City of Moscow Mammoet Megaload Meeting 1-15-13

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City of Moscow Mammoet Megaload Meeting 1-15-13 (January 16 Wild Idaho Rising Tide photos)

On Wednesday, January 15, from 3 to 5 pm, during most people’s working hours, the City of Moscow, Idaho, held an “open” public meeting about three Mammoet-hauled oversize loads proposed for Highway 95 and Interstate 90 passage.  Moscow, Latah County, Idaho Transportation Department (ITD), local and state law enforcement, Mammoet, and other officials participated in the information-sharing session in the downtown Moscow City Hall Council Chambers.  New Mayor Bill Lambert facilitated the discussion that primarily posed questions to ITD, Mammoet, and police representatives and viewed a brief Mammoet slide show about the venture.

Although the city sought written community input prior to the “hearing,” it disallowed opportunities for direct engagement through verbal public testimony and queries.  Two Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) activists re-asserted some direct democracy among the corporate lackeys, decrying this instance of lack of public involvement by occupying the front row near the chambers door, with mouths covered with tape reading “No Tar Sands” and with protest signs declaring “Stop Tar Sands,” “Idaho Says No! to Dirty Energy,” and “Wild Idaho Rising Tide Stands in Solidarity with ACFN” (Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation). Continue reading →

Mega Concern

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Ellen Roskovich expresses her opposition to proposed oversized loads during a workshop at Moscow City Hall on Wednesday (Moscow-Pullman Daily News/Geoff Crimmins photo).

Ellen Roskovich expresses her opposition to proposed oversized loads during a workshop at Moscow City Hall on Wednesday (Moscow-Pullman Daily News/Geoff Crimmins photo).

Moscow Mayor Bill Lambert, left, talks on Wednesday during a workshop at Moscow City Hall, held to learn more about oversized loads that Mammoet USA South has proposed shipping up U.S. Highway 95 from Lewiston (Moscow-Pullman Daily News/Geoff Crimmins photo).

Moscow Mayor Bill Lambert, left, talks on Wednesday during a workshop at Moscow City Hall, held to learn more about oversized loads that Mammoet USA South has proposed shipping up U.S. Highway 95 from Lewiston (Moscow-Pullman Daily News/Geoff Crimmins photo).

Local officials hear about plan to move 1.6 million pound loads through Moscow

The Moscow City Council chambers on Wednesday afternoon were nearly filled with people interested in a plan to route three “megaloads” of oil field equipment through the community.

Local government officials learned how the transportation company, Mammoet USA South Inc., intends to move the loads that are 441 feet long, 27 feet wide, 16 feet tall, and weigh about 1.6 million pounds each through Moscow, en route to a refinery in Great Falls, Montana.

Moscow Mayor Bill Lambert opened the workshop by thanking the government and transportation company participants.  He said the purpose of the meeting was for local officials to address any concerns they might have about the potential impacts accompanying movement of such large cargoes.

Residents providing public testimony is “not why we’re here today,” but they can make their opinions known through the city, Lambert stressed after he thanked them for coming as well. Continue reading →

Second Megaload on Way to Arco

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The first megaload has still not left the state.

A giant load of oil field equipment bound for the tar sands of Canada was to remain in a pullout north of Salmon on Tuesday night.  But a second megaload was expected to travel through Arco and enter Lemhi County early this (Wednesday) morning, state highway officials said.

The first of three outsized loads by Oregon shipper Omega Morgan crawled through downtown Salmon on January 5 and traveled another 35 miles north on Highway 93, before parking about ten miles below Lost Trail Pass and the Montana border.

The 901,000-pound shipment, which needs two lanes for travel and is 76 feet longer than a football field, gained permission on Friday to travel through Montana.  But forecasts of icy roads and blowing snow so far have prevented the rig from completing the final leg of its 470-mile journey through Idaho – following a route that cut through Arco, Leadore, and Salmon.

Weather permitting, state transportation officials said on Tuesday, the megaload may get underway as early as this evening – travel through Idaho is allowed from 10 pm to 6 am. Continue reading →

WIRT Newsletter: Wednesday Hearing/Action & Public Records/News about Tar Sands Refinery Megaloads

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HIGHWAY 95 MEGALOAD HEARINGS, RECORDS, & PHOTOS

Wednesday City-Hosted Public/Partner Workshop on Oversize Loads

The City of Moscow, Idaho, is seeking community input prior to an “open” public meeting about the three Mammoet-hauled oversize loads proposed for Highway 95 passage.  Moscow, Latah County, Idaho Transportation Department (ITD), state and local law enforcement, and Mammoet officials will participate in the information sharing session from 3 to 5 pm on Wednesday, January 15, in the Moscow City Hall Council Chambers, 206 East Third Street.  New Mayor Bill Lambert has disallowed direct opportunities for public engagement concerning the widest (27 feet), longest (472 feet), and heaviest (1.6 million pounds!) proposed overlegal loads that could traverse Moscow, Highway 95, and Interstate 90.  Even if the workshop planners accepted verbal public testimony and transparent interchanges, they conveniently scheduled this “hearing” during most people’s working hours.

Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) is concerned about the lack of opportunities to not only interact with our public representatives on this advantageous occasion to ask some tough questions and receive dubious answers, but to also interject some likely side-lined concerns, especially targeted at our first official encounter of Mammoet officials.  We are nonetheless encouraging everyone to send your exasperated, preferably concise, written statements, comments, and questions in advance to the appropriate city council members and officials via their individual email addresses or info@ci.moscow.id.us or the channels described in the following media releases.  The public and press deserve and maintain the right to attend this essentially closed-door hearing among obvious vested interests (considering that megaload protesters earned $20,000 for City of Moscow constraints of First Amendment rights).  But if citizen and media insights, ideas, and queries arise in the midst of meeting discussions, they cannot be shared.

To re-assert some direct democracy among elected corporate lackeys, WIRT has foregone the option to boycott this whole fiasco and intends to not only participate but decry this instance of lack of direct public involvement with an “action” involving taped mouths and carried/worn posters with comments.  We and all of Earth’s life are literally “sick” of such apparent crony civilization that favors paper-pushers over the sounds of shared humanity.  While our own city will not listen, we will continue to encourage people around the region to rise up in creative, non-bureaucratic ways.  Please review the following megaload situational summary and recently received public records enclosing talking points and take action!

1) Write detailed letters opposing Mammoet incursions, directed to ITD District 1 employees (Jason Minzghor, ITD, jason.minzghor@itd.idaho.gov, 600 West Prairie Avenue, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho 83815), and objecting to temporary Interstate 90 on-ramp construction, sent to Federal Highway Administration personnel (Kyle Holman, FHWA Idaho Division, kyle.holman@dot.gov, 3050 Lakeharbor Lane #126, Boise, Idaho 83703).  While WIRT and allies work to halt this onslaught in the courts and streets, ask for an extension of the comment period about these megaloads that could cross Moscow in late January.

2) Post comments on the pertinent City of Moscow media release pages and offer letters to editors and interviews about problems with megaloads and public processes, provided to local newspapers and radio and television stations.

3) Gather at the WIRT Activists House in Moscow at 2 pm on Wednesday, January 15, to create props for megaload workshop participation. Continue reading →

Mammoet Megaloads 2013-14 Public Records

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Mammoet Megaloads 2014 Route

Mammoet Megaloads 2014 Route

Calumet Refinery CH2M Hill Great Falls Final Traffic Plan

Calumet Refinery Mammoet Emergency Plan II

Coeur d’Alene Chairman Allan Letter to ITD Director Ness 12-30-13

Joe Gaines Comments

Mammoet Load Diagram

Mammoet Public Comments 12-30-13

Mammoet Traffic Control Plan

Megaload Diagram – ITD Public Meeting 12-19-13

Megaload Ramp – ITD Public Meeting 12-19-13

Megaload Route – ITD Public Meeting 12-19-13

Reactor Schematics 15010242-P188-D-T04-00

Reactor Schematics 15010242-P188-D-T11-00 Base

Reactor Schematics 15010242-P188-D-T12-00 Final Head Drawing

Scott Bullock Comments

Scott Reed Comments

Slide 1 – ITD Public Meeting 12-19-13

Slide 2 – ITD Public Meeting 12-19-13

Slide 3 – ITD Public Meeting 12-19-13

Transportation Plan for Idaho 11-29-13

U.S. 95 I-90 Winter Transportation Road Maintenance Agreement

Idaho & Montana Tar Sands Megaload Protests! Timmerman Junction 1-7-14

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At 10 pm on Tuesday evening, January 7, at the Timmerman Junction of U.S. Highway 20 and Idaho Highway 75, concerned citizens and activists gathered to protest the second Omega Morgan-hauled tar sands megaload traversing the Wood River Valley.  A few nights earlier, on Saturday/Sunday, January 4-5, this in-situ mining equipment on an Emmert trailer entered southwest Idaho near Homedale, after its Port of Umatilla, Oregon launch two weeks earlier.  On Sunday evening, January 5, while the second oversize load snuck through a missed second protest in Marsing, the first transport finally crossed southern Idaho, through a crowd of 100 onlookers in Salmon, Idaho.  But it soon stalled at U.S. Highway 93 milepost 341 north of Gibbonsville, about ten miles below Lost Trail Pass and the state border, awaiting Montana Department of Transportation evaluation of its recently submitted travel plan, an agency-issued transportation permit, and amenable weather forecasts and conditions [1].  On Monday night, January 6, the second shipment traveled from the junction of Idaho Highways 51 and 78, through Hammett, west on Interstate 84 to Exit 95, and through Occupy Boise/Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) protesting and monitoring activities near Mountain Home [2, 3].  It continued through mountainous Elmore County terrain on U.S. Highway 20 to milepost 126, further east than the previous Cat Creek Summit megaload layover spot. Continue reading →

Idaho & Montana Tar Sands Megaload Protests! Mountain Home 1-7-14

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Omega Morgan Tar Sands Megaload Passage and Protest, Mountain Home, Idaho 1-7-14

Monitors Following an Omega Morgan Tar Sands Megaload Convoy, Mountain Home, Idaho 1-7-14

Monitors Blocked by an Oncoming Omega Morgan Tar Sands Megaload Convoy, Mountain Home, Idaho 1-7-14

Idaho & Montana Tar Sands Megaload Protests! Mountain Home 1-7-14 (Wild Idaho Rising Tide photos)

Despite thorough searches among various regional media sources, a megaload news black-out seemed to have occurred on Saturday and Sunday, January 4 and 5, while 350 Idaho, Occupy Boise, and Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) climate activists and concerned Wood River Valley and Boise area community members shared successful slide show presentations, a documentary film, and discussions about Alberta tar sands exploitation, regional megaload transports, and direct action tactics and strategies [1].  These tar sands opponents belatedly learned of Omega Morgan transport movement between Ironside, Oregon, and Hammett, Idaho, as they anticipated another protest in Marsing, Idaho, on Monday night, January 6 [2].  However, the previous three-night journey of the first megaload apparently required only two nights of the second transport, which quietly and unexpectedly entered Idaho on Sunday morning, January 5, and crossed Marsing on Sunday night, perhaps purposely avoiding the protests so dramatically publicized during the first incursion [3, 4, 5]. Continue reading →

Idaho & Montana Tar Sands Megaload Protests! Salmon 1-5-14

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Idaho & Montana Tar Sands Megaload Protests! Salmon 1-5-14 (Wild Idaho Rising Tide photos)

On Saturday, January 4, the first Omega Morgan-hauled tar sands megaload to cross southern Idaho left Howe after 10 pm, despite earlier, conflicting reports that the convoy would not move that night.  Miscommunication slowed its launch for 45 minutes, as the Idaho State Police (ISP), Idaho Transportation Department (ITD), and Omega Morgan failed to inform the Butte County sheriff deputy and local law enforcement and first responders of the transport’s departure.  Locals decried the lack of notice, protecting the big rig from ‘evil’ protesters, while risking the death or property loss of citizens.  The megaload headed up Highway 28 over Gilmore Pass and through Leadore, to park about four or five miles before Salmon, almost to the 28 Club Restaurant, along the south side of Highway 28.

Occupying most of a large pull-out adjacent to the Lemhi L6 diversion and fish screen and ladder, next to the Lemhi River at the foot of the first bridge over it southeast of town, the megaload perched precariously close to the aquatic home of threatened Columbia Basin bull trout, Snake River Basin steelhead, and Snake River spring/summer Chinook salmon.  The public has spent millions of dollars to help restore these rare fish and their critical habitats in riparian areas that also host nesting and wintering bald eagles, golden eagles, sage grouse, and other imperiled species.

During the sunny Sunday of January 5, people gawked, took photos, and chatted with the two security guards, without protesters or real police or sheriffs in sight, at the big tourist event that even attracted Idaho Falls folks, who were in the area with their children for a weekend hockey tournament.  Apparently in Idaho, size matters, but so does climate change!  The first passage of megaloads through southern Idaho presented great opportunities for Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) activists to educate citizens and raise money for the anti-tar sands cause, by distributing brochures and information to onlookers and selling hot chocolate, coffee, donuts, and perhaps even T-shirts with a map of megaload stops. Continue reading →

Megaloads, Tar Sands, & Direct Action: A Slide Show, Documentary, & Discussion or Workshop

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Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) and 350 Idaho activists enthusiastically invite regional community members eager to learn about Alberta tar sands mining operations, their facilities components (aka “megaloads”), and direct action tactics and strategies to participate in a slide show presentation, documentary film, and discussion or workshop in Hailey and Boise, Idaho.  Join us between 12 noon and 2 pm on Saturday, January 4, at the Hailey Public Library, 7 West Croy Street in Hailey, and from 12 noon to 5 pm on Sunday, January 5, at the MK Nature Center auditorium meeting room, 600 South Walnut Street in Boise, close to Boise State University.  Concerned climate activists and Idaho citizens will explore the issues and connections between tar sands exploitation and regional megaload transports, impacts on people, places, and the planet, and overarching climate change and moral issues.

Transportation of equipment across the Northwest to extract and produce carbon-dense, dirty energy fuels like tar sands increasingly threatens environmental and human wellbeing with its risky and toxic byproducts of polluted air, water, land, policies, and perspectives.  Expanding Alberta tar sands megaloads, pipelines, rail cars, tankers, refineries, and terminals crisscross and transform the region into a resource colony serving Asia and the world.  Governments consistently fail to defend their citizens from the ravages of some of the largest multinational corporations on Earth, as they plunder public resources, taxpayer coffers, civil liberties, indigenous rights, remote ecosystems, and global climate, in pursuit of their billions in profits. Continue reading →

Idaho and Montana Tar Sands Megaload Protests! Timmerman Junction 12-30-13

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Idaho and Montana Tar Sands Megaload Protests! Timmerman 12-30-13 (December 30 Wild Idaho Rising Tide photos)

On Monday, December 30, about 20 people gathered between 9 pm and 2 am at Timmerman Junction, to protest, document, and/or watch a megaload of tar sands equipment travel east from Cat Creek Summit, across south central Idaho, and eventually north through Montana and Alberta [1-6].  The first of three shipments moved by Portland area heavy hauler Omega Morgan since December 2 and over the next month, on a new route departing from the Port of Umatilla, Oregon, the 901,000-pound, 376-foot-long heat exchanger core of a wastewater evaporator is owned and designed by General Electric subsidiary Resources Conservation Company International.  Athabasca Oil Corporation will install these mining effluent recyclers in its Hangingstone steam assisted gravity drainage tar sands mining facility southwest of Fort McMurray, Alberta [7].  Protest organizers 350 Idaho, Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT), and allies extend our gratitude to Idaho Mountain Express reporter Terry Smith for his recent articles that have single-handedly, locally educated Wood River Valley residents about Alberta tar sands issues.

Most of the progressive participants in the Monday night demonstration hailed from the Wood River Valley towns of  Gannett, Bellevue, Hailey, Ketchum, and Sun Valley, within ten miles of Timmerman Junction, the intersection of east-west-trending U.S. Highway 20 and north-south thoroughfare Idaho Highway 75 in Idaho.  Some protesters arrived at the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) rest area meeting place, on the southwest side of the junction, after traveling 55 miles from Twin Falls or 125 miles from Boise.  At least three generations held protest signs and banners against the corporate, industrial onslaught that slowed beneath the intersection signal light at about 1:30 am on Tuesday morning, December 31.  During megaload passage, police closed both highways to regular traffic. Continue reading →