[Vision2020] It's a Miracle: The Non-Reduceable is Reduced

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of today's (February 17, 2011) Lewiston Tribune.

---------------------------------------------------------

It's a miracle: The non-reduceable is reduced
By Marty Trillhaase of the Tribune

If the people behind the megaloads have been consistent about one thing,
it was this:

Their shipments could not be made any smaller than about 210 feet long, 24
feet wide or 30 feet tall - not to mention as heavy as 290 tons.

They even certified to the Idaho Transportation Department that the
oversized loads were reduced to their "practical minimum dimensions."

ConocoPhillips wanted to move four loads to its Billings, Mont., refinery.
ExxonMobil proposed transporting 207 shipments to the Kearl Oil Sands
project at Alberta, Canada. Given the loads' massive height and size, only
one route was open between the Port of Lewiston and the Montana border -
U.S. Highway 12.

However good it looked on paper, the project has run into one
time-consuming obstacle after another.

>From the enthusiastic welcome Gov. C. L. (Butch) Otter offered the
megaloads early in 2009, oil company executives could not have known that.
To hear Otter talk, the state was open for business. Eager for it, in
fact.

Perhaps the governor didn't have a firm grip on the public pulse, because
as soon as details of the rolling roadblocks became clear, people along
the Lochsa and Clearwater rivers began complaining and demanding to be
heard.

They also threw sand into the regulatory gears. Lawsuits and an
administrative challenge delayed the ConocoPhillips shipments for months.
Even though the ITD has issued ExxonMobil a permit, that will ignite
another round of administrative hearings - and presumably this time,
opponents will take even more time by appealing any adverse ruling to the
judiciary.

If politics isn't causing enough headaches, there's the route itself.

ConocoPhillips' first trip was supposed to last four days. By the time it
cleared the Montana state line last week, a dozen days had transpired.
Part of that involved bad weather. Some involved the difficulty
negotiating turns along a river canyon highway. Either way, the loads may
not proceed as scheduled.

So ExxonMobil needed a miracle.

And it got one.

Those loads that were reduced to their "practical minimum dimensions"?
Those non-reduceable loads?

Suddenly, they weren't.

Sixty of them became small enough to travel the Interstate highways from
the Port of Vancouver, Wash., to Canada.

And the 33 "nonreduceable" megaloads parked at the Port of Lewiston? A
crew of workers has found a way to reduce them down in size as well -
clearing the way for an alternate route.

For the motoring public, moving these loads along an interstate is
preferable. These are the highways President Dwight Eisenhower built to
move tanks and military equipment. They certainly are able withstand big,
heavy loads. In fact they have already - everything from machinery to wind
turbine components.

With four lanes and restricted access, nobody's going to complain about
getting around the transports. Nobody's life is going to be interrupted as
he moves from his home and business.

But it works for the oil companies, too. Instead of surprises and delays
along U.S. Highway 12, the interstates offer what business prizes above
all else - certainty and predictability.

It's not cheap. Reconfiguring each of the megaloads is said to cost the
companies more than $500,000. But how much has the delay in retrofitting
its Billings refinery hurt ConocoPhillips? How much money is ExxonMobil
losing the longer its Kearl project waits for this equipment?

Answer that, and you might determine how many of the 114 megaloads still
slated for U.S. 12 actually make the trip - and how many more miracles
we're likely to see. - M.T.

---------------------------------------------------------

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
and the Realist adjusts his sails."

- Unknown