[Vision2020] Backers , Foes Argue Mega-loads’ Pros, Cons

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of today's (November 20, 2010) Spokesman-Review.

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Backers, foes argue mega-loads’ pros, cons
Betsy Z. Russell, The Spokesman-Review

BOISE – Lawyers for opponents and backers of the first four mega-loads of
oil equipment proposed to travel north-central Idaho’s U.S. Highway 12
faced off in a crowded Idaho Transportation Department auditorium Friday,
sparring over whether more hearings must be held before the four loads can
roll.

ConocoPhillips, which wants to truck the four giant loads to its Billings
refinery, argued that the opponents’ protest is too late to be considered,
that residents and business owners along the route have no real stake in
the issue, and that if further hearings are held, the opponents should
have to put up a $2 million bond to protect the company against any
further losses from delays in the shipments.

“We’re facing a situation that really is about politics and not about this
refinery in Billings,” attorney Erik Stidham, representing ConocoPhillips,
told hearing officer Merlyn Clark, a Boise attorney and former head of the
Idaho State Bar.

The room was filled with more than 50 Billings refinery employees wearing
T-shirts touting the project; they rode a bus to the hearing with their
plant manager – an 11-hour trip.

“They’re concerned about their jobs. They’re concerned about our refinery
and our community,” said plant manager Steven Steach.

The Billings refinery provides 7 percent of Idaho’s gasoline and 25
percent of Montana’s, Steach said; it also sends 40 percent of the gas it
produces to Washington state, and it has 10 percent of the refinery
capacity in the Rocky Mountain region.

The ConocoPhillips mega-loads are the first of more than 200 proposed to
travel the route. ExxonMobil wants to truck 207 loads of oil equipment
across Highway 12, through Montana and up to its Alberta oil sands project
in Canada over the next year. The loads are so big that, traveling at
night, most will take up both lanes of the twisting, scenic two-lane
highway, blocking all traffic.

Clark told the attorneys and crowd, “I am limiting my scope of examination
today to the four loads that are proposed for this permit. I am not
considering the fact that there may be 200 more loads from another
applicant on another date.”

Laird Lucas of Advocates for the West, attorney for three residents and
business owners along the route who oppose the mega-loads, said he takes
exception to that approach, in part because the ConocoPhillips loads
couldn’t travel but for extensive prep work done along the route by
ExxonMobil. That company has rebuilt turnouts, raised or buried power
lines, and removed foliage to prepare the route for the extra-wide loads.

“Because they’re the first ones they’re really important,” Lucas said. “We
believe they’re going to set a precedent.”

In legal filings with the ITD, Lucas submitted affidavits from 10 more
residents and business owners along the route who have similar concerns to
those of the three who sued to block the loads. They maintain the big
loads will damage their use and enjoyment of their property, hurt their
businesses, impact their own use of the highway and threaten their
“health, safety and welfare.”

The ITD has argued that the residents’ concerns are “speculative” and are
more about the larger Exxon proposal than about the four ConocoPhillips
loads.

ITD attorney Tim Thomas acknowledged Friday that the residents have a
“direct and substantial interest” in their own health and safety and in
their use of the route on which they live and do business, “no doubt about
that.” But he said that isn’t impacted by the four ConocoPhillips loads.

In its brief, the ITD wrote, “It is difficult to imagine how four trips
over four days, traveling at night, will turn Highway 12 into a ‘high and
wide’ corridor.”

One of the concerns residents along Highway 12 have raised is that the
road could be blocked during medical emergencies, when a resident might
need to travel the route quickly to get to the emergency room – as one of
the plaintiffs did while suffering anaphylactic shock. ConocoPhillips, in
its filings with the ITD, committed to have an ambulance follow every
load, at its expense, to address that concern.

Clark said he plans to review the case over the weekend and issue a ruling
before the Thanksgiving holiday.

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Steven Steach, plant manager of the ConocoPhillips Billings refinery,
explains the role of giant coke drums in the refining process at the plant
after a hearing on Friday in Boise.

http://media.spokesman.com/photos/2010/11/20/20cit_STEVEN_STEACH_t620.jpg

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Swift ruling promised

Hearing officer Merlyn Clark, a Boise attorney and former head of the
Idaho State Bar, said he plans to review the case over the weekend and
issue a ruling before the Thanksgiving holiday.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"This is the 'Mouse that Roared,' 'David and Goliath' and 'Avatar' all
rolled into one.  We must remember that the thousands of citizens involved
in this effort to protect their personal and family safety, their
businesses and their lifestyles are confronting some of the largest
international corporations in the world."

- Linwood Laughy