History not on Exxon’s side

ExxonMobil’s ad righteously promising to “do the job right” (haul huge loads of oil field equipment over Idaho’s Highway 12) is short on memory and detail. Many readers will remember Exxon’s fiasco in the Valdez oil spill in 1989. Her crime was the irresponsible staffing of that oil tanker with a pathetically unqualified command staff.

Now, Exxon is suggesting to the Idaho people that she has been upfront all along regarding her attempts to ram this shipment plan through the Idaho Department of Transportation. What we are really witnessing is Exxon’s creed that what is good for general Bull Moose is good for the country. It has little to do with any meaningful welfare for Idaho. The sad part is that Boise knows this. Obviously, it means nothing but grief to residents and businesses on Highway 12.

Highway 12 was never designed or envisioned to haul loads weighing over 300,000 pounds or up to 200 feet long. It is insulting that both Exxon and Idaho slyly suggest such transportation can be done with barely a notice by the public. If Idaho approves this Exxon proposal, it will open a Pandora’s box for future abuse of that scenic route.

John Bentley

Post Falls