<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><b>EFF 'EM ! ! !</b></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Courtesy of today's (December 18, 2013) Moscow-Pullman Daily News.</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 style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="paragraph-0" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><h1 class="title" style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Megaloads might roll through Moscow in January</h1><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><article class="article" style="position: relative; padding-right: 300px; margin-top: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: medium; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><div class="body-copy column" style="position: relative; float: left; width: 694px; padding-right: 20px;"></div></article></p><p class="subheadline alt-text2" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.235294); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Trucks, loads to be 472 feet long and weigh 800 tons</p><p class="subheadline alt-text2" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.235294); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </p><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;">The Idaho Transportation Department might allow three megaload deliveries of oil field equipment to travel through Moscow en route to Missoula, Mont., and eventually the Alberta, Canada, tar sands.</p></span><span class="paragraph-1" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;">One vehicle and its equipment load would weigh 1.6 million pounds total and be 472 feet long, 27 feet wide and 16 feet high, according to a press release sent out by the ITD.</p></span></span><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">State officials aren't "being fully transparent" about the route or when the cargo is expected to reach certain areas because they want to avoid controversy, said Helen Yost, an organizer with Wild Idaho Rising Tide, a group based in Moscow.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">About a dozen protesters came out to show their displeasure when four smaller megaloads came through Moscow in mid-October, for example.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"And we're definitely going to protest this time," Yost said about the planned January deliveries.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow city officials found out about the plan Tuesday to route the vehicle along Washington Street as part of its U.S. Highway 95 leg of the trip. Specifically, the route would move north on U.S. 95 from Lewiston - during which time it would come through Moscow - then move on to Interstate 90 at Coeur d'Alene.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The interstate isn't built for such a load to enter certain spots, so temporary ramps are being constructed.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Traffic control also would affect residents in Coeur d'Alene. The haul would be required to make frequent stops to accommodate other drivers throughout the trip.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Oversize hauls move very slowly, and this one might even only travel a few miles an hour, said Bill Belknap, the Moscow's development director.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The cargo would exceed the length of some shorter city blocks in Moscow, and it's at least double the size of others that have traveled through the community in the past, thus "substantially larger," said Les McDonald, the city's public works director.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He noted before a permit is issued for the oversized load to move through Idaho, state officials will determine what the hauler, Mammoet USA South, needs to ensure the massive cargos aren't putting too much weight on roads and freeways.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Requiring a large number of wheels and axles to support the cargo allows for the weight to be better distributed and less stressful on roads, he and ITD spokesman Adam Rush explained.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Washington Street is state-controlled, but some of the infrastructure that lies underneath - specifically water, wastewater and stormwater pipes and related hardware - is owned by the city.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">There will be a public meeting 4-7 p.m. Thursday at the ITD District 1 office in Coeur d'Alene. Focus of this event is on the portion of the route that includes creating a temporary on-ramp that would allow enough space for the huge shipment to reach Interstate 90, however.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The cargo hauling is expected to occur only between the hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., so it wouldn't affect as many drivers as it would during more common travel times, Rush emphasized.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Much smaller loads were set to travel along scenic U.S. Highway 12 in Idaho this past summer. These plans were stopped after only one truck made the trip because of a lawsuit filed in federal court in Boise by the group Idaho Rivers United and the Nez Perce Tribe.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The first of three loads planned by hauler Omega Morgan for a division of General Electric is slowly traveling across Oregon toward southern Idaho. Protesters and bad weather have caused delays. The Associated Press reported that 16 protesters were arrested late Monday in John Day, Ore., after chaining themselves to a car and trailer to slow the Alberta-bound cargo down.</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></body></html>