Category Archives: Issues

Idaho Global Frackdown 2

Posted on by
1

FWW Horizontal Global Frackdown 2013 Logo

During the last two Idaho legislative sessions, a majority of our state senators and representatives succumbed to the mercenary ambitions of the oil and natural gas industry and the state of Idaho.  They passed state laws, rules, and regulations allowing hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” that pollutes surface and ground water, sanctioning associated waste injection wells that leak or re-use water wells, permitting seismic testing and gas flaring that jeopardize geologic stability and air quality, granting corporate hegemony over local jurisdictions that undermines democratic oversight of oil and gas facilities, and consenting to drilling on state lands and near or under rivers, wetlands, and wildlife refuges that sustain drinking water, agriculture, and native species [1, 2].

Despite ongoing outcry from thousands of citizens and diligent input from scientists, attorneys, elected officials, and conservation organizations, our delegates have negligently accommodated oil and gas exploration, production, and transportation in Idaho, especially where the state owns the subsurface mineral rights, at the likely expense of their constituents’ health, safety, livelihoods, and self-governance.  In the wake of increasingly erratic weather and horrific oil and gas spills in the flooded South Platte River bottomlands of Colorado, honest, hard-working Idahoans dread the impacts of similar probable scenarios on their families and communities, homes and businesses, and resources and recreation in the Payette River floodplains, where drilling resumed this summer, and in the wild, downstream Snake River canyons [3, 4]. Continue reading →

Longview Coal Export Protest and Hearing

Posted on by
Reply

Tri-Cities Coal Scoping Hearing Meme - Power Past Coal

Eastern Washington and northern Idaho activists are gathering in Spokane at noon on Tuesday, October 1, to carpool, coordinate, and participate in a public protest and scoping hearing in Pasco, Washington, about the Millennium Bulk Terminals proposal for coal export facilities in Longview, Washington.  The Tri-Cities area, where a unit train derailed and 31 of its cars spilled six million pounds of coal on July 2, 2012, could experience up to 18 more coal trains rolling through these communities every day.  The Longview coal port and accompanying train traffic would threaten the human, environmental, and climate health as well as the public safety and economic vitality of the region.

Do not miss your only other inland Northwest opportunity, after the September 25 Spokane rally and hearing, to speak out against coal exports from Longview!  Please get an online lottery ticket to testify or share, wear red in opposition to coal, bring your friends, family, and protest signs, and voice your concerns on Tuesday about the broad coal export impacts that county, state, and federal agencies should consider in an upcoming draft environmental impact statement.  The Pasco protest commences at 3 pm outside and before the doors to The Trac Center at 6600 Burden Boulevard open at 4 pm, with proposal information displays available until 8 pm.  Citizens can offer oral comments between 5 and 8 pm either privately or publicly.  Call 509-879-7470 or 208-301-8039 for carpool arrangements with Occupy Spokane, Wild Idaho Rising Tide, and other regional coal export resisters.  For further issue and comment process information, see: Continue reading →

ITD to Hold Public Meetings Statewide Starting October 7 on 129,000-Pound Truck Legislation

Posted on by
2

Public comment is solicited on proposed administrative rules governing 129,000-pound truck routes on the state highway system, the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) announced.

The rules are necessary to implement three bills from the 2013 Legislature.

The legislation follows a pilot project that began in 1998 and recently ended.  The project allowed trucks and their cargo weighing a total of 129,000 pounds to use 35 test routes in Idaho.

Senate Bill 1064 made the test routes permanent on July 1 this year.

Senate Bill 1117 allows additional routes to be designated by the Idaho Transportation Department and by local highway agencies.  House Bill 322 clarifies the intent of the legislation.

Comment will be taken until Thursday, October 24, at 5 pm on four administrative rules related to 129,000-pound trucks.  Among the rules is Administrative Rule 39.03.22-1302, which implements the provisions of SB1117 and outlines the process for considering additional routes for vehicles weighing up to 129,000 pounds. Continue reading →

Cargo Contractors Company Megaload Schematics

Posted on by
2

As mentioned in the August 27 Lewiston Tribune article, Megaload Ban Could Cost General Electric Millions, the Highway 12 megaload route “continues to attract attention from other shippers.  Leon Franks, of Contractors Cargo Company based at Compton, California, said his company wants to ship three massive refinery vessels from the Port of Lewiston to Great Falls, Montana, by November.  He said the route is vital for the movement of large equipment like refinery vessels, wind turbines, and power plant generators that provide electricity and fuel for a growing population.”

Thanks to the public records requests of our allies, here are the schematics of the three Contractors Cargo Company megaloads, weighing over 1,100,000 pounds, measuring up to 324 feet long, and requiring two push trucks:

43 Hydrotreater Great Falls Montana REV1 CA

43 Hydrtreater Great Falls Montana REV2 Idaho

51 Hydrotreater Great Falls Montana REV3

One Gas Well Drilled in Payette County

Posted on by
1

One natural gas well has been drilled and a second is nearly done in Payette County, as the natural gas industry settles into the local area.

A total of three permits have been submitted to drill wells in the county, with one permit awaiting approval for the third well location.

“It’s going well,” said John Foster, spokesman for Snake River Oil and Gas.  “We’ve been very fortunate to be able to utilize a lot of Idaho businesses and residents in moving forward in drilling.”

The first well, which is located outside of New Plymouth, is completed, Foster said.  You wouldn’t know it is even there, he said.

But one local resident, Alma Hasse, filed a public records request to the Idaho Department of Lands for an oil spill report. Continue reading →

Put Residents Above Oil Companies

Posted on by
1

Linda Widner, Weiser

The Argus Observer 8/29/13

(Washington County) Commissioner Anderson and Commissioner Chandler, I’m writing this letter to ask you why you feel following reasonable ordinances is too much for oil companies?  Are they not a multibillion-dollar industry?

Yes, I agree we need more job opportunities in Washington County.  However, I also believe if the oil company causes damage to land, water, animals, and people, it needs to be responsible to take care of whatever damages it causes.  If it decides to drill on your property and it stirs up methane gas, are you going to pay to fix that problem?  Do you think your insurance company will gladly pay?  I don’t think so.

I recently read an MSN article regarding fracking and how banks and lending agencies are revisiting their lending policies to account for potential impacts of drilling.  Also, home insurance policies do not cover residential properties with gas leases or gas wells.

You, like other politicians, were elected by voters to watch out for our best interests.  Instead, it seems politicians only want the job for their own personal agendas.  Please work for our community.

U.S. Highway 95 Still Limited to ‘Mini’ Megaloads

Posted on by
1

As shippers’ preferred Highway 12 route is fought in court, underpasses trim trips north.

As yet another legal battle mounts against permitting oversized loads to be transported along the Wild and Scenic River Corridor on U.S. Highway 12, concerns vary as to whether U.S. Highway 95 could again be tapped as the next viable shipping option.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill will preside over a court hearing on August 27 to decide if an emergency injunction should be issued, requiring the U.S. Forest Service to enforce its standards for megaload shipments through the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest.

The lawsuit was filed by the Nez Perce Tribe and Idaho Rivers United following several days of protests of an Omega Morgan evaporator shipment bound for the tar sands in Alberta, Canada.

If the Forest Service is ordered to enforce its jurisdiction over megaloads that it perceives as hazardous to the national forest and river corridor, such shipments may be halted or forced to go elsewhere.

Doral Hoff, district operations manager for the Idaho Transportation Department in Lewiston, said it isn’t likely Omega Morgan will seek permits to move any more evaporators up U.S. Highway 95 if Highway 12 is closed off. Continue reading →

Smoke Ranch Well Protest 8-2-13

Posted on by
2

On Thursday and Friday, August 1 and 2, Idaho Residents Against Gas Extraction (IRAGE) and Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) arranged carpools from north Idaho and Boise to the current Payette County drilling area, to stage the first, overdue, public, on-site, oil and natural gas drilling protest in Idaho history.  With continent-wide recognition through Earth First! Newswire coverage, even Utah comrades called WIRT and considered participation.  At 3 pm MDT on August 2, friends, family, and neighbors gathered with their fracking/drilling protest signs and banners, cameras and binoculars at the A & W Restaurant/Chevron gas station just north of Interstate 84 Exit 3 in southwestern Idaho.  These dozen protesters from across the state and country chanted and waved signs at the nearby high-traffic corner of Highways 95 and 30.  They then followed organizers to the Smoke Ranch well site on Highway 52, from where Alta Mesa Services had moved a drilling derrick to the new ML Investments well pad, soon after the IRAGE/WIRT announcement of this demonstration of outrage.

Along Highway 52, the protesters observed the capped well head and pad of the first directionally drilled natural gas well in the state, located in a floodplain full of standing water, wetlands, riparian areas, and a wildlife refuge, between the Payette River and Big Willow Creek.  The ultimate outcome of the Smoke Ranch well could set a precedent for looming drilling/fracking on and under nearby state lands and waters already leased by Alta Mesa and Snake River Oil and Gas.  From the roadside only a few miles upstream from the City of Fruitland municipal water intake and the Payette/Snake River confluence, IRAGE activists had monitored the well site daily.  On that sunny August afternoon, the first time that many of the demonstrators had seen Idaho oil and gas facilities, Alma Hasse of IRAGE described the prior activity and equipment at the well site, and pointed out the location of a possible diesel fuel or drilling mud spill clean-up that she and Tina Fisher documented on July 21.  Everyone also noticed the close proximity of working ranches and community irrigation canals to the well situated below distantly recognizable sandstone cliffs and bluffs.

At the last stop during this great educational and expressive event, concerned citizens converged along Little Willow Road, to view the derrick and operations of the ML Investments 2-10 well, situated on a private road and property.  No news reporters joined the protesters as they considered, discussed, and learned about the strong, impending possibilities of compromised air and surface and ground water quality, threatened environmental and human health, and jeopardized local agricultural, recreational, and economic productivity, which oil and gas exploration and production of the Hamilton/Willow gas field could impose on the surrounding rural landscape.  Participants talked about a looming third new well since drilling resumed after a few years in June, as well as a proposed pipeline connecting Payette County gas wells to Idaho Power Company’s Langley Gulch natural gas-fired power generation plant near New Plymouth.  As industry and government continue to hide their fracking intentions for the region, which do not require public notice or comments and could spur well treatments soon, several state, county, and city police cruised by or chatted with demonstrators at all three sites visited on that Friday.

Protest at Smoke Ranch Well (July 29 Earth First! Newswire)

Protesters from across the state and country chant and wave fracking/drilling protest signs at the high-traffic corner of Highways 95 and 30 near Interstate 84 Exit 3 in southwestern Idaho.

Protesters from across the state and country chant and wave fracking/drilling protest signs at the high-traffic corner of Highways 95 and 30 near Interstate 84 Exit 3 in southwestern Idaho.

Protesters from across the state and country chant and wave fracking/drilling protest signs at the high-traffic corner of Highways 95 and 30 near Interstate 84 Exit 3 in southwestern Idaho.

Protesters from across the state and country chant and wave fracking/drilling protest signs at the high-traffic corner of Highways 95 and 30 near Interstate 84 Exit 3 in southwestern Idaho.

Protesters from across the state and country chant and wave fracking/drilling protest signs at the high-traffic corner of Highways 95 and 30 near Interstate 84 Exit 3 in southwestern Idaho.

Protesters from across the state and country chant and wave fracking/drilling protest signs at the high-traffic corner of Highways 95 and 30 near Interstate 84 Exit 3 in southwestern Idaho.

Protesters from across the state and country chant and wave fracking/drilling protest signs at the high-traffic corner of Highways 95 and 30 near Interstate 84 Exit 3 in southwestern Idaho.

Protesters from across the state and country chant and wave fracking/drilling protest signs at the high-traffic corner of Highways 95 and 30 near Interstate 84 Exit 3 in southwestern Idaho.

Protesters observe the capped well head and pad at the Smoke Ranch site south of Highway 52, the first directionally drilled natural gas well in the state, located in a floodplain full of standing water, wetlands, irrigation canals, riparian areas, and a wildlife refuge, between the Payette River and Big Willow Creek, only a few miles upstream from the City of Fruitland municipal water intake and the Payette/Snake River confluence.

Protesters observe the capped well head and pad at the Smoke Ranch site south of Highway 52, the first directionally drilled natural gas well in the state, located in a floodplain full of standing water, wetlands, irrigation canals, riparian areas, and a wildlife refuge, between the Payette River and Big Willow Creek, only a few miles upstream from the City of Fruitland municipal water intake and the Payette/Snake River confluence.

Continue reading →

Commissioners Pass Gas and Oil Ordinance with Amendments

Posted on by
1

New ordinance reduces 500 foot setback

Payette County Commissioners passed a gas and oil drilling ordinance after a public hearing on Monday at the courthouse.

They heard testimony from Payette County residents, who mostly said the ordinance needed to expand the setback from 200 feet in the new proposed ordinance to the 500 feet that it had been in the previous ordinance.

Several testified that a neighbor who signs a lease allowing drilling to be done on his or her property would force another neighbor to endure the drilling, despite their possible refusal to sign a lease.  They said that 200 feet is not an adequate distance.

New Plymouth resident Tina Fisher said that if one neighbor signs a lease but the other neighbor doesn’t want to, it is unfair to that neighbor.  “Two-hundred feet is woefully inadequate,” Fisher said. Continue reading →

Smoke Ranch Well Protest

Posted on by
Reply

Gas Well with Bluffs

As oil and gas drilling resumed in Payette County this month after a few years, Alta Mesa Services raised a derrick at the Smoke Ranch natural gas well on June 9 [1].  This directionally drilled well – the focus of the intensive Stop the Frack Attack! campaign of Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) and Idaho Residents Against Gas Extraction (IRAGE) during June – embodies the myriad infringements of environmental and human health that conventionally-drilled and hydraulically-fractured (“fracked”) oil and gas wells famously impose [2].  The Smoke Ranch well occupies a floodplain, where operators pumped standing water from the well pad before drilling between the Payette River and Big Willow Creek, within a half-mile of a riparian area/wetland wildlife refuge, and only a few miles upstream from the City of Fruitland municipal water intake and the Payette/Snake River confluence.  Its ultimate outcomes could set a precedent for looming drilling/fracking on and under nearby state lands and waters already leased by Alta Mesa and Snake River Oil and Gas.  IRAGE activists have been monitoring the site daily and, along with other information sources in the southwest Idaho region, have observed multitudes of hidden equipment, transport trailers, drill pipes, and well pads awaiting likely escalating utilization, as well as water for Smoke Ranch operations withdrawn from irrigation canals.  They have recently taken unreleased pictures and videos of several Schlumberger tank trucks covered with radioactive warning placards. Continue reading →