Another Dent, Another Dollar, Another Demonstration

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The ExxonMobil/Imperial Oil tar sands upgrader plant component that hit a private vehicle pulled over by flaggers for megaload passage south of Moscow on Tuesday, December 6 (Jeanne McHale photo).

As North America turns back toward the sun with the Winter Solstice at 9:30 pm on Wednesday, December 21, concerned citizens and Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) activists turn our sights away from the dirty oil, coal, and gas we collectively dig from the ground toward the abundant energy that fills our skies with light, wind, and residual carbon.  Please join us for a mass exercise of our First Amendment rights to re-envision and re-empower our material and political lives as we confront the corporate power, government complicity, and industrial forces that threaten life on our home planet.

The tar sands are America’s dirty secret and the reason that Canada has abandoned the Kyoto Protocol.  We consume 97 percent of the “oil” produced by assembled megaloads and accompanying energy- and water-intensive processes amidst 250 square miles of a denuded First Nations boreal forest wetland.  Idaho may be the first sacrifice zone of Big Oil expanding transportation to and from the tar sands to world energy markets.  Its wildness should make it the weakest link: Rise up, tough Idahoans, or watch your forests burn! Continue reading →

Moscow Mayor Unhappy over Holiday Megaloads

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City dealing with confusion over Mammoet’s holiday plans

Scheduling confusion in Moscow over shipments of Imperial Oil refinery modules through the city tonight led Mayor Nancy Chaney to issue a letter Tuesday to the Idaho State Police and transportation department chastising the agencies.

It had been Moscow Police Chief David Duke’s understanding last week that contract hauler Mammoet was suspending shipments for the holidays until mid-January, but ISP informed him Monday two loads would come through the city tonight. Continue reading →

ExxonMobil Announces Wednesday Night U.S. 95 Tar Sands Shipments

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This KRFP Radio Free Moscow news chronicles the changed holiday schedule of Imperial Oil megaload traffic through Moscow, announcing the unexpected first run on Wednesday, December 21, since a smaller module struck a mini-van pulled over by a flagger on Highway 95.  Helen Yost of Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) also provides extensive explanations of the premature resumption of module movements, their observed and inherent dangers, and likely increases in such transports on Highways 12, 95, and 395 toward Alberta’s dirty energy extraction boom.  Listeners can additionally learn about Winter Solstice opportunities for monitoring and protesting these tar sands shipments with WIRT activists.  Check out ExxonMobil Announces Wednesday Night U.S. 95 Tar Sands Shipments between 18:30 and 8:25 of the Tuesday, December 20, Evening Report, Hawkins Considers Moscow, at http://radiofreemoscow.org/2011/12/20111221/.

Megaload Cyclist Expects to Take Plea Deal Down to an Infraction, Selway Corporation Transport Passage, & Port of Lewiston Spends Much of Its Megaload Revenue on Security

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Co-defendants Zach Johnson and Aaron Malgren, arrested on October 6 while participating in the Bikes Not Bitumen! critical mass bike ride during ExxonMobil/Imperial Oil tar sands shipments through Moscow, describe developments in their court case against police and prosecutors who imposed wrongful charges of obstructing and resisting officers and held their bikes for evidence over two months.  Probably due to the implausibility of prosecutors’ arguments, Aaron and Zach were offered three plea bargain choices of infractions to replace their misdemeanor charges.  This broadcast also covers the two movements of a huge Selway Corporation Y-shaped pipe westbound on Highway 12 between the Montana border and Lewiston on Friday night and, on Monday evening, onward to Highway 195 and Snoqualmie Falls, Washington.  Additionally, the Port of Lewiston spent 80 percent of its revenue from yard storage of ExxonMobil modules on security officers during its July 2010 to June 2011 fiscal year.  Listen to more news about Megaload Cyclist Expects to Take Plea Deal Down to an Infraction, Selway Corporation transport passage, and Port of Lewiston Spends Much of Its Megaload Revenue on Security between 16:11 and 5:43 on the Monday, December 19, KRFP Radio Free Moscow Evening Report, Bike Plea Bargain.

Tar Sands Oil with Helen Yost

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Transports through Idaho of megaloads of industrial equipment that expand regionally destructive Alberta tar sands mining operations hasten global climate change and subsequent worldwide ecological chaos. Nathan Foster animated this interview at a protest of Moscow activist Helen Yost for a University of Idaho class project.

(Link provided by Nathan Foster)

Take a Hard Look at Megaload ‘Process’

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Jacki Vorhees, Moscow

Moscow-Pullman Daily News 12/17/11

Who is in charge of managing these megaloads coming through our town and on our highways?

The accident involving a megaload near Viola was blamed on one of the drivers involved and now it appears, through statements made in the Lewiston Tribune and Daily News, that someone is blaming the driver of the megaload in this recent accident in Moscow. The Tribune stated that this driver has driven these megaloads through Moscow before. So one would think he knows the routine. Why did the Idaho State Patrol car and the pilot car, who escort this behemoth through town, take off if it wasn’t safe to go? Continue reading →

Lewiston Port Details Revenue from Megaloads

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The Port of Lewiston netted more than $500,000 from Imperial Oil megaloads in its most recent fiscal year.

The $500,772 figure was released in a recent audit of the port and was pointed out by David Doeringsfeld, the port’s manager.

The number doesn’t include another $396,233 in expenses the port had for the modules of a processing plant under construction in the Kearl Oil Sands of Alberta, Canada. Continue reading →

U.S. 12 Business Owners Question Lack of ISP Escort for Upcoming Megaloads & Exxon Hauler Mammoet Pays Moscow $20,000 for Police Overtime Protecting Tar Sands Shipments

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Anti-megaload activist Borg Hendrickson questioned the safety of overlegal Imperial Oil tar sands shipments on U.S. Highway 12 without Idaho State Police escorts, considering the confusing conditions of Imperial Oil/Mammoet transports that caused two recent Highway 95 collisions and of a Weyerhaeuser/Nickel Brothers half-hour delay of a heart-attack victim carried by private vehicle on Highway 287 to the Choteau, Montana, hospital.  She noted that the Idaho Transportation Department allows endless revisions of megaload companies’ traffic management plans after accidents that damage private and public property, but the agency never permanently denies permits after cumulative problems arise.  Imperial Oil’s subsequent resumption of module travel on Highway 95 after the December 6 crash did not provide the public or press with ample time or copies of safety plan changes to review the outcomes of Mammoet’s internal report on failed safety procedures and the Idaho State Police collision investigation that is compromised by conflicted Mammoet/public payments of trooper salaries.  Moscow city police also received $20,000 of ongoing reimbursement for overtime hours spent patrolling megaload protests and crowds that precipitated eight arrests between mid-July and November 1.  Latah County sheriffs have not received similar payment responses to their invoices sent to the Imperial Oil contractor Mammoet.  For more information, listen to U.S. 12 Business Owners Question Lack of ISP Escort for Upcoming Megaloads and Exxon Hauler Mammoet Pays Moscow $20,000 for Police Overtime Protecting Tar Sands Shipments between 20:25 and 11:07 on the KRFP Radio Free Moscow Evening Report, Mammoet Pays for Police, on Friday, December 16, at http://radiofreemoscow.org/2011/12/20111216/.

Mammoet Pays Up [City Police] for Megaloads

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Finance director says $20,664 covers police overtime costs

Moscow received its first payment from Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil contract hauler Mammoet.

The payment reimburses the city for its costs for staffing police officers to handle crowd control since the oil company began transporting overlegal shipments of refinery equipment through the city in July. Continue reading →

ITD Gives Megaloads Green Light

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The protocol for Imperial Oil megaloads on U.S. Highway 95 changed this week as the shipments received the green light from the Idaho Transportation Department to resume travel.

ITD temporarily suspended permission for the loads to travel after an accident Dec. 6 south of Moscow on Highway 95. Three rigs, including the one involved in the accident, would have been allowed to go Thursday, but they were postponed to an undetermined date because of weather.

When they hit the road, a pilot vehicle will be placed in front of the lead load before it leaves the staging area about a mile south of Moscow, where the rigs create a convoy before entering the city, according to a report from ITD and the Idaho State Police. Continue reading →