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.

Nightmare on Haul Street

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Join Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) activists, the Moscow Volunteer Peace Band, and local community members on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, November 8 and 10, in vigorously protesting three more ExxonMobil/Imperial Oil megaloads transgressing our dark Idaho highways each night to Alberta tar sands hell.  Although these components of a bitumen upgrader plant mysteriously vanished on Moscow streets during Halloween week, please belatedly wear your most ghoulish and gruesome costumes to demonstrate the death and destruction these megaloads bring to our climate and planet. Continue reading →

Survey: Congressional/White House Focus on Fossil Fuel/Nuclear Power Is Out of Touch with Mainstream American Views

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An October 2011 survey revealed that MOST Americans favor federal subsidies, construction loans, and investments in wind/solar/efficient energy (but not for fossil fuel/nuclear energy), dislike disproportionate corporate influence on national energy policy and a federally passive approach to energy markets, support phasing-out coal-fired power plants, are concerned about water shortages and pollution and how natural gas fracking affects water quality, connect recent extreme weather-related disasters to climate change, understand the environmental and human health costs of energy sources, and want the U.S. to be a global leader in clean energy technology.

Survey: Congress, White House Focus on Fossil Fuels, Nuclear Power is Out of Touch with Views of Mainstream America

 

Protesting is Essential

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UI Student, Moscow

University of Idaho Argonaut 11/1/11

I am writing to take to task the recent opinion piece written by Katy Sword. The views contained in her critical assessment of the value of protesting are not supported by facts and are typical of the anti-intellectualism rampant among a number of students at the University of Idaho.

The assertion that the protests have not accomplished anything other than “forcing local police to work overtime” is baseless. The protests in Moscow have garnered national attention. Bill McKibben, a well-known environmental activist, has cited the protests in Idaho as a sign of nation-wide opposition to the exploitation of Alberta’s tar sands. The legal battles and protests have also cost ExxonMobil money and successfully set back the project in Canada. These costs have given various stakeholders some bargaining power in seeking concessions from the oil company in its approach to the development of this resource.

Read more: Protesting is Essential

Group Urging Spokane Opposition to Coal Ports

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The Sierra Club brings its anti-coal campaign to Spokane on Thursday, urging local residents to oppose terminals at Washington seaports that would ship coal to Asia.

Coal producers are seeking permits to build terminals near Bellingham and Longview to ship up to 130 million tons of coal mined in Montana’s and Wyoming’s Powder River Basin to China, India, Korea, and Japan.

The coal would reach Washington’s coast by rail. Communities along the route, including Spokane, could see dozens more trains loaded with coal rolling through their towns if the terminals are built, said Robin Everett, part of the Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” campaign.

Read more: Group Urging Spokane Opposition to Coal Ports

(By Betsy Kramer, The Spokesman-Review)

Port of Lewiston Expansion Application Comments by Saturday

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On Wednesday, a dozen regional anti-megaload activists attended and provided oral testimony at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers public hearing about the Port of Lewiston expansion application.  Please lend an ear to the Thursday, October 20, KRFP Evening Report between 11:03 and 9:16 for a brief summary of the arguments presented by opponents and proponents of the Port’s proposal to gravel a storage yard, move a mooring dolphin, and extend the dock into the Clearwater River, explicitly to accommodate larger shipments.  Because most of the public comments voiced at the Lewiston hearing supported Port expansion, your comments are crucial to requesting a full environmental impact statement, accompanying public involvement, and ultimate denial of this expensive and short-sighted project.  Please peruse the previous WIRT Port of Lewiston Permit Application Comments for writing prompts.  The Corps has received 140 written comments to date: let’s double that number with your expansion-denouncing input by Saturday, October 29, at midnight.

(From WIRT Newsletter)

Superloads Will Divert to Third Avenue

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(The Spokesman-Review/Kimberly Lusk image)

Unclear if 250 oversize loads are bound for Alberta oil project

A series of superloads coming through Spokane will travel down a portion of Third Avenue during the next several months because they don’t fit under a bridge over Interstate 90.

Residents along the affected stretch of Third received notices Oct. 11 from the city of Spokane Neighborhoods Services stating the loads would exit I-90 at Altamont Street and travel down Third for several blocks because they are too big to fit under the nearby pedestrian bridge. They will re-enter the interstate at Rebecca Street.

Read more: Superloads Will Divert to Third Avenue

(By Chelsea Bannach, The Spokesman-Review)

Port of Lewiston Expansion Hearing on Wednesday, October 19

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The Walla Walla District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will conduct a public hearing on October 19, 2011, to solicit addition information concerning the Port of Lewiston NWW-2010-00213 application to expand its existing facilities.  The proposed port actions could accommodate megaload shipments and require the Corps’ verification and authorization for work in federal waters, lands, and flood control structures (Lewiston levees).  Registration to comment and an informational open house hosted by Corps representatives begin at 6 pm, before the 7 pm hearing at Sacajawea Junior High School, 3610 Twelfth Street in Lewiston.

The Corps will record the hearing and report verbatim all written and oral comments at the meeting, for inclusion in the official public record.  Besides speaking out on Wednesday against this unnecessary development venture, please send your remarks to the Corps by the end of the extended public comment period on October 29, 2011.  For further information about public hearing procedures, comment submission addresses, and the port expansion project, see the Corps’ News Release and its Notice of Public Hearing.  Call Friends of the Clearwater at 208-882-9755 to carpool from downtown Moscow at 5:30 pm.

(From WIRT Newsletter)

Idaho Law Enforcement Wants Reimbursement for Aiding Mega-Loads

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ExxonMobil’s strategy of paring down some of its mega-loads and shipping them up through Idaho’s panhandle may end up costing the oil conglomerate a bit more than expected.

The City of Moscow already announced its plans to bill the company hauling the oversized rigs for costs associated with escorting the loads.  And now Latah County Sheriff Wayne Rausch says he wants to bill for his department’s overtime costs.

Read more: Idaho Law Enforcement Wants Reimbursement for Aiding Mega-Loads

(By George Prentice, Boise Weekly)

For the Safety of the Greater Good

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Tessa Jilot, Moscow

Moscow-Pullman Daily News 10/11/11

For the last several weeks I have watched the megaloads roll through Moscow, not just as a protestor, but as a resident whose front yard has suddenly become a parking lot for giant, environmentally destructive, earth-raping equipment.

I am absolutely appalled by the complete lack of safety exhibited on behalf of Mammoet and the Idaho State Police. Every week I see pilot cars screaming down U.S. Highway 95 with no regard to the posted speed limit of 35 miles per hour and without using turn signals, which help pedestrians like myself understand when it is safe to cross the street. Furthermore, and much more importantly, the Mammoet flaggers seem to have no training in regards to directing traffic. Continue reading →

Megaload Cyclist Says He’ll Fight Obstruction Charge

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A Moscow man says he and a friend were wrongfully arrested and charged late Thursday night for allegedly obstructing law enforcement by riding their bicycles on North Main Street ahead of three overlegal Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil loads.

Zachary E. Johnson, 33, said he probably plans to the fight accusations in court.

He said he was part of a Critical Mass bike ride earlier Thursday night prior to shipments passing through the city. Critical Mass of Moscow is described on its Facebook page as a group that opposes the fossil fuel industry and promotes cycling and will do so to assert their right to access roadways. Continue reading →