of their car the snowy night of that leg of the shipment. The video gave the Judge and others in the room an opportunity to understand the chaotic nature of the ITD-approved traffic management and the risks to safety and convenience caused by that chaotic management.
Today's contested case session will begin at 9 a.m. at the ITD building, and first to take the stand will be opponent's witness Janice Inghram of Grangeville.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Tree-scaping in the Wild and Scenic Corridor
Exxon hired an army of out-of-state tree trimmers to take to the Wild and Scenic corridor on Easter Sunday. Here are just a few pictures from the "tree-scaping". The top three pictures are along the Wild and Scenic Lochsa, the next two pictures are in the Devoto Memorial Cedar Grove and the last one is in the Wild and Scenic section of the Middlefork of the Clearwater river.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
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
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
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