Editorial: State should go slow with mega-load decision
The Idaho Supreme Court has yet to rule on whether permits can be granted to ConocoPhillips for hauling four extra-wide loads through Lolo Pass on U.S. Highway 12, but it’s becoming clear that this route, which is renowned for its scenery, is also coveted by companies transporting heavy equipment to the vast oil sands of Alberta.
Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil has planned 207 such shipments, and now a South Korean company is eyeing 40 to 60 oversize truckloads of its own. Harvest Energy met with Idaho Transportation Department officials on Sept. 15 to discuss the permitting process for South Korean interests. Meanwhile, the National Resource Defense Council, an environmental watchdog, says it translated some Korean business documents, press releases and media reports and found that Imperial Oil and its Korean equipment supplier, Sung Jin Geotec Co., have designs on U.S. Highway 12 for the next 10 years.
On Thursday, Imperial Oil denied the report in an Associated Press article, saying that it only has firm plans for 207 shipments. When asked whether the company would seek more, a spokesman declined to speculate.
The specter of a highway designated a Northwest Scenic Byway Passage becoming the routine route for hauling mega-loads of heavy equipment is cause for concern.
The state got off to a bad start by not granting sufficient public input into the initial decision to grant the first four permits for wide loads headed to a refinery in Billings. A District Court judge cited that failure in rejecting the permits. He noted that the ITD didn’t follow its own regulations and was critical of the failure to “address the ‘inevitable’ accident or breakdown that could shut down Highway 12 for days or weeks.”
The agency routinely issues permits for wide loads, but this request is extraordinary. The loads, which weigh more than 300 tons and would travel only at night, would take up both lanes and pull over every 15 minutes to allow other vehicles to pass. It would take them four days to travel the 175 miles of winding road from Lewiston to Lolo Pass.
Residents along the highway can’t be faulted for wondering how this would impact tourism or what would be done for ambulances, firetrucks or police vehicles in the case of emergencies. The state was able to get the two oil companies to post $10 million bonds in case of spills into the Clearwater and Lochsa rivers, but there are no guarantees that widespread damage to fragile waterways could be cleaned up.
The oil companies want an immediate answer so they can transport equipment before winter conditions make it impossible. But the prospect of this route being used for several years should give the state pause. A rushed decision now could lead to long-term nightmares. Like the loads themselves, the state ought to move slowly.