[Vision2020] Forest Service Sued Over Inaction on Megaloads

[Tom Hansen]

In the words of the title of one of my favorite movies . . .

Tora!  Tora!  Tora!

Courtesy of the Lewiston Tribune.

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Forest Service sued over inaction on megaloads
March 10, 2011, 10:14 am

BOISE (AP) � An environmental group wants a federal judge to step
in and block plans to haul dozens of oversized truckloads of oil refinery
equipment along a northern Idaho highway federally protected river
corridor.

Idaho Rivers United filed its complaint Thursday in U.S. District Court in
Boise against the U.S. Forest Service, alleging the agency neglected its
duty and federal laws by allowing Idaho officials to give ExxonMobil Corp.
permits to haul the giant loads along U.S. Highway 12.

The highway stretches across northcentral Idaho, from Lewiston to the
Montana border, and a significant portion of it passes along the Lochsa
and Clearwater rivers. The rivers were among the nation�s first to
be protected by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act approved by Congress in
1968.

Last month, the Idaho Transportation Department granted ExxonMobil a
permit for a test run of the massive loads and suggested permits be
approved for up to 200 additional loads destined for the Kearl Oil Sands
project in southern Alberta.

The lawsuit accuses the Forest Service of sidestepping its authority to
enforce federal laws established to protect designated river corridors and
making some legal mistakes in the process of planning for the shipments.

�We have a responsibility to protect the Clearwater and Lochsa, the
way we see them now and enjoy them now, for our children and their
children,� said Kevin Lewis, conservation director for IRU, a
nonprofit with 3,500 members. �The Forest Service shares that
responsibility and should be leading the charge for protection.�

The lawsuit is the latest challenge to shipping plans approved by Idaho
and pursued by oil companies who see the two-lane byway as a viable and
cost-effective means for getting giant refinery equipment from the port in
Lewiston to inland locations. So far, ConnocoPhillips has used the roadway
to truck two of four loads to its refinery in Billings, Mont.

Opponents of the travel plans, a mix of residents who live along the
highway and business owners, fought ITD for months in state court and a
series of administrative hearings to prevent permits being issued for the
ConnocoPhillips loads. They unsuccessfully argued that the loads would
threaten public safety and convenience, backing up traffic for extended
periods in the middle of the night. They also claimed approving the
shipments would turn a region prized for its clean streams and scenic
beauty into a frontage road for big-scale trucking.


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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