<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Courtesy of today's (October 25, 2013) Lewiston Tribune.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">----------------------------------</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></div><div><span class="paragraph0" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><h1 class="title" style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Megaloads company gives up legal fight</h1><p class="subheadline alt-text2" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">GE subsidiary drops appeal of federal injuction blocking shipments to Alberta, Canada, oil fields</p><p class="subheadline alt-text2" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </p><p style="margin-top: 0px;">The company blocked by court order from moving its giant water purification equipment through the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest on its way to Canadian oil fields has abandoned its legal efforts to reverse the injunction.</p></span><div class=""><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Resources Conservation Company International, a subsidiary of the General Electric Co., filed documents Thursday signaling it would voluntarily drop its emergency motion to stay the injunction and its appeal.</span></p></div><div class=""><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">According to a statement issued by GE, the company abandoned the appeal because of "ongoing uncertainty regarding timely delivery of properly permitted shipments. Because this technology is important to our customers and to improving the environmental impact of oil recovery operations, GE, instead, will focus on alternative shipment options."</span></p></div><div class=""><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Last month, U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ordered the U.S. Forest Service to block the shipments from using a 100-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 12 that passes through the forest and the Lochsa/Middle Fork of the Clearwater Wild and Scenic River Corridor. The ruling followed a lawsuit filed by the Nez Perce Tribe and Idaho Rivers United.</span></p></div><div class=""><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The company asked Winmill to reconsider, but the judge reached the same conclusion when he reconsidered the ruling earlier this month. The company filed an appeal following Winmill's second ruling, but pulled the plug Thursday.</span></p></div><div class=""><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Through its contracted hauler Omega Morgan, the company did ship one megaload - a 21-foot-wide, 255-foot-long evaporator weighing 644,000 pounds - from the Port of Wilma to Montana and eventually Canada via the narrow highway that twists along the two rivers. The August shipment sparked four nights of protests and dozens of arrests and eventually led to the lawsuit.</span></p></div><div class=""><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The U.S. Forest Service, the original defendant in the case, joined RCCI's motion to reconsider, which was ultimately rejected by Winmill. Rick Brazell, supervisor of the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest, said he did not know if his agency would file an appeal. According to court documents filed in the case, the agency believes it doesn't have the power to stop highway traffic, based on the federal code cited by Winmill in his injunction order.</span></p></div><div class=""><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"I don't know what our legal team will do," he said. "I'm curious to know what happens with us."</span></p></div><div class=""><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Brazell said he is confident other shippers will continue to find the route attractive. Highway l2 is free of overpasses that can prevent the shipment of massively oversized loads. Those looking to use it also like the fact that they can barge their loads 400 miles inland to ports in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley via the Columbia and Snake rivers.</span></p></div><div class=""><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Brazell said his agency would continue to work on its ongoing study of the effects of megaload traffic on the intrinsic and cultural values of the Highway 12 corridor. It will also move forward with consultation with the Nez Perce Tribe following the study.</span></p></div><div class=""><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Winmill ruled the Forest Service improperly allowed megaloads to proceed prior to completing the study and consulting with the tribe.</span></p></div><div class=""><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee Chairman Silas Whitman said he was pleased to hear RCCI dropped its appeal, but the tribe also suspects the battle over the route will continue.</span></p></div><div class=""><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"It is important to understand this is only one small part of the overall effort needed to protect an area that has special significance to not only the Nez Perce people but people throughout the United States because of its cultural and intrinsic value," he said.</span></p></div></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">----------------------------------<br><br><div>Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</div><div><br></div><div>"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</div><div><a href="http://www.MoscowCares.com">http://www.MoscowCares.com</a></div><div> </div><div><div>Tom Hansen</div><div>Moscow, Idaho</div><div><br></div><div>"<span style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">There's room at the top they are telling you still</span><span style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "> </span></div><span style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">But first you must learn how to smile as you kill </span><br style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><span style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">If you want to be like the folks on the hill."</span></div><div><font size="3"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);"><br></span></font></div><div><font size="3"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);">- John Lennon<br></span></font><div> </div></div><div><br></div></div></div></body></html>