[Vision2020] Megaload Knocks Out Power at Pierce, Weippe

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of the LewistonTribune.

-------------------------------------------------------

Megaload knocks out power at Pierce, Weippe

April 12, 2011, 11:36 am

 About 1,300 homes and businesses in the Pierce and Weippe areas were
without power for almost five hours this morning after an Imperial Oil
test module hit a line supporting a transmission wire.

The outage started at about 1:45 a.m. following the incident on U.S.
Highway 12, two miles east of Orofino, said Debbie Simock, a spokeswoman
for Avista.

The megaload hit a supporting line triggering a pole holding it up to
break and then the supporting line hit a transmission line that shorted,
said Simock and a spokesman for the Idaho Transportation Department.

Traffic was delayed one hour instead of the 15 minutes that ITD is
allowing, said Adam Rush, a spokesman for the transportation department.

The over-sized shipment is now parked at milepost 61, 13 miles short of
Kooskia where it was supposed to arrive by 5:30 this morning, Rush said.

"No one was hurt," said Pius Rolheiser, a spokesman for Imperial Oil.

No decision has been made about whether the test module will continue this
evening on the next leg of its trip to Montana on U.S. 12, Rush said.

Rush's employer is waiting for a report from Mammoet, Imperial Oil's hired
hauler, about what happened before it makes any decisions, Rush said.

-------------------------------------------------------

And to think that these same megaloads will be barreling up US95 soon.

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to
changeand the Realist adjusts his sails."

 - Unknown