Teach-in on Powder River Coal Trains, Part 1 between 22:19 and 0:58 on the Friday, August 24, KRFP Radio Free Moscow Evening Report, Coal Train Teach-In
Teach-in on Powder River Coal Trains, Part 1
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Alberta Tar Sands: an Environmental Disaster Coming Our Way
For the Palouse Environmental Sustainability Coalition at 7 pm on Friday, August 24, Helen Yost presented the story and images of the Third Annual Tar Sands Healing Walk, organized by First Nations (native) people, through the desolate landscape of Alberta tar sands operations. In the lower community room of the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse at 420 East Second Street in Moscow, Helen and presentation participants also discussed the interrelationships of corporate/governmental development of and citizen resistance to Alberta and Utah tar sands, the Keystone XL pipeline, and regional megaloads of processing equipment. View a pdf version of her slideshow of the Third Annual Tar Sands Healing Walk.
Port of Lewiston Visit by U.S. Transportation Secretary LaHood
Port of Lewiston Visit by U.S. Transportation Secretary LaHood between 3:08 and 1:05 on the Thursday, August 23, KRFP Radio Free Moscow Evening Report, WSU Computer Glitch
Protesters Object to Tax Dollars Funding the Port of Lewiston
A group of protesters crowded the entrance to the Port of Lewiston Wednesday, chanting and holding up signs in outrage regarding a recent port grant.
Protesters said their anger is directed toward the federal government, who granted the port $1.3 million for the inland port improvement on the Columbia/Snake River System. Protestors said spending millions of taxpayer dollars for a port that’s not producing jobs or enough shipments is a substantial waste of money.
“The port continues to prove that it is not a job maker and it is in fact a money loser,” said protester Brett Haverstick. “Even from a common person’s perspective, dock extension makes no sense. Where is the business?”
Protesters also showed their disapproval of the grant, voicing their concerns about more megaload traffic and the negative impact it inflicts on the environment. The activists also provided onlookers with informational sheets explaining why they believe the Port of Lewiston extension is a bad idea.
See the video at: Protesters Object to Tax Dollars Funding the Port of Lewiston
(By Whitney Hise, KLEW TV Lewiston)
Transportation Secretary Met By Cheers, Jeers at Lewiston Port
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood traveled up to central Idaho late Wednesday to promote river traffic after spending some time in Boise earlier in the day promoting light rail.
While in Lewiston, LaHood was thanked by local officials, Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter, and Republican Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch for $1.3 million in federal funding to expand the Port of Lewiston’s container dock. Paper and agricultural products are shipped from the dock to Portland, Oregon, and on to Pacific Rim destinations.
This morning’s Lewiston Tribune reports that LaHood was also met by a half-dozen protesters from the Wild Idaho Rising Tide activist organization. They disagreed with using more federal dollars at the port, calling it a “taxpayer hoax.”
Read more: Transportation Secretary Met By Cheers, Jeers at Lewiston Port
(By George Prentice, Boise Weekly)
Lewiston Port Project Draws Cabinet Visit
Idaho Senator James Risch, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Idaho Governor C.L. (Butch) Otter, and Idaho Senator Mike Crapo were at the Port of Lewiston Wednesday to promote the expansion of cargo traffic through the port (The Lewiston Tribune/Barry Kough photo).
A group called Wild Idaho Rising Tide protested Wednesday during a visit by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood at the Port of Lewiston (The Lewiston Tribune/Barry Kough photo).
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood hears about effect of $1.3 million dock extension grant
The area’s elected officials got a rare chance Wednesday to thank a Cabinet official on their home turf for the $1.3 million his agency gave to an expansion of the Port of Lewiston’s container dock.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood toured the dock that stands in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley, one of the few U.S. communities of about 50,000 that’s more than an hour away from a multi-lane interstate highway.
LaHood answered media questions and heard praise of the grant from Idaho’s governor, senators, and the port president.
The port received a $1.3 million grant in June from the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery Discretionary Grant program. The money will help the port add 150 feet to its 120-foot container dock, which handles paper and agricultural products. The goods are barged to Portland, Oregon, then transferred to bigger vessels to be shipped overseas. Continue reading
Protesters Oppose Port of Lewiston Expansion as Transportation Secretary LaHood Visits
State to Pay Fired ITD Director Pam Lowe $750,000 and Protesters Oppose Port of Lewiston Expansion as Transportation Secretary LaHood Visits between 18:30 and 4:30 on the Wednesday, August 22, KRFP Radio Free Moscow Evening Report, Port Expansion Opposed
Megaload Port Protest 8-22-12
Members of Friends of the Clearwater, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Northern Rockies Earth First!, and Wild Idaho Rising Tide protest the federally funded, proposed expansion of the container dock at the Port of Lewiston, Idaho, likely to accommodate tar sands equipment shipments, as U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood tours port facilities on Wednesday afternoon, August 22, with Idaho Governor Butch Otter, U.S. Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, and 50 invited port customers, entrepreneurs, local elected officials, and reporters.
Megaload Port Protest
On Wednesday, August 22, at 2:15 pm, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, along with Idaho Governor Butch Otter, U.S. Senator Mike Crapo, and U.S. Senator Jim Risch, will tour the Port of Lewiston dock for about 45 minutes. Event organizers have invited a group of 50 port customers, entrepreneurs, local elected officials, and reporters. This rare Idaho visit of a White House Cabinet official, the first since June 2005 in Boise, emphasizes a June $1.3 million federal grant, only one of seven given to ports, and a $600,000 Idaho loan for the $2.9 million expansion next summer of the 125-foot container dock to 275 feet. But port use for Pacific Coast and overseas shipping of agricultural and wood products through the fish-blocking gauntlet of Snake and Columbia river dams has declined significantly over the last decade, due to evolving market demands and alternative transportation opportunities. Our purported governmental representatives have believed the port’s grant application misinformation and likely hold at least one overriding pork-barrel objective for the financially failing Port of Lewiston: Alberta tar sands equipment transport through north central Idaho. Continue reading
Anti-Megaload Activists Set Up Secret Headquarters
The environmental activist group Wild Idaho Rising Tide has set up a headquarters in the Moscow area, but is reticent to give its address. This morning’s Lewiston Tribune reports that the group, which pushed back against megaloads rolling through north-central Idaho on their way to Alberta’s Kearl Oil Sands Project, has decided to open an office to manage its political activism but isn’t ready to share its location.
Read more: Anti-Megaload Activists Set Up Secret Headquarters
(By George Prentice, Boise Weekly)
Wild Idaho Rising Tide 