Plans for hauling big oil refinery loads spark battle

Associated Press

KAMIAH, Idaho

Lewis and Clark traversed part of the route that would one day become U.S. Highway 12 during their 1804-06 Corps of Discovery mission to the Pacific Ocean.

So did the Nez Perce Indians during the tribe’s epic 1877 flight on horseback from the U.S. Army.

Now two of the nation’s largest oil companies want to drive mammoth truckloads of refinery equipment along the narrow ribbon of mountain road that borders national forests, wild and scenic rivers, historic sites and campgrounds. Residents there are not pleased.

“This is something that weighs 600,000 pounds, is two-thirds the length of a football field and 30 feet high,” said Linwood Laughy, who has sued the Idaho Department of Transportation to stop the mega-loads.

Laughy prevailed in Idaho District Court and the Idaho Supreme Court will hear arguments Oct. 1 on an appeal by ConocoPhillips.

U.S. 12 runs from Aberdeen, Wash., to Detroit. But the oil companies want to cross a stretch designated as either the Northwest Passage Scenic Byway, the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail or the Nez Perce National Historic Trail.

The dispute involves two projects. ConocoPhillips is seeking an oversized-load permit to ship four coke drums — huge pressure vessels that refineries use to make gasoline and coke — to its operations in Billings, Mont. That case is in court.

But residents are much more worried about efforts by ExxonMobil Canada and some subsidiaries to get permission to ship 207 mega-loads of refinery equipment through the two states to the controversial Kearl Oil Sands in Alberta, Canada. Those loads will take a year and force temporary closures of U.S. 12 five nights a week.