Megaload foes appeal latest setback

BOISE – Opponents of a plan to allow ConocoPhillips to ship oversized oil-refinery equipment from Idaho to Montana are challenging a hearing officer’s recommendation that the proposal move forward.

The hearing officer, Boise attorney Merlyn Clark, recommended last month that the Idaho Transportation Department issue the permits to allow the shipments.

Opponents filed arguments with Idaho Transportation Department director Brian Ness on Monday challenging the hearing officer’s recommendation, attorney Laird Lucas said.

The Transportation Department and ConocoPhillips will have 21 days to respond to the appeal.

Foes of the shipments argue the huge loads present a threat to tourism, public safety and convenience, and could harm the pristine rivers along the proposed route.

But after a two-day public hearing in early December, Clark found that there was enough evidence to show that the four loads could be transported safely and with minimum inconvenience to the general public along north-central Idaho’s U.S. Highway 12, which parallels the Lochsa and Clearwater rivers.

In their filing challenging the recommendation, a group of 13 residents and business owners along the highway called Clark’s recommendation “one-sided” and “unfair.”

The group listed several exceptions they took with Clark’s recommendation, claiming he applied incorrect legal standards and failed to address evidence presented by opponents of the shipments in reviewing the case. Opponents also allege that Clark erred in dismissing their claims of potential harm as “speculative.”