Laird Lucas of Advocates for the West, a conservation group that's providing legal representation for Highway 12 megaloads opponents for free, said after today's ITD hearing, "I feel like we did a good job of showing the judge that people who live and work along…
ConocoPhillips issued this statement this afternoon in response to this morning's hearing on its four proposed Highway 12 megaloads:"ConocoPhillips agrees with the administrative judge overseeing today’s hearing that a decision in this matter is long overdue and are pleased that he signaled a decision will…
Lawyers for opponents and backers of the first four mega-loads of oil equipment proposed to travel north-central Idaho's U.S. Highway 12 faced off in a crowded Idaho Transportation Department auditorium today, sparring over whether more hearings must be held before the four loads can roll;…
Steven Steach, plant manager at the ConocoPhillips Billings refinery, said a busload of 54 plant employees and contractors came over for today's ITD hearing on Conoco's four proposed megaloads on Highway 12. "We drove 11 hours, got in last night at 11," he said. "They're…
The hearing has wrapped up on the ConocoPhillips megaloads and whether to allow opponents to intervene in the permit case. "I will take this matter under advisement," said hearing officer Merlyn Clark. "I will issue a decision before Thanksgiving, it will be a written recommendation…
ITD attorney Tim Thomas is now giving the agency's legal argument, siding with ConocoPhillips. The objections from opponents, Thomas said, are "not specific to these four permits - four permits for four loads for four days' time." In its brief, the ITD argued that any…
ConocoPhillips' Billings oil refinery is "intertwined with the Idaho economy and the Montana economy," Conoco attorney Erik Stidham said as he wrapped up his legal arguments. "There's no assurance that they will not have to have an unplanned stop if they are not allowed to…
"Going back to what is really at issue here," ConocoPhillips attorney Erik Stidham told an ITD hearing officer this morning, "we're facing a situation that really is about politics and not about this refinery in Bilings."He displayed a protest website that referred to "Axles of…
Erik Stidham, attorney for ConocoPhillips, has begun his arguments. "They want to talk about things beyond the four permits," he said of the opponents of the four ConocoPhillips megaloads, things "that don't relate to four shipments traveling in the middle of the night with plenty…
One of the concerns residents along Highway 12 have raised is about blockage of the road during medical emergencies, when a resident might need to travel the route quickly to get to the emergency room - as one of the plaintiffs did while suffering anaphylactic…
Laird Lucas, attorney for the megaloads opponents, said the loads will "be approximately the size of an office building going up along the Lochsa River, that curvy road that you know and that the rest of us know. ... These will block both sides of…
The hearing today on whether to allow full contested-case hearings on the four proposed ConocoPhillips megaloads on Highway 12 will focus just on those four loads, hearing officer Merlyn Clark warned. "I am limiting my scope of examination today to the four loads that are…
ITD hearing officer Merlyn Clark said he'll have his ruling on the ConocoPhillips megaloads done by Thanksgiving. "I intend to spend the weekend and the first part of next week getting the decision out so you will have a decision before Thanksgiving - before I…
Hearing officer Merlyn Clark began by reading the letter from ITD Director Brian Ness laying out the issues for today's mega-loads hearing. He then notified all present that he practiced law in Lewiston from 1964 to 1979, working for a firm that represented the Port…
Today is the day that an ITD hearing officer will hear arguments from all sides on the proposed four mega-loads of oil refinery equipment that ConocoPhillips wants to send across U.S. Highway 12 in north-central Idaho. ITD's auditorium is quite full; among the crowd are…
4th District Judge Cheri Copsey on Thursday "reluctantly" granted the state's motion to dismiss Rep. Shirley Ringo's lawsuit over secret tax deals for lack of standing, but said in her decision that Ringo's allegations were "very troubling" and should be addressed. Ringo's attorney, former Idaho…
Here's a link to my full story at spokesman.com on how Idahoans overwhelmingly support raising state taxes on cigarettes and alcohol to address the state's budget deficit, according to a new statewide poll, even as they oppose other tax hikes and spending cuts. The poll,…
There's some very interesting data in the Moore Information poll released today by a coalition of health groups pushing for a big cigarette tax increase in Idaho. Among the results: 47 percent of Idahoans say the state is generally headed in the right direction, while…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho's outgoing Senate minority leader is taking a job with the Environmental Protection Agency in Seattle. Sen. Kate Kelly, a Democratic senator since 2004, will be director of the Office of Ecosystems, Tribal…
Idaho House Tax Chairman Dennis Lake, R-Blackfoot, said he supports a big hike in the state's cigarette tax in the coming year, and may co-sponsor the legislation. "I do support it," he said. "They wanted to bring a bill to raise cigarette taxes last year…
A new poll conducted by Moore Information shows a startling 71 percent of Idahoans favor increases in state taxes on tobacco and alcohol to address Idaho's budget deficit, and 73 percent support a $1.50 per pack increase in the cigarette tax to preserve Medicaid funding…
The IRS says it has half a million dollars it wants to pay to 408 Idahoans, but it can't find them. Here's the report from the Associated Press: NAMPA, Idaho (AP) — The Internal Revenue Service is looking for 408 Idaho taxpayers — and it's…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Democratic gubernatorial candidate Keith Allred is amending his campaign's disclosures to include an in-kind contribution worth $3,000 to $4,000 for work done by the Boise-based business consulting firm he joined this week as…
Idaho's state Board of Canvassers met today to certify the results of the Nov. 2 election, and here's the news: Just 58.1 percent of Idaho's registered voters cast ballots. That's the lowest turnout for a midterm election since 1978 (that year it was 56.51 percent),…
The "Interstices" blog crunched some numbers and found that the Nov. 2 election marked the lowest turnout as a percentage of Idaho's voting age population in a gubernatorial election in the past 50 years. That measure, as opposed to the percentage of registered voters who…
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