XOM Subsidiary Chops Megaoads Into Microloads -- Not a Bakken Story

When we last left this soap opera, some megaloads had made it safely to Billings, Montana. In fact, it was so anticlimactic, observers were heard to say, "So, what was the big deal?

Unfortunately, for some it was a big deal, and a faux-environmentalist-leaning judge issued an injunction stopping any more megaloads down US 12.

The owner/shipper has chopped the megaloads into microloads to make them compatible for the interstate.

An Exxon Mobil subsidiary has changed tack after months of being snarled in a legal dispute over plans to haul oversized refinery equipment along scenic two-lane highways in Montana and Idaho to Canada.

Imperial Oil has applied to the Montana Department of Transportation for permits to transport about 300 smaller versions of the so-called megaloads to Alberta via interstates 90 and 15, transportation officials said Friday. That application would include all of the modules destined for the Kearl oil sands project, Imperial spokesman Pius Rolheiser said.

Wouldn't it be a hoot if the microloads were small enough to use US 12 without a special permit. Folks, we got ourselves a convoy. 

Regardless, I guess Plan B is an interstate convoy which will take more diesel and emit more toxins, but the faux-environmentalists can at least say they've won their little piece of the battle.

Have you ever noticed how everything is scenic when Big Oil is involved?