The 15 adult protesters charged in Monday night’s actions to delay the megaload were arraigned on Wednesday morning in Grant County Justice Court.

Justice of the Peace Kathy Stinnett set security at $10,000 or $1,000 cash for each, and set conditions for their release, including:

* No contact with Omega Morgan or its employees.

* No coming within 1,000 feet of materials, equipment, or other loads being transported by Omega Morgan.

* No possession of “dragon sleeves” or other items used to lock oneself to a fixed object or to prevent safe extraction.

…

The accused were charged with misdemeanors in connection with the protests, in which vehicles were disabled in the highway, in an attempt to stop the Omega Morgan megaload from proceeding.

A 16-year-old girl, also apprehended at the protests, was released to family friends.

(By the Blue Mountain Eagle)

Crowds gather in Prairie, John Day, as protesters chain up

Police arrested 16 protesters on Monday night, after they tried to block the Omega Morgan megaload from traveling through John Day.

In two separate incidents, protesters chained themselves to vehicles on the route, but the efforts succeeded only in delaying the departure of the load.

Omega Morgan, the load’s Hillsboro-based hauler, had planned to depart the west edge of John Day at 8 pm, but left at about 9:30 – after police had cleared the highway.

The massive transport – 23 feet wide, 19 feet tall, and 380 feet long, including pusher and puller trucks – headed east on Highway 26 through downtown John Day and Prairie City.  Traveling into the mountains, it was parked Tuesday morning at the Oregon Department of Transportation weigh station at Austin Junction.  It was expected to move again on Tuesday night, but got special permission to travel in the daylight to avoid heavy frost over Eldorado Pass, east of Austin.

Destined for the tar sands region of Alberta, Canada, the load drew waves of spectators as it moved, and parked, its way through Grant County in the past week.

The cargo is a 96-foot-long vessel known as an evaporator, which uses steam to salvage water that otherwise would be lost in the tar sands extraction process.  It was manufactured in Portland and barged to the Port of Umatilla for the road journey.

Protesters, concerned about climate change and damage to the environment, have been tracking the load, and they kept police busy on Monday night. Continue reading →

Monday morning traffic moves past the megaload, parked at the ODOT weigh station on the west edge of John Day (Blue Mountain Eagle/Scotta Callister photo).

Grant County’s newest tourist attraction is parked on Highway 26, at the west end of John Day – but just for the day.

The Omega Morgan megaload transport is expected to set out again Monday night, heading east through John Day, Prairie City, and Austin Junction on Highway 26.

Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) officials said the hauling crew hopes to get as far east as possible toward Unity.

The huge transport – 19 feet tall, 23 feet wide, and 380 feet long, including pusher and puller trucks – is allowed to travel only at night.  The next stops depend on weather and road conditions, according to the Oregon Department of Transportation. Continue reading →

Forecast: Better moving weather ahead

The Omega Morgan megaload made it out of Dale – but just barely – last night.

The huge transport is parked again about five miles down Highway 395 from the Dale Store, according to proprietor Butch Phelps.

He said the rig left about 8 pm, with company and transportation officials hoping the snowy weather would skirt that area.  Instead, the snow began to fall.

“It started snowing – a flake here and a flake there – while they were having their safety meeting,” he said.

The stretch traveled last night features a steep incline and curves, meaning the transport could only move at a crawl. Continue reading →

The megaload made it to Dale, midway between Pendleton and Mount Vernon, on Wednesday night, but has been stopped again by icy conditions and a snowy weather forecast.

The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) says the load could remain parked beside Highway 395 at Dale, until the weather allows it to travel again – perhaps Friday.

The load is allowed to move only at night.

ODOT earlier said that Omega Morgan, the hauling company, planned to take the load as far south as Mount Vernon on Wednesday night.  The agency now says that if the load can roll again on Friday evening, it could reach Mount Vernon by Saturday morning, and go through John Day that night. Continue reading →

The first of three so-called “megaloads” continued its eastern Oregon road trip overnight on Tuesday, leaving Pendleton shortly after 9 pm and traveling about 50 miles south on Highway 395.

The massive shipment of tar sands equipment destined for Alberta, Canada, arrived near Ukiah early on Wednesday morning.  From there, it is scheduled to head farther south into Mount Vernon and east through John Day, before heading east on Highway 26 and crossing state lines into southern Idaho. Continue reading →

CTUIR Chair Burke Megaloads Letter to Governor Kitzhaber

Megaload shipments through Eastern Oregon and Idaho received another blow this week in the form of a strongly worded letter from the Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR), stating concern over the impacts of megaloads and tar sands mining.

In the letter sent Monday, the newly elected Umatilla Chair of the Board of Trustees Gary Burke explains, “First, ODOT [Oregon Department of Transportation] did not adequately consult with the CTUIR on a government-to-government level prior to issuing the [megaload] permit.  Second, the CTUIR has strong concerns regarding the potential long-term and indirect impacts to the CTUIR’s interests caused by tar sands development.”

Read more: Megaload Update: Umatilla Show Solidarity Against Tar Sands

(By CTUIR tribal member x-603, Wey-ow’sux, Cathy Sampson-Kruse)