Category Archives: Anti-Tar Sands Megaloads Protests

Washington/Idaho Megaload Resistance

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At about 11:30 pm on Sunday night, May 20, a dozen activists from Occupy Spokane and Wild Idaho Rising Tide converged in Spokane, Washington, to protest megaloads of oversized equipment bound for Alberta tar sands operations from the Port of Pasco.  ExxonMobil/Imperial Oil has been using Highway 395, Interstate 90, and city streets in Spokane and Spokane Valley since mid-October to transport road damaging shipments weighing up to 400,000 pounds and stretching over 200 feet long.  Diverted in Idaho from their originally intended Highway 12 route by court challenges and from their alternative Highway 95 path by Moscow area protests, these pieces of a tar sands/bitumen processing plant will expand Canadian carbon fuel extraction, American dependence on oil, and continental greenhouse gas emissions, while reaping hefty profits for one of the wealthiest corporations on Earth. Continue reading →

Spokane Climate Justice Protest against ExxonMobil’s Megaloads

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In recognition of International Stop the Tar Sands/Climate Impacts Day on Saturday, a group of about eight activists met near East Third Avenue in Spokane, Washington, on Sunday evening, May 6, to protest megaloads of oversized equipment bound for Alberta tar sands operations from the Port of Pasco.  ExxonMobil/Imperial Oil has been using Highway 395, Interstate 90, and city streets in Spokane and Spokane Valley since mid-October to transport road damaging shipments weighing up to 400,000 pounds and stretching over 200 feet long.  Diverted in Idaho from their originally intended Highway 12 route by court challenges and from their alternative Highway 95 path by Moscow area protests, these pieces of a tar sands/bitumen processing plant will expand Canadian carbon fuel extraction, American dependence on oil, and continental greenhouse gas emissions, while reaping exorbitant profits for one of the wealthiest corporations on Earth. Continue reading →

Sentencing Hearing of March 4 Megaload Blockaders

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On Friday, April 6, at 1:00 pm, Cass Davis and Jim Prall will offer statements that describe their reasons for protesting and blocking three transports of tar sands processing equipment that traversed Moscow, Idaho, late on Sunday evening, March 4, 2012.  Idaho state and Moscow city police arrested, jailed, and charged Cass and Jim for disturbing the peace at the intersection of Fourth and Washington streets.  Represented by Dana Johnson of the Northern Rockies Justice Center, both defendants have pled guilty to their misdemeanors and will personally present their motives during their sentencing hearing before Judge John Judge in the Latah County Courthouse.  The officially recorded session is open to the public and reporters, but normal courtroom policy disallows recording devices such as cameras and camcorders.  Please join community members and friends at 1:00 pm on Friday afternoon for this hearing at 522 South Adams Street in Moscow. Continue reading →

Foes of Megaloads Face the Music

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Helen Yost

MOSCOW – The last megaloads have reportedly passed through downtown here, leaving behind 11 misdemeanor court cases against people who protested shipment of infrastructure equipment to Canadian oil fields.

Last to plead innocent to two allegations was Helen Yost, 54, of Moscow. Yost, spokeswoman for Wild Idaho Rising Tide and an organizer of the months-long protests, appeared in Latah County Court here Wednesday morning.

She is charged with two misdemeanors for allegedly throwing a sign at a megaload and attempted battery of a Moscow police officer. She and two other demonstrators, Cass Davis, 47, and James Prall, 67, both of Moscow, have pretrial conferences set for April 3, according to court records.

Davis and Prall were arrested March 4 during a protest and charged with resisting, or obstructing police for allegedly refusing to stay out of the roadway when oversize loads were moving through town on Washington Street. Yost received citations for her actions two nights later, after she publicly admitted that she threw a sign and “air-kicked the transports and their police escorts out of town.” Continue reading →

Megaload Protester Faces Charge for Throwing Sign at Truck

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Wild Idaho Rising Tide protester Helen Yost faces a misdemeanor charge in connection to her last act of protest against two Imperial Oil refinery modules that came through Moscow last week.

The 54-year-old Moscow woman was charged in Latah County Second District Court with throwing a substance at a vehicle after she threw her cardboard protest sign at one of the passing tractor-trailers as it came through Washington Street on March 6.  She was cited Thursday and will have an initial court appearance [at 8:30 am on] March 21.

Yost is also set for trial in Kootenai County for a charge of obstructing an officer in connection with her arrest in August 2011 by an Idaho State Police trooper while monitoring module transports, where she said she refused to give the law enforcement officer her license.  She was also cited at that time with failing to wear her seatbelt, which she said was because the vehicle she was in was parked at the time.  Her trial in Kootenai County is set for May 14.

(By The Moscow-Pullman Daily News)

Media Release: More Charges Brought Against Tar Sands “Megaload” Protesters in Moscow, Idaho

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As some of the last five of over 70 massive parts of an Alberta tar sands upgrader plant rumbled through the small, quiet, college town of Moscow, Idaho, at about 11 pm on Sunday, March 4, four protesters linked arms and sat down in the middle of Washington Street to stop three of these “megaloads” weighing 200,000 to 415,000 pounds and measuring 150 to 200 feet long.  Police arrested Cass Davis and Jim Prall for resisting and obstructing officers and dragged Jeanne McHale and Pat Monger to the sidewalk, as another 40 protesters voiced their opposition to expanding tar sands mining operations.  Again on Tuesday, March 6, when the final two similarly huge shipments crossed this 22,000-person city, demonstrators pounded drums, chanted slogans, played music, and engaged in street theater.  Helen Yost tossed a cardboard protest sign at the rear of the last megaload and air-kicked the transports and their police escorts out of town, resulting in misdemeanor charges for throwing an object at a moving highway vehicle and attempted battery of a peace officer.

All three accused protesters are pleading not guilty based on the necessity of their actions induced by their moral obligation to directly confront the causes of climate change that are currently killing millions of people, plants, and animals around the globe.  For their statements, please listen to Cass Davis and Jim Prall on Flashpoints and Helen Yost on KRFP Radio Free Moscow.  Other articles, photos, and videos of numerous megaload passages and protests are available on the Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) facebook page and website. Continue reading →

As Eco-Terrorism Wanes, Governments Still Target Activist Groups Seen as Threat

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…The police chief in Moscow, Idaho, said in an interview that he discussed with FBI agents the repeated protests aimed at blocking the shipment of equipment ExxonMobil and other firms are using to extract heavy crude in Canada’s oil sands.

Some say the broad definition of domestic terrorism the FBI uses contributes to the number of investigations.  According to its 2002-05 terrorism report, “A terrorist incident is a violent act or an act dangerous to human life, in violation of the criminal laws of the United States, or of any state, to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.”

As a result, any act aimed to intimidate an individual or corporation that has a political or social goal qualifies…

Read more: As Eco-Terrorism Wanes, Governments Still Target Activist Groups Seen as Threat

(By Juliet Eilperin, The Washington Post)

Yost Charged with Two Misdemeanors for Throwing Cardboard Sign at Rear of 415,000-Pound Megaload, Air-Kicking in Direction of Officer

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On Thursday, March 8, Moscow City Police Lieutenant Paul Kwiatkowski served two misdemeanor charges to Helen Yost for “throwing…a two-by-three-foot sign…at a vehicle traveling on a highway” and for “willfully attempt[ing] to kick…a peace officer…while he was walking away” at the final megaload protest in Moscow, Idaho, on Tuesday, March 6.  Listen to between 14:56 and 6:35 of the Thursday, March 8, Evening Report, Sign Throwing Charge, on KRFP Radio Free Moscow for an interview and discussion of Yost Charged with Two Misdemeanors for Throwing Cardboard Sign at Rear of 415,000-Pound Megaload, Air-Kicking in Direction of Officer.

Megaload Protesters Get in Their Final Shots

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Helen Yost, of Wild Idaho Rising Tide, holds her sign protesting the megaloads’ use of U.S. Highway 95 through Moscow (The Lewiston Tribune/David Johnson photo).

Last of the big rigs moves through the mean streets of Moscow

MOSCOW – Helen Yost, the fiery spokeswoman for the activist group Wild Idaho Rising Tide, said she absolutely had to have the last word.

So, as the last Imperial Oil megaload exited this Latah County town late Tuesday night en route to the Kearl Oil Sands in Alberta, Canada, Yost broke ranks from about 45 demonstrators standing on the sidewalk and dashed into the street.

“I was swarmed by cops, but they didn’t touch me,” Yost said, recalling how she threw a protest sign and struck the back end of the final behemoth load. “I quickly retreated back, but I had made my statement. I hit the megaload.” Continue reading →

Flashpoints Interview of Cass Davis and Jim Prall

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On Wednesday evening, March 7, two of the four valiant activists who risked arrest or were jailed by police on Sunday, March 4, for peacefully blocking megaload parts of an Alberta tar sands upgrader plant moving through Moscow, Idaho, talked with Flashpoints host Dennis Bernstein.  Listen to the first 17:52 minutes of this radio program as Cass Davis and Jim Prall describe tar sands devastation, political corruption, Idaho’s megaload dilemma, Wild Idaho Rising Tide’s anti-megaload campaign, and protesters’ civil disobedience on KPFA Free Speech Radio in Berkeley.