On Tuesday night, 11/12/13, three Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) and Occupy Bellingham and Spokane monitors observed and documented the Interstate 90 passage of an Omega Morgan-hauled evaporator core en route to Alberta tar sands mining-induced ecocide and genocide.  The convoy slowly, closely squeezed the 15.9-foot-tall megaload under several overpasses, while questionably allowing highway traffic to pass on all the other lanes, and arduously traversed on- and off-ramps to circumvent bridge collapses under its weight.  By the time that the colossal load, trailer, and three push/pull trucks, together weighing 644,000 pounds and stretching out 297 feet, exited the interstate to avoid all of the bridge structures over Wallace, convoy workers had complained to police that monitors (not they?) were imposing travel dangers.  Two Shoshone sheriff officers reminded monitors that they were in their territory and that there are ‘certain ways to protest.’  The megaload monitors recorded but missed documenting some of the most salient parts of this ignored warning, like the capacity of Omega Morgan staff for citizen’s arrest.  But during passing conversations with the convoy and these local police, monitors sparked the beginnings of their understanding of the destructive consequences of their work. Continue reading →