Schedule Changes for Latest Megaloads

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First load has stopped at Kooskia; second load was scheduled to leave Port of Wilma on Tuesday night

Plans have changed for a pair of megaloads being hauled across Idaho on U.S. Highway 12 this week.

The first load left the Port of Wilma just west of Clarkston on Monday evening.  It reached Kooskia early Tuesday.  The transport of water purification equipment was originally scheduled to travel as far as the Montana border by Tuesday morning, and the Idaho Transportation Department had no explanation for what prevented the shipment from going farther.

Weather sometimes stops megaloads.  Temperatures were in the low 30s with no precipitation at Powell, when the megaload was traveling.  Powell is frequently the place where conditions are among the most extreme on the route to Montana, because of its high elevation.

The second load was still anticipated to start its journey on Tuesday night and reach milepost 160, just two miles west of Powell, before 5:30 am today, said transportation department spokesman Adam Rush in Boise.

If crews had extra time, they were going to go back to Kooskia and start moving the first megaload to an unannounced stopping point, Rush said. Continue reading →

Delays Expected on U.S. Highway 12 for Over-Sized Loads

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Over-sized shipments will begin their move from the Lewis-Clark Valley to the Montana border on Monday night on U.S. Highway 12.

Omega Morgan is transporting two water purification vessels.  The vessels, which weigh 80,000 pounds, are scheduled to take one night each to reach the state line.

Read more and view the video: Delays Expected on U.S. Highway 12 for Over-Sized Loads

(By Sophia Miraglio, KLEW TV Lewiston)

Two More Tar Sands Shipments Likely to Cross Idaho on US 12 Starting Tonight

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Listen to the Monday, December 3, 2012, KRFP Radio Free Moscow Evening Report, Assenberg Rejects Pot Plea, between 5:20 and 3:33, to learn about the second and third Alberta tar sands equipment shipments to traverse wild and scenic Highway 12, two wastewater evaporator components hauled by Omega Morgan.

Mini Megaloads

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This is what the latest round of megaloads looks like (The Lewiston Tribune/Elaine Williams photo).

This is what the latest round of megaloads looks like (The Lewiston Tribune/Elaine Williams photo).

The latest round of megaloads are parked at the Port of Wilma, just west of Clarkston.

The first of the two is scheduled to leave tonight at about 10 pm and make it to the Montana border early Tuesday morning.

Assuming that happens without a hitch, the second will leave Tuesday also at about 10 pm.  Like the other, it is expected to make it across Idaho on U.S. Highway 12 in a single segment of travel.  That trip would end early Wednesday morning.

It is their width that makes these shipments megaloads.  They are wide enough to consume almost two lanes of traffic, but at about 50 feet, they are about as long as a standard semi truck. Continue reading →

Megaloads Prep for Idaho Crossing

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First oversized load could leave Clarkston on Monday

Two megaloads carrying water purification vessels may be traveling through north central Idaho soon if the weather cooperates.

Transport company Omega Morgan plans to move the first shipment from the Port of Wilma just west of Clarkston to the Idaho/Montana border on U.S. Highway 12, according to a news release issued Friday by the Idaho Transportation Department.

The journey would start as early as about 10 pm on Monday and end no later than 5:30 am on Tuesday.

It appears that road conditions could vary significantly on the trip.  The National Weather Service predicts a 20-percent chance of rain and temperatures in the 40s on Monday in Clarkston.

The low at Powell, near the Montana state line, is expected to be 25 degrees on Monday evening under mostly cloudy skies, after a day where the possibility of snow is 80 percent.

The second shipment is expected to move on a different evening and take a similar amount of time to cover the roughly 170 miles between Clarkston and the Montana border.  No information on a date for that shipment has been supplied by the transportation department. Continue reading →

Dana Lyons Concert & Workshop in Pullman 11-28-12

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On Wednesday, November 28, performer and environmental educator Dana Lyons brought his Great Coal Train Tour to Pullman, Washington, and offered a free afternoon community organizing workshop and a live evening concert at Washington State University (WSU). Singer and guitarist Dana Lyons hails from Bellingham, Washington – ground-zero of Northwest resistance to coal exports, near the largest proposed coal port facility in North America. Best known for his comedy hit song Cows with Guns, Dana has recorded eight albums during his lifetime artistic career and worked around the Earth to raise awareness, activism, and funds for environmental and social justice issues. During his 40-plus-show tour, Dana has visited dozens of communities throughout four Northwestern states, from Billings to Bellingham and from Portland to Coos Bay, along the route of proposed coal export trains that could carry 160 million tons of coal per year from Montana and Wyoming to the Columbia River and West Coast and via supertanker to China. He has networked with local residents and organizers across the region, who are working to stop potential coal mines, trains, and ports for health, safety, traffic, economic, and environmental reasons. Hosted by the WSU Environmental Task Force and Environmental Science Club student groups, Dana’s fun, inspiring, and family-oriented Pullman concert intermingled with place-based storytelling catalyzed community interest and engagement in this significant regional issue among the 30 audience members. For more information about Northwest coal exports, see CoalTrainFacts.org, PowerPastCoal.org, Coal-Free-Bellingham.org, and WildIdahoRisingTide.org. Visit Dana’s website to explore his music, videos, merchandise, and tour schedule at CowsWithGuns.com and listen to his coal train song, Sometimes.

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Climate Justice Forum: Jasmine Zimmer-Stucky 12-3-12

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On the Monday, December 3, Climate Justice Forum radio program, Wild Idaho Rising Tide welcomes Jasmine Zimmer-Stucky, community organizer for Columbia Riverkeeper in Portland and an activist trainer at the Northwest Extraction Resistance Workshop last June in Spokane.  Jasmine talks about the Morrow Pacific Project proposal to build port facilities in Boardman and Saint Helens, Oregon, which would export Montana and Wyoming coal by Northwest rail, river barges, and ocean-going ships to Asia.  She discusses citizen resistance, through petition drives, public rallies and hearings, and comment periods, to the potentially detrimental impacts of exported coal extraction, transportation, and combustion as well as other Riverkeeper initiatives.  Broadcast on KRFP Radio Free Moscow between 7:30 and 9:30 pm PST 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 opposition.  Listen to an edited recording of the December 3 Climate Justice Forum posted in Radio4All.  Thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as his KRFP DJ!

Wild and Scenic Byway, Not Tar Sands Highway

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Omega Morgan Megaload 2 at Kookskia

If volatile, climate changed weather does not mercifully impede passage to Alberta tar sands operations, two more Sunshine Oilsands wastewater evaporators could traverse U.S. Highway 12 between 10 pm and 5:30 am next Monday and Tuesday night, December 3 and 4.  The Idaho Transportation Department in Boise issued permits on Friday afternoon, November 30, allowing Omega Morgan to haul both over-legal equipment shipments weighing 80,000 pounds and measuring up to 53 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 21 feet tall.  Moving at close to normal speeds, each eastbound megaload could cross Idaho separately in one night, from the Port of Wilma in Clarkston, Washington, along Idaho Route 128 and Highway 12, to Lolo Pass on the Montana border.  Three flagging teams and pilot vehicles and two trucks with portable signs (but no ambulance) will travel with each module and escort traffic around the convoy at pre-identified pull-offs, as required by the Omega Morgan transportation plan that limits traffic delays to less than 15 minutes. Continue reading →

Update on Tar Sands Megaloads in the Northern Rockies

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TWO MORE TAR SANDS MEGALOADS ON HIGHWAY 12 ON MONDAY & TUESDAY

We received this news release today and will provide monitoring and protesting prompts soon:

Equipment shipments may travel on U.S. 12 starting Monday

Read more: Update on Tar Sands Megaloads in the Northern Rockies

(Cross-Posted on Earth First! Newswire from Wild Idaho Rising Tide facebook page)

Climate Justice Forum: Brian Koepke & Peter Goodman 11-26-12

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The Monday, November 26, Climate Justice Forum radio program, hosted by Wild Idaho Rising Tide, features Peter Goodman, an Occupy Albany activist who participated in the November 3 Stand Up! Fight Back! Against Big Coal in the Northwest workshop in Spokane, Washington.  Peter will discuss the potentially detrimental impacts of proposed coal export train traffic and port terminals at Boardman, Saint Helens, and Coos Bay, and associated Oregon citizen resistance through petition drives, public rallies and hearings, and government statements and resolutions.  Brian Koepke, an environmental science graduate student, technical assistant, and outreach coordinator with the Washington State University Environmental Science Club/Task Force, will talk about a recent mock oil spill demonstration and other initiatives on campus and Dana Lyons’ workshop and concert on Wednesday.  Broadcast on KRFP Radio Free Moscow between 7:30 and 9:30 pm PST 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 opposition to fossil fuel extraction and transportation projects.  Thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as his KRFP DJ!