[Vision2020] Idaho Agency Sides With Examiner on Megaloads

[Tom Hansen]

"Remember that some things aren't for sale."

- Idaho Governor C.L. "Butch Otter

Courtesy of the Lewiston Tribune.

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Idaho agency sides with examiner on megaloads
January 14, 2011, 11:44 am

BOISE - The Idaho Transportation Department has rejected arguments by a
group that wants the state to deny permits to ConocoPhillips to ship
oversized oil-refinery equipment along north-central Idaho's U.S. Highway
12.

A group of local residents filed an appeal this week contesting a hearing
examiner's December decision that the agency should issue the permits.

In its response Thursday, the agency said the hearing examiner applied the
correct legal standards, the group didn't produce relevant evidence that
the shipments would harm members of the group, and most issues raised by
the group aren't relevant to the ConocoPhillips permits.

The state agency also said that if the group wants to set new policy for
commercial use of the highway, the proper route is through federal or
state legislation.

It's unclear when Idaho Transportation Department Director Brian Ness will
make a decision on whether to issue the permits.

Transportation spokesman Adam Rush said Ness will review the appeal, ITD's
response, and a response by ConocoPhillips made Wednesday.

ConocoPhillips wants to ship four giant loads containing coke drums from
Lewiston in northern Idaho to its refinery in Billings, Mont.

Another oil company, ExxonMobil Corp., is keenly interested in whether
ConocoPhillips gets the permits because ExxonMobil wants to use the same
northern Idaho route to truck more than 200 gigantic loads of oil
equipment from the port city of Lewiston, through Montana, to the tar
sands of northern Alberta, Canada. It will also need permits.

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"What lies behind us and lies before us are small matters compared to what
lies right to our faces."

- Author Unknown

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho