Author Archives: WIRT

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About WIRT

The WIRT collective is part of an international, grassroots network of groups and individuals who take direct action to confront the root causes of climate change and to promote local, community-based solutions to the climate crisis.

Unflagged Highway 95 Pullover for Megaload Passage 12-21-11

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On Winter Solstice, December 21, seven concerned citizens monitored the first movements of three ExxonMobil/Imperial Oil tar sands megaloads since one of them hit a private mini-van pulled over by flaggers along Highway 95 at the staging area just south of Moscow, Idaho, on December 6.  As two observers traveled south on the dark, narrow, rural highway toward Potlatch, an oncoming pilot car driver ordered us to pull over onto the road shoulder to let one of these two-lane-wide transports and its convoy approach and pass within a few feet of our vehicle.

Natural Gas Industry Seeks Local Support in Idaho

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The natural gas industry claims that Idaho has unique geology that won't need intense fracking and describes its proposed drilling as similar to domestic water well drilling (Idaho Petroleum Council diagram).

BOISE, Idaho — When the Idaho Legislature meets in 2012, it will be asked to approve new regulations for the natural gas industry. Bridge Resources and now Snake River Oil and Gas believe there is a significant amount of natural gas in Idaho.

The natural gas industry in Idaho renewed efforts this month to gain support for drilling. It hopes to start drilling soon, once the state approves regulations and local governments give the go-ahead.

Read more and view a video of Governor Butch Otter, president of the Idaho Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, responsible for recent administrative approval of the new Rules Governing Conservation of Crude Oil and Natural Gas in the State of Idaho:

Natural Gas Industry Seeks Local Support in Idaho

(By Boise State Public Radio/Idaho Public Television)

Chaney Criticizes ITD and ISP for Allowing Tar Sands Shipments during Holidays & Imperial Oil Announces Second Phase of Kearl Oil Sands Development in Alberta

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Latah County Sheriff deputies received a $4000 check from a project manager of Mammoet, the hauler transporting Imperial Oil megaloads through Idaho to the Alberta tar sands.  The reimbursement covers police costs for escorting the modules on Highway 95 and patrolling protests in downtown Moscow between July 15 and November 1, 2011.  Moscow Mayor Nancy Chaney wrote a letter to the Idaho transportation department and state police stating her displeasure with megaloads traveling during the holidays and thus diverting law enforcement attention away from intoxicated drivers, especially after Moscow Police Chief David Duke said last week that shipments would be suspended until mid-January.  Imperial Oil declared on Wednesday that the first phase of its Kearl Oil Sands assembly of megaloads into a bitumen extraction plant starting production next year is 80 percent complete.  The company plans to spend $8.6 billion expanding the second phase of its operations that could produce 110,000 barrels of oil per day in 2015.  Please listen to Chaney Criticizes ITD and ISP for Allowing Tar Sands Shipments during Holidays and Imperial Oil Announces Second Phase of Kearl Oil Sands Development in Alberta between 17:08 and 11:50 of the KRFP Radio Free Moscow Evening Report, Imperial to Double Tar Sands Strip Mines, on Wednesday, December 21, at http://radiofreemoscow.org/2011/12/20111221-2/.

Imperial Oil Announces $8.6 Billion Expansion of Kearl Oil Fields

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CALGARY, Alberta – Imperial Oil Ltd. said Wednesday it will go ahead with an  $8.9 billion Canadian (US$8.6 billion) expansion to its Kearl oil sands mine in  Alberta.

The Calgary-based oil producer and refiner said the second phase of the  project is slated to begin producing 110,000 barrels of oil per day by late  2015.

Read more: Imperial Oil Announces $8.6 Billion Expansion of Kearl Oil Fields

(The Associated Press, Missoulian)

Another Dent, Another Dollar, Another Demonstration

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The ExxonMobil/Imperial Oil tar sands upgrader plant component that hit a private vehicle pulled over by flaggers for megaload passage south of Moscow on Tuesday, December 6 (Jeanne McHale photo).

As North America turns back toward the sun with the Winter Solstice at 9:30 pm on Wednesday, December 21, concerned citizens and Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) activists turn our sights away from the dirty oil, coal, and gas we collectively dig from the ground toward the abundant energy that fills our skies with light, wind, and residual carbon.  Please join us for a mass exercise of our First Amendment rights to re-envision and re-empower our material and political lives as we confront the corporate power, government complicity, and industrial forces that threaten life on our home planet.

The tar sands are America’s dirty secret and the reason that Canada has abandoned the Kyoto Protocol.  We consume 97 percent of the “oil” produced by assembled megaloads and accompanying energy- and water-intensive processes amidst 250 square miles of a denuded First Nations boreal forest wetland.  Idaho may be the first sacrifice zone of Big Oil expanding transportation to and from the tar sands to world energy markets.  Its wildness should make it the weakest link: Rise up, tough Idahoans, or watch your forests burn! Continue reading →

Moscow Mayor Unhappy over Holiday Megaloads

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City dealing with confusion over Mammoet’s holiday plans

Scheduling confusion in Moscow over shipments of Imperial Oil refinery modules through the city tonight led Mayor Nancy Chaney to issue a letter Tuesday to the Idaho State Police and transportation department chastising the agencies.

It had been Moscow Police Chief David Duke’s understanding last week that contract hauler Mammoet was suspending shipments for the holidays until mid-January, but ISP informed him Monday two loads would come through the city tonight. Continue reading →

ExxonMobil Announces Wednesday Night U.S. 95 Tar Sands Shipments

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This KRFP Radio Free Moscow news chronicles the changed holiday schedule of Imperial Oil megaload traffic through Moscow, announcing the unexpected first run on Wednesday, December 21, since a smaller module struck a mini-van pulled over by a flagger on Highway 95.  Helen Yost of Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) also provides extensive explanations of the premature resumption of module movements, their observed and inherent dangers, and likely increases in such transports on Highways 12, 95, and 395 toward Alberta’s dirty energy extraction boom.  Listeners can additionally learn about Winter Solstice opportunities for monitoring and protesting these tar sands shipments with WIRT activists.  Check out ExxonMobil Announces Wednesday Night U.S. 95 Tar Sands Shipments between 18:30 and 8:25 of the Tuesday, December 20, Evening Report, Hawkins Considers Moscow, at http://radiofreemoscow.org/2011/12/20111221/.

Megaload Cyclist Expects to Take Plea Deal Down to an Infraction, Selway Corporation Transport Passage, & Port of Lewiston Spends Much of Its Megaload Revenue on Security

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Co-defendants Zach Johnson and Aaron Malgren, arrested on October 6 while participating in the Bikes Not Bitumen! critical mass bike ride during ExxonMobil/Imperial Oil tar sands shipments through Moscow, describe developments in their court case against police and prosecutors who imposed wrongful charges of obstructing and resisting officers and held their bikes for evidence over two months.  Probably due to the implausibility of prosecutors’ arguments, Aaron and Zach were offered three plea bargain choices of infractions to replace their misdemeanor charges.  This broadcast also covers the two movements of a huge Selway Corporation Y-shaped pipe westbound on Highway 12 between the Montana border and Lewiston on Friday night and, on Monday evening, onward to Highway 195 and Snoqualmie Falls, Washington.  Additionally, the Port of Lewiston spent 80 percent of its revenue from yard storage of ExxonMobil modules on security officers during its July 2010 to June 2011 fiscal year.  Listen to more news about Megaload Cyclist Expects to Take Plea Deal Down to an Infraction, Selway Corporation transport passage, and Port of Lewiston Spends Much of Its Megaload Revenue on Security between 16:11 and 5:43 on the Monday, December 19, KRFP Radio Free Moscow Evening Report, Bike Plea Bargain.

Tar Sands Oil with Helen Yost

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Transports through Idaho of megaloads of industrial equipment that expand regionally destructive Alberta tar sands mining operations hasten global climate change and subsequent worldwide ecological chaos. Nathan Foster animated this interview at a protest of Moscow activist Helen Yost for a University of Idaho class project.

(Link provided by Nathan Foster)

Take a Hard Look at Megaload ‘Process’

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Jacki Vorhees, Moscow

Moscow-Pullman Daily News 12/17/11

Who is in charge of managing these megaloads coming through our town and on our highways?

The accident involving a megaload near Viola was blamed on one of the drivers involved and now it appears, through statements made in the Lewiston Tribune and Daily News, that someone is blaming the driver of the megaload in this recent accident in Moscow. The Tribune stated that this driver has driven these megaloads through Moscow before. So one would think he knows the routine. Why did the Idaho State Patrol car and the pilot car, who escort this behemoth through town, take off if it wasn’t safe to go? Continue reading →