Megaloads Moving Mountains -- Not a Bakken Story

Updates

August 10, 2013: they're baaackkk! The protestors. Protestors tried, unsuccessfully, to stop another mega-load shipment of oil equipment for the oil sands. The route is similar: Pacific Ocean by Columbia River barge to Clarkston, Washington, and then by truck from Lewiston, Idaho, to Missoula, MT, over US Highway 12 (in Idaho where the protestors gathered), and then up Montana State Highway 200 to Canada. Montana says no problem. Idaho supporting the movement but the US Forest Service and the feds could still get involved. The Billings Gazette is reporting.

The load is the first of several that Omega Morgan hopes to haul along the same route, despite the anger and litigation the first load launched in Idaho.

In the lawsuit, the tribe and IRU accuse the U.S. Forest Service of shirking its duty to stop the shipment from entering a section of the highway that passes through a federally designated Wild and Scenic River corridor. The two-lane roadway traces the Lochsa and Clearwater rivers, an area protected under the 1968 Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

Earlier this year, Judge Winmill, presiding over a separate lawsuit on a previous megaload shipment, ruled the Forest Service has the authority to review state permitting plans for over-legal loads passing through the corridor. Forest officials say they have not yet developed the criteria for reviewing megaload permits and last week urged Omega Morgan officials to hold off moving the first shipment across Idaho.

October 23, 2012: surprise, surprise! This seems to have come out of nowhere. Link here to Billings Gazette.

One very large truckload of Alberta-bound water purification equipment is headed Montana’s way over Lolo Pass.

The shipment was slated to start up U.S. Highway 12 from the Port of Wilma near Lewiston, Idaho, Monday night. It’s expected to take four night moves to reach the Montana line.

Barring weather snafus or other delays, the load and an accompanying coterie of pilot and escort vehicles, could start moving through Missoula and Western Montana after dark on Sunday, according to the Montana Department of Transportation.

Duane Williams, administrator for MDT’s Motor Carrier Division, said Montana has yet to issue a permit but has approved a plan for the megaload to travel up the Blackfoot River, over Rogers Pass and into Canada at the Port of Sweetgrass. That’s the same system of two-lane highways over which a district judge barred Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil of Canada from transporting more than 200 megaloads early this year.

October 4, 2012: megaloads moving again in Montana.

Taking the back roads, the first of 29 modules to be shipped from Billings, Montana, to northern Alberta, started moving out this week. Unless I missed it, there was not even one word mentioned about faux-environmentalists trying to stop this movement. The company said it took a "long" time to get the permits but had nothing but nice words to say about Montana DOT: professional, helpful, concerned.

September 18, 2012: I missed this story when it came out in June, 2012.

The contentious Kearl Module Transportation Project is officially history. 

Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil has withdrawn an application for permits to transport hundreds of oversized loads over Lolo Pass and up the Blackfoot River to Canada, the Montana Department announced Wednesday morning in a notice to District Court Judge Ray Dayton. 

Meanwhile, modules modified in size either in factories in South Korea or in Northwest ports have been transported on interstate highway routes through Montana to the Kearl Oil Sands in northeastern Alberta.

My hunch: it probably doesn't cost XOM/Imperial Oil much more to ship smaller modules; it's probably much, much faster; and, can be shipped year 'round. And all the money the Missoulians could have made: restaurants, hotels, motels, service stations, security, police and highway patrol -- well, ... gone. And, ironically, there would have been absolutely no adverse impact on the asphalt roads. Environmental impact? Give me a break.

August 23, 2012: new route seems to have resolved issues, but some die-hard faux environmentalists never give up. 


December 26, 2011: sliced and diced, here's the update. 

November 4, 2011: Exxon subsidiary has changed the "megaloads" to "microloads" so that the tanks will be able to move down the interstate and avoid US Highway 12 completely. It will be a hoot if the new "microloads" are small enough to take US Highway 12 without special permits; then we can have ourselves a convoy.

August 9, 2011: It looks like the fringe element is winning this one. XOM looking to re-route movement and cutting down size of megaloads.

ExxonMobil and Imperial Oil are seeking permission from the state of Washington to ship giant oil refinery equipment to the Port of Pasco, and then move it by truck to Spokane for eventual shipment of Canada.

The companies say they are seeking the new route because intense opposition has slowed their original plans to ship the equipment to the Port of Lewiston in Idaho, and then truck it over scenic U.S. 12 into Montana and finally up to the Kearl oil sands in Canada.

July 15, 2011: Idaho issues permits; XOM megaloads moving again.

June 25, 2011: More protests scheduled.

An environmental activist group is gathering in the Lolo National Forest next month and organizers say they may target oversized truckloads of oil refinery equipment traveling along U.S. Highway 12.


Earth First! organizer Greg Mack of Moscow says the gathering is set to run July 5 through July 12 between the Idaho border and Lolo, Mont.

Mack told the Lewiston Tribune that the day after every annual rendezvous the group performs an act of civil disobedience. He says that if the oversized trucks, dubbed megaloads, aren’t moving at that time, the group may choose a different subject.

Whatever.

June 17, 2011: Idaho issues permits for megaloads.

The Idaho Transportation Department has issued permits for two smaller versions of so-called megaloads of oil equipment to move through northern Idaho on the way to Montana and then Canada.

The permits allow the two Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil loads to start moving as soon as June 27 from Lewiston to Coeur d'Alene and then onto Interstate 90.

Something tells me the "protesters" still won't be happy.

April 25, 2011: Another megaload controversy; this time involving XOM. Same area of the country. 

April 6, 2011: The first megaload made it its Billings refinery destination overnight. Excellent update at this link. 

April 5, 2011: First megaload reaches Billings area today. Second megaload still at Lewiston, Idaho. Second megaload expected to reach Billings in June, 2011.

March 27, 2011: The megaload lawsuits continue. Now the lawsuits move from Idaho to Montana.

The National Wildlife Federation and Missoula County commissioners plan to join other groups in seeking a court injunction to prevent an oil company from moving oversized loads of refinery equipment across Montana, officials say. The court action tentatively planned for this week targets an environmental assessment by the Montana Department of Transportation, said Tony Iollonardo, senior communications manager for the environmentalist group in Washington, D.C.

March 9, 2011: The first COP megaload has gotten over the pass and sits safely at Lolo, Montana; the second megaload is resting quietly at Lolo Hot Springs, due to ice and snow, but expectations are that it will be moving again, soon. But wow, they have a long way yet to go to get to Billings (final destination). But getting over the pass was probably the biggest issue.

February 15, 2011: due to bureaucratic delays in obtaining road permits for megaloads, Imperial Oil/XOM will make some loads smaller to comply with interstate height requirements, allowing some loads to move via the interstates.

February 15, 2011: Thank goodness for common sense. A Republican, of all things, introduced a bill that would require "public comment" before "megaloads" could be moved across Idaho highways. It was defeated. Thank goodness.

February 12, 2011: First COP enters Montana silently and without fanfare. Folks were surprised the megaload was not as big as they expected it to be. Some voiced the same thing I voiced earlier: it's a sad commentary when the United States no longer has the capability to manufacture such tanks, but a country like South Korea can.

Diana Mitchell lives on Highway 12 near Lolo, and like Opie and Hawkins, she was expecting something bigger. Detached from the pull truck but still hooked up to the pusher, the cylinder rose 28 feet above the parking lot and burgeoned 29 feet at its widest.

"It's smaller than I thought it would be, but then again, look at the setting," Mitchell said, gesturing at the Bitterroot Mountains that crowded down on both sides of Lolo Creek. "Everything is going to look small with all this."

February 12, 2011: First COP megaload to enter Montana today (Saturday).

Barring unforeseen problems, the first ConocoPhillips big rig was expected to top Lolo Pass and enter Montana early Saturday morning — with considerable law enforcement presence from both sides of the state line. Protesters are anticipated at the top of the pass. Something tells me there will be more press and more highway patrol than protesters. It's very, very cold out there at this time of the year; the convoy moves during the night; and, its schedule is unpredictable. It's been delayed six days due to weather; out-of-town protesters must have been cooling their heels impatiently. 

Original Posting

I can't remember if I have posted anything on this in the past or not.

This has to do with the legal action to prevent the movement of out-sized cargo on public highways. Following several months of legal maneuvering, the megaloads are moving.

With a rumble heard 'round the Pacific Northwest, the first ConocoPhillips megaload pulled out of town (Lewiston, Idaho) late Tuesday night and started its three-week trek to Billings, Montana.

Police cars and pilot vehicles, an ambulance, a pull truck, a push truck and half a dozen pickups made up the official convoy, which quickly stretched out to a couple of miles long.

"This is the biggest thing that's happened around here in a long time," said Ken Alexander, a retired carpenter who came down from Moscow earlier in the day to watch the last-minute preparations. "I hope they get through with no problem. You and I both know what's going to happen if something goes wrong with the first load. They're going to say ‘I told you so.' "

The distance from Lewiston, Idaho, to Billings, MT, is 560 miles. Over 21 days, that works out to about 25 miles/day. The first day they will get 40 miles under their collective belts.

I think folks are missing the big story. The big story was buried in the sixth paragraph and no one has commented on that.

ConocoPhillips and its moving company, Emmert International, say they've been developing this travel plan for three years in order to safely transport two replacement coke drums to the Billings refinery. Each drum was built in halves in Japan, at what Conoco spokesman Bill Stephens said Tuesday was one of just five factories in the world - all of them overseas - capable of fabricating the massive drums that can stand up to the intense heating and cooling regimen.

The country that put several men on the moon and brought them home safely again is not capable of "fabricating the massive drums that can stand up to the intense heating and cooling regimen." Incredible. This speaks volumes about what has happened to the manufacturing sector in this country. I know the three culprits that have contributed to this debacle but I don't want to step on any toes, so I will leave it at that.

On another, more positive note, the route will follow the exact route of the Lewis and Clark expedition over a century ago, now the Northwest Passage Scenic Byway -- US Highway 12.

I would love to be one of the on-lookers.

Maybe this is the type of Sputnik moment the president was referring to in his State of the Union address. Maybe we can't send folks to the moon any more, but perhaps we can move megaloads of drums built overseas over our mountains.