MOSCOW, Idaho - Officials in Latah County say at least four people were arrested as they protested the movement of a so-called megaload through the city of Moscow early Friday.
The Moscow-Pullman Daily News reports several of the protesters passively resisted arrest early Friday as they sat cross-legged in the street in the path of a 413,600-pound load of oil field equipment bound for an Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil oil sands project in Canada. The load was 24 feet wide, 14 feet tall and 208 feet long.
Wild Idaho Rising Tide organized the protest, but community organizer Helen Yost said she was amazed and surprised with how many people showed up. Counter protesters also attended, holding signs supporting the megaloads and the oil sands project in northern Alberta.
Showing posts with label Idaho. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Idaho. Show all posts
Friday, August 26, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Yes! -- Judge puts restraining order on big rig turnouts in Western Montana
Judge stops construction of big-rig turnouts in western Montana
By KIM BRIGGEMAN of the Missoulian
Its test load can come over Lolo Pass, but the Canadian oil company that seeks to haul a parade of massive loads through western Montana can't start building the needed king-size turnouts yet.
District Judge Ray Dayton of Deer Lodge County, in a ruling filed Monday in Missoula County District Court, said there's a "sufficient likelihood of irreparable harm" if Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil begins building or expanding turnouts along U.S. Highway 12 near Lolo Creek.
The Anaconda judge slapped a temporary restraining order on the roadside construction, as well as on further installation of underground utility lines, until the matter is resolved in a preliminary injunction hearing scheduled for May 16 in Missoula.
But Dayton denied a request by Missoula County and three other plaintiffs that would prohibit a high-and-wide test module from proceeding from Idaho to Lolo Hot Springs. He also allowed modification of existing traffic signals on Reserve Street in Missoula.
Both sides found positives in Dayton's decision.
"I think that he recognized the infrastructure impacts that could happen without a full review, and that it was important to stop that part," said Missoula County Commissioner Jean Curtiss.
"Imperial Oil is pleased with the decision, which will allow the transport of the Kearl test safety module to its intended destination near the Lolo Hot Springs," Imperial spokesman Pius Rolheiser said.
Resumption of the test move, which had been tentatively scheduled for Monday night, won't happen until Tuesday night at the earliest. The megaload has rested for the past week at the side of U.S. Highway 12 near Kamiah, Idaho, after experiencing multiple problems on its first move from the Port of Lewiston.
"Our plan is, pending favorable weather conditions and a couple of final signoffs that we expect from the Idaho Transportation Department, we'll resume moving the safety module tomorrow (Tuesday) evening," Rolheiser said.
Rolheiser said if the load moves Tuesday night after 10 p.m, PDT, it will reach a designated layover point at milepost 139 along the Lochsa River early Wednesday and reach Montana in the wee hours Thursday.
Dayton's ruling said no further movement of modules can proceed in Montana until all construction work has been completed.
The National Wildlife Federation, Montana Environmental Center and the Montana Chapter of the Sierra Club joined Missoula County in requesting the temporary restraining order. They're fellow plaintiffs in a lawsuit seeking to force the Montana Department of Transportation to do a more extensive environmental review of the Kearl Module Transportation Project.
MDT director Jim Lynch has said the need to build turnouts of varying sizes for traffic-clearing purposes along the two-lane highways, as well as to park the megaloads during the daytime, was the compelling reason for the department to require Imperial/Exxon to complete an environmental assessment.
Critics of the draft EA, including Missoula County commissioners, branded it insufficient and demanded a more extensive environmental impact study. MDT refused, citing guidelines set out by the Montana Environmental Policy Act.
Dayton was apparently convinced by a Missoula County official that plans for the turnouts needed further study, even though a state environmental agency signed off on them.
Peter Nielsen, environmental health supervisor for the Missoula City-County Health Department, testified at the TRO hearing Friday he thought some of the proposed turnouts pose threats to the water quality of Lolo Creek.
The creek is considered seriously impaired by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, largely because of road sanding and sediment. Nielsen said 18 streams in the Blackfoot watershed in Missoula County are also listed as impaired.
Nielsen said he made a field examination of Highway 12 from Lolo Pass to Lolo last Tuesday.
"I have evidence that the turnouts are larger than characterized in the EA, they're closer to the stream, (and) they will involve more cutting and filling and vegetation removal ... than characterized in the EA," Nielsen said. "Therefore their impacts are difficult to mitigate."
He testified that no best-management practices, those designed to mitigate the movement of pollutants from the ground into the water, were mentioned in the EA, so he and the public had no way of gauging how the turnouts might impact the watershed.
***
In his order, Dayton said the modification of traffic signals in Missoula is not likely to cause the plaintiffs irreparable harm. The company proposes to put the signals on swivels that would swing the lights out of the way to let the loads through, then immediately swing them back into place.
Dwane Kailey, MDT's chief engineer, testified that by restraining that work it would impact a separate project scheduled for this construction season to reduce congestion on Reserve Street.
"The one (such project) that I'm aware of is Mullan and Reserve," where the city and state are planning a construction project this summer, Curtiss said. "I imagine they'll do some signal changes, so it does make sense to do things together."
Rolheiser shed no light on how further delays in the Kearl transportation project will affect construction work in the Kearl Oil Sands. The company has an $8 billion project under way near Fort McMurray, Alberta, with plans to begin excavation of millions of barrels of tar-like bitumen in late 2012.
"Until we have clarity on the next steps ahead of that preliminary injunction hearing on May 16, it's difficult to talk about timelines," Rolheiser said.
He added he's unsure when and if the company will begin work on the traffic signal modifications in Missoula, saying, "We haven't yet developed a plan as to whether we'll proceed with that work."
The lawsuit follows MDT's decision in February to approve Imperial/Exxon's proposal to move, over the course of nearly a year, more than 200 oversized loads manufactured in South Korea from Lolo Pass to the Canadian border at the Port of Sweetgrass.
They're reportedly the largest loads to ever travel Highway 12. The test module weighs 490,000 pounds, stands three stories tall and 24 feet wide, and is nearly 250 feet long. All require 32-J oversized dimension permits from MDT, which Imperial/Exxon says it was assured by MDT could be secured.
The proposed route through Montana begins at Lolo Pass and passes through Missoula on Reserve Street, up the Blackfoot on Highway 200 to Rogers Pass, and along the Rocky Mountain Front to Cut Bank and the Port of Sweetgrass.
By KIM BRIGGEMAN of the Missoulian
Its test load can come over Lolo Pass, but the Canadian oil company that seeks to haul a parade of massive loads through western Montana can't start building the needed king-size turnouts yet.
District Judge Ray Dayton of Deer Lodge County, in a ruling filed Monday in Missoula County District Court, said there's a "sufficient likelihood of irreparable harm" if Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil begins building or expanding turnouts along U.S. Highway 12 near Lolo Creek.
The Anaconda judge slapped a temporary restraining order on the roadside construction, as well as on further installation of underground utility lines, until the matter is resolved in a preliminary injunction hearing scheduled for May 16 in Missoula.
But Dayton denied a request by Missoula County and three other plaintiffs that would prohibit a high-and-wide test module from proceeding from Idaho to Lolo Hot Springs. He also allowed modification of existing traffic signals on Reserve Street in Missoula.
Both sides found positives in Dayton's decision.
"I think that he recognized the infrastructure impacts that could happen without a full review, and that it was important to stop that part," said Missoula County Commissioner Jean Curtiss.
"Imperial Oil is pleased with the decision, which will allow the transport of the Kearl test safety module to its intended destination near the Lolo Hot Springs," Imperial spokesman Pius Rolheiser said.
Resumption of the test move, which had been tentatively scheduled for Monday night, won't happen until Tuesday night at the earliest. The megaload has rested for the past week at the side of U.S. Highway 12 near Kamiah, Idaho, after experiencing multiple problems on its first move from the Port of Lewiston.
"Our plan is, pending favorable weather conditions and a couple of final signoffs that we expect from the Idaho Transportation Department, we'll resume moving the safety module tomorrow (Tuesday) evening," Rolheiser said.
Rolheiser said if the load moves Tuesday night after 10 p.m, PDT, it will reach a designated layover point at milepost 139 along the Lochsa River early Wednesday and reach Montana in the wee hours Thursday.
Dayton's ruling said no further movement of modules can proceed in Montana until all construction work has been completed.
The National Wildlife Federation, Montana Environmental Center and the Montana Chapter of the Sierra Club joined Missoula County in requesting the temporary restraining order. They're fellow plaintiffs in a lawsuit seeking to force the Montana Department of Transportation to do a more extensive environmental review of the Kearl Module Transportation Project.
MDT director Jim Lynch has said the need to build turnouts of varying sizes for traffic-clearing purposes along the two-lane highways, as well as to park the megaloads during the daytime, was the compelling reason for the department to require Imperial/Exxon to complete an environmental assessment.
Critics of the draft EA, including Missoula County commissioners, branded it insufficient and demanded a more extensive environmental impact study. MDT refused, citing guidelines set out by the Montana Environmental Policy Act.
Dayton was apparently convinced by a Missoula County official that plans for the turnouts needed further study, even though a state environmental agency signed off on them.
Peter Nielsen, environmental health supervisor for the Missoula City-County Health Department, testified at the TRO hearing Friday he thought some of the proposed turnouts pose threats to the water quality of Lolo Creek.
The creek is considered seriously impaired by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, largely because of road sanding and sediment. Nielsen said 18 streams in the Blackfoot watershed in Missoula County are also listed as impaired.
Nielsen said he made a field examination of Highway 12 from Lolo Pass to Lolo last Tuesday.
"I have evidence that the turnouts are larger than characterized in the EA, they're closer to the stream, (and) they will involve more cutting and filling and vegetation removal ... than characterized in the EA," Nielsen said. "Therefore their impacts are difficult to mitigate."
He testified that no best-management practices, those designed to mitigate the movement of pollutants from the ground into the water, were mentioned in the EA, so he and the public had no way of gauging how the turnouts might impact the watershed.
***
In his order, Dayton said the modification of traffic signals in Missoula is not likely to cause the plaintiffs irreparable harm. The company proposes to put the signals on swivels that would swing the lights out of the way to let the loads through, then immediately swing them back into place.
Dwane Kailey, MDT's chief engineer, testified that by restraining that work it would impact a separate project scheduled for this construction season to reduce congestion on Reserve Street.
"The one (such project) that I'm aware of is Mullan and Reserve," where the city and state are planning a construction project this summer, Curtiss said. "I imagine they'll do some signal changes, so it does make sense to do things together."
Rolheiser shed no light on how further delays in the Kearl transportation project will affect construction work in the Kearl Oil Sands. The company has an $8 billion project under way near Fort McMurray, Alberta, with plans to begin excavation of millions of barrels of tar-like bitumen in late 2012.
"Until we have clarity on the next steps ahead of that preliminary injunction hearing on May 16, it's difficult to talk about timelines," Rolheiser said.
He added he's unsure when and if the company will begin work on the traffic signal modifications in Missoula, saying, "We haven't yet developed a plan as to whether we'll proceed with that work."
The lawsuit follows MDT's decision in February to approve Imperial/Exxon's proposal to move, over the course of nearly a year, more than 200 oversized loads manufactured in South Korea from Lolo Pass to the Canadian border at the Port of Sweetgrass.
They're reportedly the largest loads to ever travel Highway 12. The test module weighs 490,000 pounds, stands three stories tall and 24 feet wide, and is nearly 250 feet long. All require 32-J oversized dimension permits from MDT, which Imperial/Exxon says it was assured by MDT could be secured.
The proposed route through Montana begins at Lolo Pass and passes through Missoula on Reserve Street, up the Blackfoot on Highway 200 to Rogers Pass, and along the Rocky Mountain Front to Cut Bank and the Port of Sweetgrass.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Whiff of victory
Whiff of victory
Heavy haul opposition heartened
by Alex Sakariassen
Even before Imperial Oil's test module shorted out power to 1,300 residents and excessively delayed traffic in Idaho Tuesday, opponents of the Kearl Module Transportation Project (KMTP) detected a hint of victory in the air. More often than not, opposition groups have faced defeat—most notably last month's release of a Finding of No Significant Impact by the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT).
But Imperial began publicly shifting its focus in recent weeks, away from the hotly debated rural highways and toward the Interstate Highway System.
Heavy haul opposition heartened
by Alex Sakariassen
Even before Imperial Oil's test module shorted out power to 1,300 residents and excessively delayed traffic in Idaho Tuesday, opponents of the Kearl Module Transportation Project (KMTP) detected a hint of victory in the air. More often than not, opposition groups have faced defeat—most notably last month's release of a Finding of No Significant Impact by the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT).
But Imperial began publicly shifting its focus in recent weeks, away from the hotly debated rural highways and toward the Interstate Highway System.
Nez Perce, CSKT seek to join lawsuit against oil equipment megaloads
By Kim Briggeman, of the Missoulian:
Two tribes along the route of the Kearl Module Transportation Project have asked to take part in litigation designed to halt it.
Western Montana’s Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, as well as the Nez Perce of Idaho, filed a motion in Missoula County District Court Wednesday asking to have their say in the suit against the Montana Department of Transportation.
“We’ve got some cultural interests in the area and we really would like to know a little more information on how potentially this could impact those areas,” CSKT spokesman Rob MacDonald said.
The Nez Perce tribe “supports the plaintiffs in the filing of the lawsuit and has filed an amicus brief because the tribe believes it brings a unique perspective to the issues involved with the case because of the tribe’s treaty,” McCoy Oatman, chairman of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee, said in a statement.
If permitted by the court, the tribes will join four plaintiffs, including Missoula County, in arguing that MDT failed to analyze or disclose potential adverse impacts in its environmental assessment of Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil’s transportation plan.
By Kim Briggeman, of the Missoulian:
Two tribes along the route of the Kearl Module Transportation Project have asked to take part in litigation designed to halt it.
Western Montana’s Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, as well as the Nez Perce of Idaho, filed a motion in Missoula County District Court Wednesday asking to have their say in the suit against the Montana Department of Transportation.
“We’ve got some cultural interests in the area and we really would like to know a little more information on how potentially this could impact those areas,” CSKT spokesman Rob MacDonald said.
The Nez Perce tribe “supports the plaintiffs in the filing of the lawsuit and has filed an amicus brief because the tribe believes it brings a unique perspective to the issues involved with the case because of the tribe’s treaty,” McCoy Oatman, chairman of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee, said in a statement.
If permitted by the court, the tribes will join four plaintiffs, including Missoula County, in arguing that MDT failed to analyze or disclose potential adverse impacts in its environmental assessment of Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil’s transportation plan.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Slow going and delays for the megaloads in the mountains
Snowy roads, traffic delay violations stall ConocoPhillips megaloads
By KIM BRIGGEMAN of the Missoulian RavalliRepublic.com Saturday, February 5, 2011
Big trouble for a big rig in Idaho: There's snow on Lolo Pass and non-moving violations below.
Inclement midwinter weather stalled ConocoPhillips' first megaload of refinery equipment in Kooskia, Idaho, on Friday for the second night.
Meanwhile, Conoco's moving company, Emmert International, was scrambling to come up with a new plan for a particularly winding stretch of U.S. Highway 12 on which traffic was held up 10 times for more than 15 minutes - the maximum delay allowed - earlier this week.
The weather delay means the 226-foot-long transporter won't reach Lolo Pass and Montana until Monday morning at the earliest, and the weekend weather forecast isn't promising.
The traffic delays may be a bigger problem. Adam Rush of the Idaho Transportation Department said traffic was stopped five times for 29 minutes or more - once for almost an hour - on the Wednesday night-Thursday morning haul from Orofino to Kooskia.
Emmert used all but 10 minutes of its 7 1/2-hour window to travel the 35 miles. It'll have to do better next time, when the second of four shipments comes crawling sometime next week or later.
"We are requiring Emmert to resubmit that portion of the plan and let us know how they're going to go about staying within those traffic delay (limits)," Rush said.
In issuing permits, ITD stipulated that traffic can be held up for no more than 10 minutes in most stretches of the 175-mile haul, and no more than 15 minutes on a dozen targeted stretches.
Rush said priority No. 1 for his agency and the movers is safety.
"They had some corners they wanted to make sure they could safely navigate, and they took some extra time to get around those corners," he said. "But we also care very much about the efficiency for other motorists and being able to use Highway 12 in a timely fashion."
Rush said he had not heard that any emergency vehicles were impeded during blockages, including five that lasted 29, 39, 42, 42 and 59 minutes.
The last and longest delay ended at about 4:30 a.m. It occurred between mile markers 61 and 65 just north of Kamiah, where the highway squirms its way between rock cliffs and the Clearwater River. Marker 65 is the site of Long Camp, or Camp Choppunish, where Lewis and Clark camped for 28 days in May and June 1806 waiting for the snow to melt in the Bitterroots.
Revisions in the travel plan are "absolutely doable," said ConocoPhillips spokesman John Roper, who was working from home in Houston on Friday because an ice storm there shut down Conoco offices.
"We are working with the Idaho Transportation Department and Emmert to adjust our procedures in order to minimize traffic delays while continuing to ensure safe transport of our coke drum shipments to Billings," Roper said in a statement.
***
The 100 miles of Highway 12 yet to be traveled in Idaho are known for hairpin turns and slow going - from Kooskia up the Middle Fork of the Clearwater and Lochsa rivers to Lolo Pass. Rush said Emmert's transport plan takes those conditions into account.
"They've looked at the future portions of U.S. 12 and don't anticipate any more delays because of sharp corners and curves," he said.
Thursday night's move was called off because of freezing rain in the area. The decision to stay put again Friday was made early in the afternoon, as snow on the road to Lolo Pass began to accumulate.
The National Weather Service in Missoula was calling for 2-4 inches of snow Friday night at Lolo Pass (elevation 5,233 feet) and another 2-4 inches on Saturday.
"Things aren't going to improve after that," said Ray Nickless, a hydrologist for the National Weather Service in Missoula. "It looks like there'll be snow accumulation Saturday night, down to the lower elevations even. Then it just switches back and forth between rain and snow (on Sunday and Monday)."
Precipitation should start tapering off later Monday as temperatures drop again, Nickless said.
Still, movers remained hopeful that the 300-ton load could move again at 10 p.m. on Saturday. It's the first of four headed for Conoco's refinery in Billings. Once it reaches Montana, it will sit by the roadside a mile or so east of Lolo Hot Springs while the next load moves up from Lewiston.
Together, they'll travel down to Missoula, up the Clark Fork Valley to Garrison, over MacDonald Pass and through Helena, and along a circuitous route through central Montana to Billings.
The other drums will make the trip in late March or April.
A toll-free number, 1-866-535-0138 gives daily updates on the loads.
==
By KIM BRIGGEMAN of the Missoulian RavalliRepublic.com Saturday, February 5, 2011
Big trouble for a big rig in Idaho: There's snow on Lolo Pass and non-moving violations below.
Inclement midwinter weather stalled ConocoPhillips' first megaload of refinery equipment in Kooskia, Idaho, on Friday for the second night.
Meanwhile, Conoco's moving company, Emmert International, was scrambling to come up with a new plan for a particularly winding stretch of U.S. Highway 12 on which traffic was held up 10 times for more than 15 minutes - the maximum delay allowed - earlier this week.
The weather delay means the 226-foot-long transporter won't reach Lolo Pass and Montana until Monday morning at the earliest, and the weekend weather forecast isn't promising.
The traffic delays may be a bigger problem. Adam Rush of the Idaho Transportation Department said traffic was stopped five times for 29 minutes or more - once for almost an hour - on the Wednesday night-Thursday morning haul from Orofino to Kooskia.
Emmert used all but 10 minutes of its 7 1/2-hour window to travel the 35 miles. It'll have to do better next time, when the second of four shipments comes crawling sometime next week or later.
"We are requiring Emmert to resubmit that portion of the plan and let us know how they're going to go about staying within those traffic delay (limits)," Rush said.
In issuing permits, ITD stipulated that traffic can be held up for no more than 10 minutes in most stretches of the 175-mile haul, and no more than 15 minutes on a dozen targeted stretches.
Rush said priority No. 1 for his agency and the movers is safety.
"They had some corners they wanted to make sure they could safely navigate, and they took some extra time to get around those corners," he said. "But we also care very much about the efficiency for other motorists and being able to use Highway 12 in a timely fashion."
Rush said he had not heard that any emergency vehicles were impeded during blockages, including five that lasted 29, 39, 42, 42 and 59 minutes.
The last and longest delay ended at about 4:30 a.m. It occurred between mile markers 61 and 65 just north of Kamiah, where the highway squirms its way between rock cliffs and the Clearwater River. Marker 65 is the site of Long Camp, or Camp Choppunish, where Lewis and Clark camped for 28 days in May and June 1806 waiting for the snow to melt in the Bitterroots.
Revisions in the travel plan are "absolutely doable," said ConocoPhillips spokesman John Roper, who was working from home in Houston on Friday because an ice storm there shut down Conoco offices.
"We are working with the Idaho Transportation Department and Emmert to adjust our procedures in order to minimize traffic delays while continuing to ensure safe transport of our coke drum shipments to Billings," Roper said in a statement.
***
The 100 miles of Highway 12 yet to be traveled in Idaho are known for hairpin turns and slow going - from Kooskia up the Middle Fork of the Clearwater and Lochsa rivers to Lolo Pass. Rush said Emmert's transport plan takes those conditions into account.
"They've looked at the future portions of U.S. 12 and don't anticipate any more delays because of sharp corners and curves," he said.
Thursday night's move was called off because of freezing rain in the area. The decision to stay put again Friday was made early in the afternoon, as snow on the road to Lolo Pass began to accumulate.
The National Weather Service in Missoula was calling for 2-4 inches of snow Friday night at Lolo Pass (elevation 5,233 feet) and another 2-4 inches on Saturday.
"Things aren't going to improve after that," said Ray Nickless, a hydrologist for the National Weather Service in Missoula. "It looks like there'll be snow accumulation Saturday night, down to the lower elevations even. Then it just switches back and forth between rain and snow (on Sunday and Monday)."
Precipitation should start tapering off later Monday as temperatures drop again, Nickless said.
Still, movers remained hopeful that the 300-ton load could move again at 10 p.m. on Saturday. It's the first of four headed for Conoco's refinery in Billings. Once it reaches Montana, it will sit by the roadside a mile or so east of Lolo Hot Springs while the next load moves up from Lewiston.
Together, they'll travel down to Missoula, up the Clark Fork Valley to Garrison, over MacDonald Pass and through Helena, and along a circuitous route through central Montana to Billings.
The other drums will make the trip in late March or April.
A toll-free number, 1-866-535-0138 gives daily updates on the loads.
==
Related Stories
- Related: Idaho Transportation Department cleans up miles of rock chips on U.S. 12
- Related: Megaload sees sharp turns, short disruption on journey along Highway 12 to Montana
- Related: Crowds follow megaload along U.S. Highway 12 in Idaho
- Related: Megaloads leave Port of Lewiston, bound for Billings
Related Links
Friday, February 4, 2011
ExxonMobil's plan to transport 207 oversized loads of mining equipment to the Alberta tar sands. It's hard to imagine these loads, but it's even harder to imagine where they're going.
"How much are we willing to pay environmentally, socially and economically for oil?"
http://missoulian.com/news/opinion/columnists/article_4b4ec7f2-306c-11e0-9475-001cc4c03286.html
http://missoulian.com/news/opinion/columnists/article_4b4ec7f2-306c-11e0-9475-001cc4c03286.html
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Back and forth on the coke drums / big rigs
Snowy weather may delay controversial oil equipment shipments
BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Even if ConocoPhillips gets permits to transport huge coke drums through northcentral Idaho, snowy weather as well as legal appeals could put a hold shipments.
A hearing officer recommended Tuesday the Idaho Transportation Department issue four permits to allow ConocoPhillips to ship its oversized oil-refinery equipment from Lewiston, Idaho to Montana along U.S. Highway 12.
But agency director Brian Ness still must issue the permits.
And Idaho Transportation Department spokesman Jeff Stratten says road conditions would need to be judged safe by the agency's Lewiston district engineer.
What's more, the oil company's trucking crew must return to Lewiston, and even shipment supporters say they expect foes to appeal hearing officer Merlyn Clark's recommendation.
If that happens, the coke drums could be stuck in Lewiston for months.
BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Even if ConocoPhillips gets permits to transport huge coke drums through northcentral Idaho, snowy weather as well as legal appeals could put a hold shipments.
A hearing officer recommended Tuesday the Idaho Transportation Department issue four permits to allow ConocoPhillips to ship its oversized oil-refinery equipment from Lewiston, Idaho to Montana along U.S. Highway 12.
But agency director Brian Ness still must issue the permits.
And Idaho Transportation Department spokesman Jeff Stratten says road conditions would need to be judged safe by the agency's Lewiston district engineer.
What's more, the oil company's trucking crew must return to Lewiston, and even shipment supporters say they expect foes to appeal hearing officer Merlyn Clark's recommendation.
If that happens, the coke drums could be stuck in Lewiston for months.
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