Daily Archives: March 7, 2012

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.

Good Riddance, ExxonMobil! 3-6-12

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The last two of nearly 80 scheduled oversized loads moving from the Port of Lewiston to Alberta, Canada, made their way north on U.S. Highway 95 and through the City of Moscow on March 6. An activist organization once again took to the streets to protest the Kearl Oil Sands project. Wild Idaho Rising Tide has held protests against the shipments more than 40 times since the first oversized loads traveled the route in July.

(By Big Country News Connection, Photos courtesy of Zachary Johnson, selected from 21 facebook pictures at Final (?) Moscow Tar Sands Megaload Protest – 6 March 2012)

In a final act of defiance, a participant in the March 6 Moscow demonstration tossed a protest sign that hit the back of the last ExxonMobil/Imperial Oil megaload on Highway 95, which quoted the Port of Lewiston’s TIGER grant application, “If one oil company is successful with this alternate transportation route, many other companies will follow their lead” (Zachary Johnson photo).

(By Zachary Johnson, selected photos from among 21 pictures available on facebook at Final (?) Moscow Tar Sands Megaload Protest – 6 March 2012)

Megaloads Head North on 95; Foes Claim Victory

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As 45 protesters escort two oversized shipments through Moscow, Kooskia-area couple celebrate

Megaload opponents claimed a win Tuesday as the last two Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil oversized shipments left Lewiston and headed through Moscow on U.S. Highway 95.

About 45 protesters, and nearly as many law enforcement officers, ushered the megaloads through Moscow without incident Tuesday night. [Editor’s note: Moscow police issued two misdemeanors on Thursday for two protester incidents.]

Ordinary citizens of Idaho and Montana have successfully challenged an attempt to turn U.S. Highway 12 into a permanent high-and-wide-transport corridor, Borg Hendrickson wrote in an email Tuesday. “Is this outcome a victory for the Davids of the world, the ‘little’ people? Absolutely. Is the battle over? Probably not.”

Hendrickson and her husband, Linwood Laughy of the Kooskia area, spearheaded an effort to block megaloads on U.S. 12, which is adjacent to their home along the Middle Fork of the Clearwater River. Continue reading →