Protesters huddle in the dark out in front of the 450-ton megaload of oil refinery equipment on Monday at the Port of Umatilla (East Oregonian/E.J. Harris photo).

As promised, about 20 protesters gathered on toe-numbing Sunday and Monday nights at the Port of Umatilla, to rally against the first of three “megaloads” hauling massive refinery equipment into the tar sands of Alberta, Canada.

Yet the shipment never budged, sitting under towering floodlights, while workers with the Hillsboro-based Omega Morgan continue to prepare the oversize transport for its first leg south through Hermiston and east into Pendleton.

The 380-foot-long, 23-foot-wide trucking behemoth was supposed to hit the road by Sunday, then by Monday, according to a traffic advisory from the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT).  Instead, ODOT posted on TripCheck.com that the transport will begin traveling on December 1.

Climate activists oppose providing a route on Oregon’s highways for something they said will contribute to increased carbon dioxide emissions and global warming.  On Sunday, Jim Powers of Albany also said that ODOT rushed to permit the project without enough public input. Continue reading →

Protesters demonstrating against a megaload bound for a tar sands mining site in Canada gather in front of it at the Port of Umatilla on Sunday evening. The 300-foot-long, 20-foot-high transport scheduled to travel through Hermiston on Monday night has been rescheduled to leave on Sunday, December 1 (Hermiston Herald/Colin Murphey photo).

More shipments from port coming

About a dozen protesters from across the state braved subfreezing temperatures on Sunday night at the Port of Umatilla, to deliver the message that they do not want megaloads on Oregon roads.

Megaloads are unusually large pieces of equipment transported on specially made trailers.  The megaload that was scheduled to pass through Hermiston on Monday night was almost 400 feet long, more than 20 feet wide, and almost 20 feet high.  It was bound for the controversial tar sands oil and gas exploration sites in Alberta, Canada.

The cargo consisted of water purification equipment that will eventually end up at one of the many tar sands sites in Alberta.  The company hauling the megaload, Omega Morgan of Hillsboro, specializes in heavy-freight transportation.

Protest organizer Jim Powers said the group members were demonstrating to voice their displeasure that the megaload was given the green-light to travel through Oregon and what it represented on a larger scale. Continue reading →