Montana approves permit for Lewiston megaload

MISSOULA – A permit will be issued this morning for an Omega Morgan megaload to travel across Montana highways.

Duane Williams of the Montana Department of Transportation said the Oregon-based transport company emailed a request for the permit Tuesday afternoon. MDT has already approved the transport plan from Lolo Pass on U.S. Highway 12 to the Alberta border.

“We’ll probably do the permit through Aug. 16, but we can extend it by just amending it if something out of the control of Omega Morgan should happen,” Williams said.

It’s the first of at least nine megaloads Omega Morgan wants to move on two-lane routes from Idaho through Montana.

Williams said last month that one of Montana’s triggers for an environmental review is a project with 50 or more shipments requiring the special oversized load permits.

At least 150 protesters met the first load early Tuesday outside of Lewiston at the Nez Perce Reservation boundary. Williams said he hasn’t heard of any planned protests in Montana.

“I even asked the company today if they’ve caught any wind (of a protest in Montana) and they said they’ve heard nothing,” he said.

Omega Morgan’s planned route is similar to that proposed for more than 200 loads of Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil processing equipment for the Kearl oil sands in northeastern Alberta. Those were downsized and diverted to interstate highways.

The Omega Morgan loads, also headed to the Canadian oil sands, would enter Montana at Lolo Pass on U.S. 12, pass through Missoula on Reserve Street and cross over the Continental Divide at Rogers Pass on Highway 200.

The Montana route passes first through the Lolo National Forest, but the Lolo is not involved in vetting the oversized loads.

“The judge’s decision was specific to the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act and the Nez Perce-Clearwater (Forest),” Lolo spokesman Boyd Hartwig said.