[Vision2020] OUR VIEW: Otter needs to join the ranks of the opposition

[Saundra Lund]

Another excellent editorial from the Daily News:

OUR VIEW: Otter needs to join the ranks of the opposition
Posted on: Monday, September 20, 2010

It seems like every day a new official joins the list of those in opposition
of Big Oil's plan to move mega-loads - which are so large they would take up
both lanes of a two-lane highway and require rolling roadblocks - along U.S.
Highway 12 in Idaho and Montana. 

Conspicuously, Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter has yet to grace the list with
his name.

The latest to come out against the proposed shipments include U.S. Rep.
Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., and supervisors of the Clearwater and Lolo national
forests, who say they are worried the shipments will make it difficult for
the agency to carry out its mission and adversely affect public recreation.
They join a host of names that already includes countless Idaho citizens and
local state Reps. Tom Trail and Shirley Ringo - citing issues from road
damage to the idea of taxpayers essentially subsidizing oil companies to
potential environmental hazards. 

"Authorizing hundreds of oversized loads, now or in the future, jeopardizes
the experience the traveling and recreating public will have along U.S.
Highway 12 through the introduction of overtly industrial elements into the
otherwise pastoral environment," said Clearwater Supervisor Rick Brazell in
a Sept. 10 letter to Jim Carpenter, district engineer for the Idaho
Transportation Department at Lewiston. 

Second District Judge John Bradbury can also be included on the list after
he issued an injunction on permits issued by the Idaho Transportation
Department, effectively stalling the shipments for the time being.
ConocoPhillips had hoped to begin shipping its four loads last month, and
the company is appealing the ruling to the Idaho Supreme Court. ExxonMobil
also plans to haul about 200 loads along the highway. The first load could
begin transport late this year.

It's beginning to look like good ol' boy Butch and the oil companies
themselves are the only parties still in support of the movements. 

How many more people and experts need to come out against the proposals
before Otter changes his stance? Or is he that deep in the pockets of Big
Oil that nothing could change his mind? It's time to start listening to the
citizens of Idaho rather than big business. 

- Devin Rokyta, for the editorial board