Big Oil Leaves a Trail of Broken Promises through the Northern Rockies

Last December, I wrote about Big Oil’s proposed “megaloads"—207 gargantuan trucks from Exxon and ConocoPhillips, three-stories high each, which are now hauling Korean-made refining equipment hundreds of miles across the narrow mountain roads of the northern Rockies—territory once explored by Lewis and Clark.

The ultimate destination of this dangerous corridor? The Canadian tar sands, home to one of the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel operations. And to no one's surprise, Big Oil started breaking its promises on day one to keep the journey safe.

But there is hope. A coalition of local activists is making strong headway in the courts and in the court of popular opinion.

Lend them a hand by signing the new petition here at Change.org asking officials in both Idaho and Montana to stop the megaloads and prevent the creation of a permanent industrial corridor.

The way the megaloads are supposed to work is that they block the entire highway, pulling over into special turnouts every 15 minutes to let stopped traffic – including emergency vehicles – pass. This is the law: 15 minutes only. Yet the very first truck to roll out in February stalled traffic for at least 29 minutes five times in one night. It happened against last week when another truck snapped a guy wire, closed the highway for a full hour, and cut power to the entire town of Orofino, Idaho.

Other broken promises include multiple repeated delays, two-mile traffic jams, and mechanical problems. (Quick question – what happens if one of these mechanical issues causes a megaload to break down far from a turnout? How long will ambulances, tourists, and commuters be delayed then?)

There have already been assaults on the local environment, too. At first, it was just trucks scraping against rock outcroppings (damaging both the trucks and the land). But now Exxon is demanding that the Forest Service trim every tree along the Highway 12 route, permanently changing the wild and historic nature of this National Scenic Byway. That's right: Big Oil wants us to cut up our Montana trees and risk our tourist revenue to help their Canadian oil profits.

Exxon even lied about the actual route the trucks will take. On February 10^th, an Imperial Oil spokesman “dismissed as ‘rumors and speculation’” that they would reduce the size of the loads to use I-90, which runs through the population centers of Missoula, Montana and Coeur d’Alene, Idaho (my hometown). But just four days later, the company announced that indeed, 33 loads will use I-90. They’ll also take Highway 95, Idaho’s most traveled road, through the university town of Moscow, Idaho – where Exxon apparently forgot to tell the mayor.

And perhaps worst of all, there are more signs than ever that the promises of this being just a temporary disruption were as hollow as a plastic Easter egg. Financial website Seeking Alpha reports that three more companies have asked the Idaho Department of Transportation about megaload permits, and several more have contacted the Port of Lewiston. If Exxon continues to get its way, the northern Rockies will be turned into a permanent industrial corridor.

But there is good news – very good news. A Montana lawsuit filed by several activists won a temporary injunction against further meagload-related road construction this week, and an Idaho hearing to consider revoking the permits begins today, Monday, April 25th. Please help create even more progress, and sign All Against the Haul’s Change.org petition asking local and state leaders to defend the northwest and northern Rockies.

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Photo credit: Montana residents protest the megaloads on Highway 12 east of Lolo Hot Springs in February, courtesy All Against the Haul.