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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body bgcolor=white lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Oh, my . . . how terribly inconvenient & embarrassing for those who were just <b>so certain</b> that opposition to megaloads was just about sticking it to Big Oil. There should be some big ol’ servings of humble pie being eaten today, but I suspect those who should be doing the eating are already too full from far too much hubris to do so.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:7.5pt;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I guess all of us who saw this coming should be strutting around town chortling like Henry Johnson, “It’s official – we are modern day Nostradamus.’”</span><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Saundra Lund<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Moscow, ID<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>~ Edmund Burke<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> vision2020-bounces@moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces@moscow.com] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Tom Hansen<br><b>Sent:</b> Saturday, September 17, 2011 6:23 AM<br><b>To:</b> Moscow Vision 2020<br><b>Cc:</b> Aaron Ament; Lois Blackburn; Kathy Judson; Borg Hendrickson; Friends of the Clearwater; Fritz Knorr; Jeanne McHale; Brett Haverstick; Marilyn Beckett; Cheryl Halverson; Joann Muneta; Friends Of The Palouse Ranger District; Wild Idaho Rising Tide; Helen Yost<br><b>Subject:</b> [Vision2020] Hearings Denied on Pulp Mill Megaloads<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>Courtesy of today's (September 17, 2011) Spokesman-Review.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>------------------------------<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span class=apple-style-span><b><span style='font-size:21.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Hearings denied on pulp mill megaloads</span></b></span><o:p></o:p></p></div><h5 style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:9.0pt;margin-left:0in;vertical-align:baseline;overflow-x: visible !important;overflow-y: visible !important;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;outline-width: 0px;outline-style: initial;outline-color: initial;background-image:initial;background-attachment:initial;background-origin: initial;background-clip: initial;background-position:initial initial;background-repeat:initial initial'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#444444;font-weight:normal'>Transportation chief gives Weyerhaeuser OK<o:p></o:p></span></h5><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.75pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;overflow-x: visible !important;overflow-y: visible !important;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;outline-width: 0px;outline-style: initial;outline-color: initial;background-image:initial;background-attachment:initial;background-origin: initial;background-clip: initial;background-position:initial initial;background-repeat:initial initial'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>BOISE – Idaho’s transportation director refused Friday to allow hearings that could delay a new proposal to send megaloads of equipment across scenic U.S. Highway 12 in north-central Idaho.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.75pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;overflow-x: visible !important;overflow-y: visible !important;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;outline-width: 0px;outline-style: initial;outline-color: initial;background-image:initial;background-attachment:initial;background-origin: initial;background-clip: initial;background-position:initial initial;background-repeat:initial initial'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Several of the loads are wide enough to block both lanes of traffic on the narrow, twisting, two-lane route.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:18.0pt'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The move followed extended hearings that delayed for months the plans by Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil to send more than 200 giant loads of oil equipment over the route; ExxonMobil instead reduced the height of many of the loads so they can travel on a freeway route instead.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.75pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;overflow-x: visible !important;overflow-y: visible !important;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;outline-width: 0px;outline-style: initial;outline-color: initial;background-image:initial;background-attachment:initial;background-origin: initial;background-clip: initial;background-position:initial initial;background-repeat:initial initial'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Brian Ness, Idaho Transportation Department director, rejected a petition from Friends of the Clearwater, a conservation group based in Moscow, Idaho, to hold a contested-case hearing on a new proposal from Nickel Bros. and Weyerhaeuser Inc. to run nine large oversize loads over Highway 12 on their way to a Weyerhaeuser pulp mill in northern Alberta.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.75pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;overflow-x: visible !important;overflow-y: visible !important;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;outline-width: 0px;outline-style: initial;outline-color: initial;background-image:initial;background-attachment:initial;background-origin: initial;background-clip: initial;background-position:initial initial;background-repeat:initial initial'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Ness ruled that all the issues the Friends of the Clearwater raised in their petition already were addressed in the contested-case hearings over proposals from ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.75pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;overflow-x: visible !important;overflow-y: visible !important;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;outline-width: 0px;outline-style: initial;outline-color: initial;background-image:initial;background-attachment:initial;background-origin: initial;background-clip: initial;background-position:initial initial;background-repeat:initial initial'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>“A third contested case hearing is not warranted. The facts and concerns raised in the petition have been fully considered in two separate hearings and resolved by hearing officers,” Ness said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.75pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;overflow-x: visible !important;overflow-y: visible !important;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;outline-width: 0px;outline-style: initial;outline-color: initial;background-image:initial;background-attachment:initial;background-origin: initial;background-clip: initial;background-position:initial initial;background-repeat:initial initial'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>However, during the earlier hearings, when opponents raised concerns about the ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil loads setting a precedent for turning the popular scenic river corridor into a megaload-friendly industrial route, ITD stressed that it was considering only the proposal before it – and not any precedent. The latest decision suggests otherwise.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.75pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;overflow-x: visible !important;overflow-y: visible !important;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;outline-width: 0px;outline-style: initial;outline-color: initial;background-image:initial;background-attachment:initial;background-origin: initial;background-clip: initial;background-position:initial initial;background-repeat:initial initial'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>“The law does not require nor allow a party to re-litigate issues and claims that have already been ruled upon by the appropriate authority,” Ness said in an ITD press release.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.75pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;overflow-x: visible !important;overflow-y: visible !important;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;outline-width: 0px;outline-style: initial;outline-color: initial;background-image:initial;background-attachment:initial;background-origin: initial;background-clip: initial;background-position:initial initial;background-repeat:initial initial'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Wayne Roznowsky, spokesman for Weyerhaeuser, said, “We’re pleased with the decision. We obviously think it’s the right decision and are pleased to be able to proceed.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.75pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;overflow-x: visible !important;overflow-y: visible !important;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;outline-width: 0px;outline-style: initial;outline-color: initial;background-image:initial;background-attachment:initial;background-origin: initial;background-clip: initial;background-position:initial initial;background-repeat:initial initial'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>He said the wood-products company was “somewhat surprised and I guess disappointed” when the petition was filed, “that what we thought is a pretty good project” could face delays. The equipment is being shipped to a Grande Prairie, Alberta, pulp mill for the third phase of an upgrade to improve the 37-year-old facility’s efficiency, cut its emissions and water use, and allow it to produce green energy from biomass that will go to the Canadian power grid, enough to power 16,000 homes.“This equipment is not related to the oil sands,” Roznowsky said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.75pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;overflow-x: visible !important;overflow-y: visible !important;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;outline-width: 0px;outline-style: initial;outline-color: initial;background-image:initial;background-attachment:initial;background-origin: initial;background-clip: initial;background-position:initial initial;background-repeat:initial initial'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Exxon’s loads are of Korean-made oil field equipment for use in the Alberta oil sands project.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.75pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;overflow-x: visible !important;overflow-y: visible !important;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;outline-width: 0px;outline-style: initial;outline-color: initial;background-image:initial;background-attachment:initial;background-origin: initial;background-clip: initial;background-position:initial initial;background-repeat:initial initial'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Gary MacFarlane of Friends of the Clearwater said his group’s “main concern is we think Highway 12 is inappropriate for megaloads, be they headed for the tar sands in Alberta or be they a giant machine to make bubble gum. It doesn’t matter. Because this is not an appropriate place.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.75pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;overflow-x: visible !important;overflow-y: visible !important;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;outline-width: 0px;outline-style: initial;outline-color: initial;background-image:initial;background-attachment:initial;background-origin: initial;background-clip: initial;background-position:initial initial;background-repeat:initial initial'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Natalie Havlina, attorney for the Friends of the Clearwater, said the group could ask Ness to reconsider his decision, and/or take the case to court. “My client has not decided yet what if any action it intends to take,” she said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.75pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;overflow-x: visible !important;overflow-y: visible !important;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;outline-width: 0px;outline-style: initial;outline-color: initial;background-image:initial;background-attachment:initial;background-origin: initial;background-clip: initial;background-position:initial initial;background-repeat:initial initial'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>ITD spokesman Adam Rush said the group has 14 days to seek reconsideration.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.75pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;overflow-x: visible !important;overflow-y: visible !important;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;outline-width: 0px;outline-style: initial;outline-color: initial;background-image:initial;background-attachment:initial;background-origin: initial;background-clip: initial;background-position:initial initial;background-repeat:initial initial'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Havlina called Ness’ decision “disturbing,” particularly after ITD’s assurances on the ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil cases that it wasn’t considering any precedent for future loads. “Now they’ve suddenly changed course and decided that they did set a precedent,” she said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.75pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;overflow-x: visible !important;overflow-y: visible !important;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;outline-width: 0px;outline-style: initial;outline-color: initial;background-image:initial;background-attachment:initial;background-origin: initial;background-clip: initial;background-position:initial initial;background-repeat:initial initial'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>“The fact that they think they now can proceed to approve megaloads without taking that careful look and subjecting each traffic-control plan to careful scrutiny is concerning,” Havlina said. “I think it’s important that both ITD scrutinize the plan and that the public have the opportunity to challenge the plan if they have concerns about it.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>------------------------------<o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>Seeya round town, Moscow.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Tom Hansen<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Moscow, Idaho<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>"When all is said and done, have you done or said enough? Have you just gone along for the ride, or have you steered destiny's hotrod? When you leave this world, did you make it any better than it was when you arrived? All you need is all you've got: your wits and the clothes on your back. Your epitaph is yours to earn. Your legacy is yours to make."<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>- Author Unknown<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div></div></div></body></html>