[Vision2020] Permits are Weighing Heavy on Our Minds

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of today's (January 6, 2011) Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

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OUR VIEW: Permits are weighing heavy on our minds
By Lee Rozen, for the editorial board

Most of us have no idea how many permits the Idaho Transportation
Department issues each year for loads that are heavier or bigger than
regulations allow.

We know all about the four huge loads that ConocoPhillips wants to move up
U.S. Highway 12 to Montana, and the dozens more waiting at Lewiston and
points west to travel to the Alberta tar sands.

We find it difficult to understand why the ITD didn't grasp how troubling
these shipments are to us and why they never considered holding public
hearings.

Maybe they ought to be holding a public hearing every time there's a load
that's heavier or bigger than regulations allow.

Isn't that why the regulations are there in the first place, to prevent
things that would damage the roads or disrupt safe travel from happening?
Shouldn't the public be able to have a say when that happens?

Well, consider this.

Brian Ness, director of the ITD, told state Rep. Tom Trail, R-Moscow, in a
November letter, "In Fiscal Year 2010, the department issued 64,397
over-weight/over-size permits."

That's nearly 248 overweight/oversize permits issued every work day in
fiscal year 2010. On average, each permit costs about $30.70. No wonder
the ITD thinks a $2,000-per-load permit fee seems appropriate for each the
four ConocoPhillips megaloads and about $1,000 for each of the 207
ExxonMobil shipments.

That amount, says Ness, pays for the bureaucrats to issue the permits, but
it doesn't do anything to repair the excess wear and tear on our streets
and roads.

The money for that comes from road use fees tied to miles driven and
weight-carried-per-axle, fees that are set in Idaho law and last revised
in 1998 - 13 years ago now.

We are wondering - and think Rep. Trail and his colleagues ought to be
looking into during the 2011 Legislature - how many of those permits were
for overweight loads?

If the state has decided on a weight that's safe for our roads, why would
they be issuing thousands of overweight permits? Shouldn't the fees
discourage overweight loads that would damage our roads?

Or are the rules unnecessarily strict? Why maintain a bureaucracy to issue
permits, if they aren't really necessary?

Wholesale issuance of permits for overweight loads doesn't make sense.

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Note to Moscow City Council:  This is what community concern reads like. 
Unlike . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs2EHXOxFSg

Additional information concerning the Highway 12 megaloads may be accessed
at:

http://www.MoscowCares.com/Highway12

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