Idaho author Steve Bunk, who covered resistance to the tar sands “megaloads” on Highway 12 for the Missoula-based online journal New West, has written a book called Goliath Staggered: How the People of Highway 12 Conquered Big Oil (New West Books, 2014).  Throughout April, bookstores in Boise, Clarkston, and Moscow, Idaho, and Missoula, Montana, are launching the book, warmly received by regional conservationists.

Mr. Bunk will visit …and BOOKS, too! in Clarkston on Saturday, April 19, at 4 pm and BookPeople of Moscow on Wednesday, April 23, at 7 pm, for book signings and lively discussions about “Why the Megaloads Resistance Matters.”  Highway 12 outdoor travel company ROW Adventures will co-sponsor the Clarkston event at 918 Sixth Street.  Borg Hendrickson and Linwood Laughy, the central figures in Goliath Staggered and the couple who galvanized the Idaho megaload resistance, will join Steve and answer audience questions.

Friends of the Clearwater (FOC) and Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) are co-sponsoring the Moscow event happening at BookPeople of Moscow, 521 South Main Street.  Both groups have played key roles in the grassroots opposition to oil company attempts to transform Highway 12’s federally protected Wild and Scenic River corridor into a high-and-wide industrial thoroughfare to Alberta tar sands mines.  Helen Yost of WIRT, who leads a continuing campaign against megaloads traveling through the Northwest, and Brett Haverstick of FOC will also address the audience.

“BookPeople is pleased to host Steve Bunk, an Idaho journalist, to gain and share his insights on a topic that is of such importance to our community,” said Carol Spurling, one of the owners of BookPeople of Moscow.

Citizens and activists of Moscow have directly participated in efforts to keep road-blocking megaloads from traveling through the Wild and Scenic Middle Fork Clearwater and Lochsa River corridor and across their own city via Highway 95.  Both battles have raged in meeting halls, the courts, the media, and in the road since spring 2010, forcing Big Oil to find other routes for its giant infrastructure and equipment for Alberta tar sands production.  Victories in the courts and streets have inspired the current, continent-wide, grassroots movement against tar sands exploitation and other extreme energy, including the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that could carry crude oil through six states to Gulf Coast refineries.

“The people of Moscow care deeply about this issue,” said Brett Haverstick, Education and Outreach Director for Friends of the Clearwater.  “I hope that folks can come out to meet Mr. Bunk and buy a copy of his new book.”

“Over four years in four Northwest states, frontline resistance to the ecocide, genocide, and climate chaos wrought by megaloads building the largest industrial project on Earth has expanded,” Helen Yost of WIRT noted.  “Borg and Lin and a regional coalition have successfully challenged business-as-usual transportation practices and instilled the early ardor and wisdom essential to strong grassroots opposition to corporate tyranny.”

Distributed by New West Books, Baker and Taylor, and Partners East, readers can locally find the paperback Goliath Staggered at …and BOOKS, too! in Clarkston and BookPeople of Moscow.