Category Archives: Issues

Idaho Proposed Rules for Class II Injection Wells: Notes and Comments

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Last year, the Idaho Legislature passed House Bill 464 and its many detrimental provisions.  It crippled local governments’ ability to conduct the conditional use permitting process for oil and gas development and imbedded the federal “Halliburton Loophole” for hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) in Idaho state law, meaning that the practice of fracking does not fall under the definition of injection.  Thus, neither fracked wells nor wells used for the storage of natural gas and oil are considered injection wells and thus are not regulated as Class II injection wells in Idaho.  The state’s new proposed rules strictly concern the storage of toxins that are a by-product of oil and gas development, such as produced water, brine water, the fracking fluid pumped out of a fracked well, etc.

Please read the following articles respectively dated September and June 2012 for a better understanding of injection well issues and risks and the history of their oversight:

Are Fracking Wastewater Wells Poisoning the Ground beneath Our Feet? by Abrahm Lustgarten, Scientific American

The Trillion-Gallon Loophole: Lax Rules for Drillers that Inject Pollutants into the Earth, by Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica Continue reading →

Dana Lyons’ Great Coal Train Tour in Moscow

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On Friday evening, October 19, performer and environmental educator Dana Lyons will bring his Great Coal Train Tour to Moscow.  Visiting communities from Billings to Bellingham and from Portland to Coos Bay along the route of proposed coal export trains through four Northwestern states, Dana’s fun, inspiring, and family-oriented concerts intermingled with informational sessions foster interest and understanding of this significant regional issue.  His tour provides accurate and intricate descriptions of coal export impacts, as it catalyzes public discussion, networking, and engagement with organizers opposing this regionally and globally detrimental scheme.

Singer and guitarist Dana Lyons hails from Bellingham, Washington – ground-zero of Northwest resistance to coal exports, near the largest proposed coal export facility in North America, SSA Marine’s Gateway Pacific Terminal at Cherry Point.  Best known for his comedy hit song Cows with Guns, Dana has recorded eight albums during his lifetime artistic career, including Circle the World and At Night They Howl at the Moon: Environmental Songs for Kids.  Working around the Earth to raise awareness, activism, and funds for environmental and social justice issues, Dana has collaborated with Dr. Jane Goodall and her environmental group Roots and Shoots. Continue reading →

New Plymouth Natural Gas Sites 9-22-12

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Between our mid-day and evening Global Frackdown! in Boise actions at the Idaho Capitol, Idaho Residents Against Gas Extraction (IRAGE) led Occupy Spokane and Wild Idaho Rising Tide fractivists on a tour of Hamilton Field natural gas wells and their environs around New Plymouth in Payette County. Within a landscape full of floodplains, wetlands, irrigation canals, and streams, we noticed gravel berms in the Payette River and uncovered well heads. All four of the already drilled (but not fracked) gas wells that we visited were out of their usually locked (for safety and security) protective yellow metal cages.

The Payette River flowing downstream near a bridge

Gravel berms from dredging or like those around natural gas wells in the middle of the Payette River, noticed after the state of Idaho leased tracts around and under the river for natural gas exploration and production

The second of four observed natural gas wells mysteriously outside their protective yellow cages without drilling rigs

The second observed natural gas well in relation to human size, outside and in front of its yellow cage

The second observed, drilled but not fracked natural gas well head outside its usually locked yellow metal cage (Alma Hasse photo)

Railroad tracks and wetlands across the road from the second observed natural gas well

Continue reading →

Climate Justice Forum: Al Poplawsky & Tim Hatten 9-24-12

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On the Monday, September 24, 2012, Climate Justice Forum radio program, Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) welcomes Al Poplawsky of the Palouse Group of the Sierra Club (PGSC) and Tim Hatten, Palouse Prairie Foundation and PGSC board member.  Both local conservationists discuss previous and ongoing resistance to expansion and relocation of Highway 95 south of Moscow, Idaho, to lessen traffic accidents and possibly accommodate an industrial corridor to the Alberta tar sands.  Broadcast on KRFP Radio Free Moscow between 7:30 and 9:30 pm PDT live at 92.5 FM and online, and later aired on KMEC in Ukiah, California, the show also covers continent-wide dirty energy developments and protests of tar sands, coal, and natural gas extraction and transportation projects.  Listen to an edited recording of the September 24 Climate Justice Forum posted in Radio4All and adopt WIRT as your KRFP DJ.

Global Frackdown! in Boise 9-22-12

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On a Saturday autumnal equinox, over three dozen fracking protesters from Idaho, Oregon, and Washington participated in the Global Frackdown! in Boise on the Idaho Capitol steps. In conjunction with similar demonstrations in 200 places around the world, the mid-day rally and evening message projection drew leadership and support from Idaho Residents Against Gas Extraction, Wild Idaho Rising Tide, United Vision for Idaho, Occupy Spokane, Occupy Boise, the Ontario Autonomous American Indian Chapter, GMO Free Idaho, and concerned citizens of the region. Organizers, speakers, and protesters attracted local television news coverage as they exposed the potential risks of looming hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) and waste ejection wells in Idaho, called for stronger government oversight, and launched an informal statewide petition requesting a ban of these processes that contaminate water, air, and land.

Alma Hasse of Idaho Residents Against Gas Extraction addresses protesters near an unfurled list of known carcinogenic chemicals in fracking fluids.

Wild Idaho Rising Tide activists display the group banner in protest of impending fracking in Idaho.

Terry Hill of Occupy Spokane composes a photo of Global Frackdown! in Boise participants.

Alma Hasse of Idaho Residents Against Gas Extraction outlines the dangers of fracking, while concerned citizens converge with their protest signs and banners.

The Idaho fortress of political inertia towers over citizens demanding a reliably healthy environment and future without fracking.

Over three dozen fracking protesters from across the region participated in the demonstration that drew support from Idaho Residents Against Gas Extraction, Wild Idaho Rising Tide, United Vision for Idaho, Occupy Spokane, Occupy Boise, the Ontario Autonomous American Indian Chapter, GMO Free Idaho, and concerned citizens and children.

Continue reading →

Anti-Fracking Rally Kicks Off on the Steps of the Idaho State Capitol

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The Global Frackdown! in Boise appeared on the local Saturday evening, September 22, ABC/FOX television news.  Concurrently with anti-fracking demonstrations in 150 worldwide locations, concerned organizers, speakers, and protesters from Idaho Residents Against Gas Extraction, Wild Idaho Rising Tide, United Vision for Idaho, Occupy Spokane, Occupy Boise, the Ontario Autonomous American Indian Chapter, and GMO Free Idaho rallied on the downtown Capitol steps to launch and support a statewide ban of hydraulic fracturing and waste ejection wells and to expand awareness and expose the potential risks of these processes and attendant chemicals that could contaminate water, air, and environments.  View the KIVI Channel 6 Idaho On Your Side newscast Anti-Fracking Rally Kicks Off on the Steps of the Idaho State Capitol.

(By Jennifer Auh, KIVI TV Boise)

Butch Tells Whoppers

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Linwood Laughy, Kooskia

The Lewiston Tribune 9/4/12

Governor C.L. (Butch) Otter tells whoppers.  In March 2011, he told a congressional committee that more folks visit the Coeur d’Alene golf course floating green than the Frank Church Wilderness.  Was he unaware that more than 35,000 visitors recreated in the Frank in 2010?

A year earlier, contrary to 50 years of Federal Highway Administration research, Otter repeatedly claimed that a megaload weighing 600,000 pounds with multiple axle weights exceeding 35,000 pounds would cause no more highway damage than a one-ton pickup.

Otter added another whopper at a recent event doling out $1.3 million in taxpayer money for a dock extension at the Port of Lewiston, where container shipments have declined 75 percent during 10 years.  At the invitation-only, police-guarded gathering, Otter was quoted saying, “Next to throwing, water is the cheapest way to move goods.” Continue reading →

Idaho Auctions Off the Payette River to Oil and Natural Gas Company

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For only $2.35 per acre, the Idaho Department of Lands leased 1900 acres of state mineral and surface rights in Payette and Gem counties to Snake River Oil and Gas at an auction on August 3.  The transferrable, ten-year (or indefinite if productive) leases for oil and gas exploration and development cover 44 tracts of public trust lands BENEATH navigable river and lake beds along the Payette River (see the map).  The high (and only) bidder railroaded through the 2012 Idaho legislative session House Bill 464, which undermines local control of oil and gas facilities siting and ordinances, and other industry-favorable laws and state regulations.  Snake River Oil and Gas will perform seismic tests to gather data and map areas surrounding the river, but lease preconditions disallow drilling on (but not under?) the river.  Proceeds from the state’s 12 percent royalty fee on oil and natural gas production revenues could benefit Idaho’s general fund (soon ravaged by the aftermath of mine-and-run gas companies).  Peruse the following local, state, and national articles for more information:

Gem County Acres Leased for Oil and Gas Exploration

Snake River Oil and Gas Wins Oil and Gas Lease Bids from State

Idaho Oil, Gas Leases Generate Just Over $4,450

(From WIRT Newsletter)

Welcome, Mr. Secretary. Why’d You Come?

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Marty Trillhaase, Editorial Page Editor, Lewiston

The Lewiston Tribune 2/4/12

Aside from former Idaho governors who wind up in a presidential administration – Interior Secretaries Cecil D. Andrus or Dirk Kempthorne – Lewiston doesn’t often see a cabinet member stop by.

So Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s visit Wednesday to the Port of Lewiston was a big deal.  The former seven-term House member runs an agency that employs 55,000 people and spends $70 billion.

Thanks, Mr. Secretary, for coming to see us – or at least a selected group of 50 dignitaries and reporters you invited to attend – Wednesday.

Just one question: Why did you come?  No, really.

Supposedly, the visit was timed to highlight a $1.3 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery Discretionary Grant allowing the port to expand its container dock.

But that’s old news.  The grant was awarded in June.  Plus, it’s $1.3 million, not $1.3 billion, not even $130 million. Continue reading →