[Vision2020] Bill Targets Megaload Opposition

[Art Deco]

What a bunch of whores.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Tom Hansen 
  To: Moscow Vision 2020 
  Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2011 6:40 AM
  Subject: [Vision2020] Bill Targets Megaload Opposition


  Let me see if I have this right . . .

  Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) is not required to conduct public
  hearings concerning loads in excess of 200,000 pounds being transported on
  Idaho public roadways.  However, if anybody files a complaint about such
  loads, it could cost the complainant potentially hundreds of thousands of
  dollars, with the proceeds being awarded to the hauler.

  Welcome to Idaho.  Esto perpetua.

  Courtesy of today's (February 24, 2011) Spokesman-Review.

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

  Bill targets megaload opposition
  Bond would be required to file suit against project

  BOISE - St. Maries Rep. Dick Harwood introduced legislation Wednesday
  designed to impose huge bonding requirements on anyone who sues to block a
  megaload - or anything else - from traveling on Idaho's highways.

  Harwood's bill, which the House State Affairs Committee agreed to
  introduce on a divided vote, would require anyone who files a lawsuit
  against a transportation project on state highways to post a bond equal to
  5 percent of the value of the items being hauled, and if the plaintiffs
  lose the lawsuit, the whole bond would go to the Idaho Transportation
  Department. For megaloads, that potentially could be tens or hundreds of
  thousands of dollars. Plus, the bill would authorize the court to award
  damages to the hauler in the amount of its loss for delays related to the
  lawsuit.

  "This has been brought because of the megaloads," Harwood told the
  committee. "Any time an individual group can stop our commerce from
  flowing, it's not a good thing, and that's what happened."

  State Rep. Lynn Luker, R-Boise, an attorney, raised questions about
  Harwood's bill, saying, "It looks like they're paying twice," between the
  bond and the damages to the hauler. Luker said if the bond is excessive,
  the plaintiff should get amounts back beyond the department's costs
  associated with the project, but said, "the bill doesn't say that."

  State Rep. Max Black, R-Boise, said, "I think that that's totally
  justifiable because they really did put the Department of Transportation
  into a lot of extra hearings and transportation costs, going to North
  Idaho for the hearings and whatever else. Ultimately, they won, but
  without this, there was no reimbursement for their extra expenses."

  State Rep. Eric Anderson, R-Priest Lake, who said he supports the
  megaloads, voted against introducing Harwood's bill. "I don't think he had
  any answers for any questions that were given to him - I think he needs to
  refine it," Anderson said. "I can't even tell you what the bill says right
  now, for reading it."

  Harwood compared his proposal to bonds required for lawsuits over state
  timber sales, and said those bond requirements "pretty much ended any
  lawsuits on the Department of Lands."

  Meanwhile, megaloads opponents on Wednesday filed a petition asking ITD to
  reconsider its initial approval of 207 megaloads that ExxonMobil/Imperial
  Oil plan to send across Highway 12 now that the company has begun
  modifying many of the loads to allow them to be trucked to Alberta via the
  interstate system instead.

  Highway 12 resident Borg Hendrickson said, "Throughout 2010,
  Exxon/Imperial repeatedly told Idahoans that no alternative route existed
  for these massive loads, but now 60 of them are being shipped from
  Vancouver via an alternative route and 30 more are also going to be
  shipped via an alternative route," after modifications as they sit in
  Lewiston. "ITD's decision needs to be based on real facts, and our
  petition, in effect, asks ITD to step back and get those facts."

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

  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


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