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<p class=MsoNormal>Courtesy of the Letters section of today’s (August 11,
2010) Moscow-Pullman Daily News with a special thanks to Linwood Laughy of
Kooskia.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Otter wrong about damage<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter recently told
north-central Idahoans the planned shipments of giant equipment on U.S. Highway
12 would probably not impact the highway "any more than a one-ton
pickup." <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>The governor is either ignorant of the facts, grossly
misinformed by the Idaho Transportation Department, or is willing to lie to the
public about predictable damage to the highway surface, subsurface, shoulders
and bridges by these 493,000-646,000-pound transports. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>The governor's own transportation funding task force
recently learned about axle loads as a critical predictor of highway damage.
Above-normal wear occurs when axle loads exceed the legal limit of 20,000
pounds, with the damage being exponential with higher weights. According to the
Washington Department of Transportation, an axle load of 40,000 pounds causes
16 times as much damage as a legal load. Axle loads of the planned shipments
generally vary between 35,000-38,000 pounds, with some loads in the 45,000-48,000-pound
range. Fifty years of highway research by the U.S. Department of Transportation
makes clear these initial shipments alone will cause as much wear on U.S. 12 as
would 35-40 million passenger cars, or nearly the same number of "one-ton
pickups."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Otter wants American taxpayers to subsidize huge
international corporations by allowing the transport of giant equipment made in
South Korea, transported on Asian ships, trucked through Idaho by a Dutch
company, on their way to a Canadian oil field. The fees paid to ITD will not
cover ITD's administrative costs, and future taxpayers will get stuck with
repairing and replacing the damaged highway and bridges.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Linwood Laughy<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Kooskia, Idaho<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>For more information visit . . . <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>“The Rural People of Highway 12 Fighting Goliath”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.fightinggoliath.org/">http://www.fightinggoliath.org/</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Seeya round town, Moscow.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Tom Hansen<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Moscow, Idaho<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>“Facts
are stubborn things.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>- Idaho Governor
“Butch” Otter<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><a
href="http://mountaingoatreport.typepad.com/the_mountaingoat_report/butch_otter/">http://mountaingoatreport.typepad.com/the_mountaingoat_report/butch_otter/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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