[Vision2020] "All Against The Haul" Mega-Load Issue Website

[Ted Moffett]

If this website has already been discussed on Vision2020, excuse the redundancy.

http://allagainstthehaul.org/the-haul/the-heavy-haul/

An excerpt from this website:

Did Exxon and Conoco really develop these proposals in secrecy?
In the summer of 2009, Montana Department of Transportation Director,
Jim Lynch, stated:

“I’m a little bit amazed that if they started this process two years
ago why did they just come to us this summer. We’re talking about a
long route. Can it be done? Right now we don’t have the information to
justifiably tell the state of Montana that it can.”

The public did not become aware of the megaloads issue until April of
2010, when the Montana Department of Transportation held three
hearings for Exxon’s proposal in the communities of Cut Bank, Lincoln,
and Missoula. However, MDT likely learned of Exxon’s plan in April
2009, and Jim Lynch testified before Montana’s Revenue and
Transportation Committee in July, 2010, where he gave a presentation
entitled “Proposed High and Wide Corridors Briefing.”

Meanwhile, Idaho learned of Exxon’s proposal more than two years ago.
In a February 2009 letter to the Port of Lewiston, Idaho Governor
Butch Otter gave his explicit endorsement of ExxonMobil’s proposal,
long before the state’s first public hearing was held in July of 2010.
In his letter, Otter wrote: “I pledge our [Idaho’s] support and
cooperation to enhance the development of this important new business
opportunity.”

In contrast to the public hearings held in Montana for Exxon’s loads,
no hearings were ever conducted on ConocoPhillips’ proposal to use
portions of the same corridor. In an interview with the Missoulian,
Dwayne Kailey of the Montana Department of Transportation “admitted”
that “the Billings transport project wasn't mentioned at public
hearings for the Canada project.” “‘I apologize for that,’" he said.

While Idaho and Montana citizens only learned of the projects in the
last six to eight months, many Alberta citizens along the route may
never learn of the project until the trucks are passing through their
towns. Alberta Transportation spokesman Trent Bancarz recently stated
in an interview that “there is no ‘assessment’ document available” for
the Canadian portion of Exxon’s proposed route. Bancarz claimed that
communities are “generally given advance notice” that the shipments
will be passing through, but according to Canadian journalist Jeff
Gailus, most towns “appear to be on their own.”
------------------------------------------
Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett