The Port of Lewiston has applied to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a permit to expand their dock facilities into the Clearwater River.  The Port is proposing this expansion explicitly to increase its capacity to accommodate larger equipment and oversize cargo, likely more oil-processing megaloads that haulers could transport on U.S. Highway 12 and/or U.S. Highway 95 and onward to the interstate system and the Alberta tar sands.  As a tax-payer funded project that could receive support amid ubiquitous budget crises, the expansion may also encourage later silt dredging in front of Port terminals and/or raising of the Lewiston dikes to offset possible flooding aided by ongoing silt accumulations.  Further discharge of dredged and fill materials into the river could adversely impact water quality.  This potential Port enhancement could also simultaneously buttress the economic viability of the four lower Snake River dams while further jeopardizing the recovery and restoration of wild salmonid and other fish populations in the Clearwater Basin.  All of these consequent conditions could precipitate myriad negative socioeconomic and ecological effects in our region.

Unless the Corps grants an extension, the 30-day public comment period for the Port’s expansion plan expires on Friday, July 22.  Please ask for an extension of the comment deadline that currently deters many regional residents who travel during the summer months from submitting comments.  Demand a series of public hearings in Lewiston and the affected highway corridor cities, during which public officials could share information and accept input.  Also tell Corps decision makers that the current environmental assessment for the Port’s plan is inadequate and that an environmental impact statement should be prepared to study the cumulative impacts of this project.  See the Port of Lewiston Expansion Permit Application and consider utilizing some or all of the preceding and following talking points provided by our allies All Against the Haul, Fighting Goliath, and Friends of the Clearwater.  Send your emailed concerns to the Army Corps of Engineers at PortofLewiston-PN@usace.army.mil or your mailed written comments to:

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Idaho Falls Regulatory Field Office

900 N. Skyline Drive, Suite A

Idaho Falls, Idaho 83402-1700 Continue reading →