Daily Archives: February 20, 2012

Megaload Monitor Motion to Throw Out Seatbelt Misdemeanor Rejected

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On Friday, February 17, Kootenai County Judge Clark Peterson dismissed a motion to suppress the charge of resisting and obstructing an officer imposed on Wild Idaho Rising Tide organizer Helen Yost.  Idaho State Police arrested and jailed Cici Claar and Ms. Yost on August 26, 2011, when they refused to provide identification after trooper accusations of not wearing safety belts in the back seat of a parked vehicle, as they monitored Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil tar sands megaloads south of Coeur d’Alene.  We anticipate plenty of arguments about civil rights, constitutional case law, and corporate police states, along with regional media coverage, when a jury trial of both defendants occurs in April or May.  Listen to the KRFP Radio Free Moscow story and interview of megaload monitor Helen Yost between 21:00 and 13:11 on the Monday, February 20, Evening Report: Megaload Monitor Motion to Throw Out Seatbelt Misdemeanor Rejected.  For further background on this situation, see the Moscow-Pullman Daily News article Megaload Monitors Arrested Saturday for Obstruction Outside Coeur d’Alene and The Spokesman Review piece Three More Megaload Protesters Arrested in Coeur d’Alene.

Seven Better Never than Late Megaloads

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[Update: Wild Northern Rockies winter weather and other adverse conditions have reportedly forced ExxonMobil/Imperial Oil to postpone passage of its three Tuesday megaloads until Wednesday, February 22.  For further logistical information, please see the following revised request for protester and monitor involvement.]

With only a few of the 78 split-megaloads remaining at the Port of Lewiston, citizens outraged by corporate takeover of our public resources and senseless exacerbation of ecological destruction, Native genocide, and climate chaos NEED YOU in the Moscow streets on Wednesday night, February 22, to remind ExxonMobil’s Canadian subsidiary Imperial Oil how forever unwelcome it is in north central Idaho.  Between the four Highway 12 court cases and about 40 Highway 95 protests in Moscow and Potlatch, we are kicking Big Oil’s tar sands equipment off the taxpayer-funded highways it has conspicuously damaged with over 70 massive loads, as we expand megaload opposition to Spokane and Interstate 90 (see Highway 95 Megaload Tire Marks south of Plummer, Idaho 2-17-12). Continue reading →

Idaho Fracking Forum Recording: Part 1

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KRFP Radio Free Moscow recently posted the first half of the Idaho Fracking Forum recorded on February 11 at the Hamilton Indoor Recreation Center in Moscow.  Sponsored by the Palouse Environmental Sustainability Coalition, Palouse Group Sierra Club, and Wild Idaho Rising Tide, the public discussion addressed the policy and science of newly emerging natural gas industry practices in Idaho.  Panel speakers included southern Idaho anti-fracking activists Liz Amason and Amanda Buchanan, University of Idaho hydrogeologist Jerry Fairley, Kai Huschke of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, and Idaho Representative Tom Trail of Moscow.  State Senator Dan Schmidt of Moscow and several visiting and resident audience members also contributed to the conversation.  Please see Idaho Fracking Forum for more information about the forum and listen to Idaho Fracking Forum Part 1.