Megaloads opponents protest at Capitol

About 75 protesters gathered on the state Capitol steps today to object to megaloads on U.S. Highway 12 in north-central Idaho, and then filed into the state Capitol, lined up outside the governor’s office, and individually presented the governor’s office with more than 100 letters objecting to the loads. They carried signs with messages like “ITD = Sellout” and “Rafters Against Megaloads.” The first giant load of oil equipment began moving on the route last night, bound for the ConocoPhillips Billings Refinery. The protesters, convened by Idaho Rivers United, said they’re most concerned not about that firm’s four giant loads, which are so big they take up both lanes of the two-lane highway, but about hundreds more proposed for the route by ExxonMobil and others, which would run for a year or more.

“We’re not done with this yet,” said IRU Executive Director Bill Sedivy, who noted that the Exxon loads would travel - and block roadside turnouts during daytime - at the height of boating and recreation season on the route, which runs along the scenic Lochsa and Clearwater rivers.