Northern Rockies Earth First!

 

Earth Week has Alberta Tar Sands and Mega-load events this week.

Today: Monday 4/18: Join us for a Mega-load making party to construct a life (some would say death) sized mock Mega-load for the protest march this Wednesday. If you want to help build or paint come to the Attic at 7 pm today.

Tuesday: 4/19: There will be 2 showings of H2Oil. They will sandwich several 15 minute presentations by grad students concerned about the Mega-loads. It is at the Borah theater in the SUB on the Uof I campus between 1-4 pm.

Groups working to stop the Mega-loads will be tabling outside the theater.

Wednesday: 4/20: March with the protest Mega-load. Meet on campus at the Shattuck ampatheater at 11am and be ready to march by 11:15.

Next Monday: 4/25: Friends of the Clearwater will sponsor Mega at the 1912 Center from 5:30-8:30pm. This is a presentation from Architecture students who have been studying the problems with Mega-loads. The students are from the Uof I and WSU.

Go to Wild Idaho Rising Tide http://wirisingtide.wordpress.com for more info.

Article source: http://nref.wordpress.com/2011/04/18/mega-earth-week-events/

Exxon Test load at the Port of Lewiston, Idaho

 

Two nights ago Exxon/Mobile-Imperial Oil attempted a test run east on route 12 out of the Port of Lewiston. This is the easiest stretch of highway yet they managed to snag a cable, break off a utility pole and kill the electricity for 1,300 people for 5 hours. This was supposed to be the run that proved to all that Exxon and their Dutch haulers could safely move these monstrous, destructive loads down our scenic byway.

Exxon expected that they would reach the Montana border in 3 days. Now they are grounded for being bad little, Big Oil, Earth rapers. They cannot move from their first nights stop until they file a report with the ITD. They and Conoco/Phillips have been testing the limits of Arrow Bridge (just east of Lewiston) and testing the limits of tolerance locals may have for them.

Conoco/Phillips originally estimated that it would take 2 weeks to move their first 2 loads from Lewiston, Idaho to Billings, Montana. It took 65 days. We don’t need to slow them down, they are already good at that. We need to stop them.

Don’t forget about the annual Earth First! Rendezvous right along route 12 by the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, July 5-12. It will be a campout not to forget. Stay tuned for directions which will come as soon as our site thaws out.

http://www.earthfirstjournal.org/

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Article source: http://nref.wordpress.com/2011/04/13/exxon-fails-the-test/

  

Exxon plans to take 60 Mega loads up route 95 through Moscow Idaho. It is estimated that the largest would be 16 feet high, 24 feet wide and 200 feet long. They would go 5 to 12 miles an hour and take 20 minutes to go throuhg town when the average truck can easily get through town in 10 minutes. They would be allowed to have one truck in Moscow every night between 10 pm and 5:30 am. Mayor Chaney expressed concerns that Moscow is a pedestrian friendly town and the giant loads may be going through when the bars let out. LET’S HAVE A STREET PARTY!

Major Chaney has asked for public comment meetings and she and the city council expressed concerns, but this route is federal highway just like all of the other routes. So the city has little power to stop the insanity. But it does give concerned citizens a chance to get creative: string a banner across the road; have people endlessly walk across the three lane, one way street; weave art projects across the road; whoops my car broke down in the center lane. You get the idea-be creative.

Exxon would prefer wild and scenic byway (route 12) but has become frustrated and started chopping up 33 loads at $500,000 apiece to give its evil, greedy self a chance at alternative routes. Exxon has cancelled its test shipment up route 12 several times due to incompetence. They forgot to bring the crew the first time. This time they forgot to build the extra pullouts in Montana and they don’t have Montana permits.

Article source: http://nref.wordpress.com/2011/04/06/loads-split-paths/

DOWNTOWN MEGALOAD MARCH AND VIGIL
Day: Likely Tuesday evening, but please stay tuned to AllAgainstTheHaul.org, and Facebook.com/AllAgainstTheHaul for changes in case the shipments are delayed.
Time: 5:30 at the XXXs for the march.  6:00 at the Higgins Bridge for the vigil.
Location: At the XXXs on North Higgins for the march, or in front of the Wilma Theater for the vigil.

RESERVE STREET RALLY TO MEET THE LOADS
Day: Likely Tuesday night, but please stay tuned to AllAgainstTheHaul.org, and Facebook.com/AllAgainstTheHaul for changes in case the shipments are delayed.
Time: Midnight.  We will wait for the Conoco rigs to arrive, so dress warmly and bring a hot drink!
Location: Rosauer’s parking lot, at the corner of South Ave. and Reserve Street.

Questions?  Contact All Against The Haul at Info@AllAgainstTheHaul.org.

Article source: http://nref.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/rally-meets-mega-loads-in-missoula/

It has been 3 weeks since the first Conoco/Phillips Mega load left the port of Lewiston destined for Billings Montana and it still sits waiting for the second load which left the port on February 17th and sits stranded in Kooskia, Idaho. The first load often did dangerous manuvers with its clustered crew in order to try to pull over every 10 to 15 minutes to allow traffic to pass. On the first night it had significant problems with Arrow Bridge just east of Lewiston. But the ITD employees that accompanied the load didn’t seem to notice or think it was worth mentioning that the extra dolly added to redistribute the weight while the load crossed Arrow Bridge had wheels that were tilted at a 45 degree angle into thin air. This load also scraped a rock face along the highway and caused a 59 minute delay in traffic in both directions. Also after the second day of travel the transport company (Emmert International) said it would be delayed for days because of weather, even though the roads were clear for travel. During this time workers were seen welding underneath the million dollar trailer.

It took almost 2 weeks for the first load to appraoch the Montana border and the last 40 miles were under a revised travel plan scheduled to take 4 days. Also along the route the pilot car that says “Follow This Vehicle” drove irratically and at times did not seem to care that it was in the left lane while all of the traffic behind it was moving in the right hand lane. On the first night a car travelling north on Rt. 95 took the Rt. 12 on ramp heading east and found that their were no people or anything else stopping that car from driving right into the side of the giant and its support vehicles. As well people were threatened by “off duty” state cops who were paid to escort the Mega load. People were called terrorist for monitoring violations of the law. People were told that if they stepped out of their car they would be arrested. People were pulled over for following the pilot car.

The second load left Lewiston on Feb. 17th, travelled for 2 nights from 10 pm to 5:30 am and now is stuck in Kooskia for “routine maintence” and a beautiful blizzard. GO SNOW! It struggled with Arrow Bridge as well with the dolly failing yet again. Emmert’s track record in Idaho probably won’t be highlighted on their web page anytime soon.

Exxon/Mobile was scheduled to do a “test run” of its biggest load tonight, but I am guessing the blizzard is saying no. Also Exxon mobile has started cutting 33 of its loads in half at the port of Lewiston in order to have the option of taking them on the interstate to avoid route 12. They say Rt. 12 is still their preferred option but they are disappointed at how long the permit process has been held up in Idaho. It still wants to take 114 of the original 207 loads up Rt. 12. It has also started running the smaller loads from Vancouver Washington along I-5 and I-90 to the Alberta Tar Sands.

WINNONA LA DUKE WILL SPEAK IN LAPIWA IDAHO THIS SUNDAY 3:00-6:00 AT THE METHODIST CHURCH.

Article source: http://nref.wordpress.com/2011/02/22/mega-loads-struggle-with-wild-and-scenic/

Over 90 people showed up to protest the first 4 loads to go up route 12.

A Wise Use group-Drive Our Economy was only capable of bringing a small handful of people to counter protest us and they went home early because of the rain.

There will be monitoring each night that these loads are on the road. This will be used to fight any further giant shipments.

Stay tuned; the fight has just begun.

 

 

Article source: http://nref.wordpress.com/2011/02/01/first-mega-load-rolls-tonight/

Come protest the Conoco Phillips loads this Saturday on Memorial Bridge in Lewiston, Idaho from 1 to 3 pm. Bring your kids, bring your mom bring your grandparents.  There will also be a press conference Monday January 31st at the ITD office on Frontage road in Lewiston. The first load could start moving down rural route 12 late Monday night after midnight (Tuesday morning technically).

We at Northern Rockies Earth First! are still calling for the brave few to stand down these giant loads.

Article source: http://nref.wordpress.com/2011/01/25/protest-of-conoco-phillips-loads-sat-jan-29th/