[Vision2020] Firm seeks to undo megaloads ruling

Tue Sep 24 13:48:26 PDT 2013

>From my perspective, I understand and sympathize with arguments involving the possible problems with moving a large megaload through the area (delays, cutting trees, possible damage to the road).  What I object to are the political arguments involving the purpose for these megaloads.  I really don't want our government deciding what legal items we are allowed or not allowed to move along a public road based solely on their intended purpose.  The roads should be like the phone lines.  No restrictions on what goes down them unless an actual law is broken.  Pursuant to the permitting process and so forth, of course.

I do think what you are saying about "if they control it then they should pay for it" makes sense.  There are also some State/Federal issue I'm not particularly comfortable with here, too.

Paul

________________________________
 From: Wayne Price <bear at moscow.com>
To: Scott Dredge <scooterd408 at hotmail.com> 
Cc: Moscow Vision 2020 <vision2020 at moscow.com> 
Sent: Tuesday, September 24, 2013 12:49 PM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Firm seeks to undo megaloads ruling

Scott,

I have also driven Hwy 12, and there is NOTHING changed along that route, but I have taken steps by contacting my state representatives, and strongly urge them that since a federal judge in Boise has determined that both the Nez Perce Tribe and the US Forest Service now has the final say so over what travels on what was previously a state controlled highway, there should be NO state funds put into that highway. IF the Nez Perce and the Forest Service control that highway, let them pay for the maintenance and upkeep. This is also a red-flag warning to any other state that if one of their highways is designated a 

Roads were built and maintained for commerce. IF the nay-sayers want a road that looks and function like the route traveled  by  Lewis and Clark, so be it, but I don't want my state transportation dollars supporting it. Those funds, if approved by the state legislature, can come out of and be administered by the state historical preservations office.

Wayne

On Sep 24, 2013, at 12:05 PM, Scott Dredge wrote:

When you write about 'our children and our children's children', is that specifically your children or other' children?
>
>
>One Megaload has already crossed. Have you been through Highway 12 since that time and noticed any change to the scenic environment?  If not, when was the last time you travelled Highway 12 Megaload route?
>
>-Scott
>
>On Sep 24, 2013, at 2:55 AM, "Moscow Cares" <moscowcares at moscow.com> wrote:
>
>
>Years from now, when our children and our children's children, journey across that once-beautiful passage (simply cited on a map as US Highway 12) from Lewiston, Idaho to Lolo, Montana, i do not want their first two words to be, "Remember when . . . "
>>
>>
>>Courtesy of today's (September 24, 2013) Lewiston Tribune.
>>
>>
>>---------------------------------
>>Firm seeks to undo megaloads ruling
>>If judge won't halt suspension, company will appeal
>>A General Electric subsidiary said a federal judge made several legal errors when he barred megaloads from using U.S. Highway 12 and has asked him to reconsider.
>>If the request is denied, attorneys for Resource Conservation Company International said they will appeal the ruling by U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill that closed the highway to its contracted shipper Omega Morgan and its plans to haul massive water purification equipment to Canadian oil fields via the highway.
>>On Sept. 12, Winmill ruled against RCCI and the U.S. Forest Service and issued a preliminary injunction ordering the agency to block the loads. The injunction was requested by the Nez Perce Tribe and the environmental group Idaho Rivers United. On Sept. 17, Regional Forester Faye Kruger of Missoula, Mont., issued an order barring megaloads from using the portion of the highway that crosses the forest.
>>In his ruling, Winmill said the agency's failure to stop the shipments violated several federal laws, including the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act as well as the Clearwater National Forest Plan. That ruling was based, in part, on a phone conversation between Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell and Nez Perce Tribal Chairman Silas Whitman in which Tidwell reportedly refused Whitman's request to block the loads.
>>The legal request from the company alleges Winmill was wrong to consider Tidwell's refusal as a final agency action because Forest Service officials were in the process of conducting a study on megaload impacts to the Middle Fork of the Clearwater/Lochsa Wild and Scenic River Corridor and had also begun formal consultations with the tribe.
>>The company also disagreed with Winmill's finding that the agency's discretionary decision not to previously take enforcement action against Omega-Morgan was an "extreme abdication of statutory responsibility" and the company claims the judge based his decision to order the closure on an issue not raised during court briefings but raised in oral arguments, leaving them too little time to respond.
>>Attorneys for the company also took issue with Winmill saying it stood to lose $5 million if it couldn't use the highway. They said the company actually could be out $85 million. Because the company's plans to use the highway predate a February decision by Winmill saying the Forest Service has authority to regulate megaload traffic, they said the judge's characterization of their decision to use the highway as a calculated risk was in error.
>>"RCCI respectfully requests that the court, on an expedited basis, reconsider its order, deny plaintiffs' request for injunctive relief, and direct the Forest Service to rescind its September 17, 2013 closure order accordingly. Should the court decline to reconsider its order, or should it reconsider its order only to conclude that the injunction should remain, RCCI alternatively requests that the court grant RCCI's request to stay the injunction pending an appeal," according to court documents.
>>The company shipped a megaload over the highway in early August, which spawned four nights of protests by tribal members and environmentalists. Another RCCI oversized load awaits shipment at the Port of Wilma and the company has said it intends to use the highway to ship six more loads to Canada.
>>
>>
>>---------------------------------
>>
>>
>>A year or so ago a bunch of us "anti-megaloaders" gathered at the residence of Borg Hendricks and Lin Laughy.  At one point during the festivities, Lin explained how this all got started a few years ago . . .
>>
>>
>>He explained that, having heard about the potential of ever-increasing (in size and number) loads being transported up US-12 from the Lewiston Port into Montana and up to Canada, he and Borg discussed this and how adeversely it would impact the Scenic Byway of Highway 12.  Apparently the discussion became a bit heated, and as they quizically looked at each other, Borg said to Lin (or Lin said to Borg) . . . "Hey, ya think maybe . . . ?"
>>
>>
>>And so it began.
>>
>>
>>Well, Lin and Borg, as a passage in the song "High Hopes" goes . . .
>>
>>
>>"High Hopes"
>>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJVewWbeBiY
>>
>>
>>"Just what makes that little old ant
>>Think he'll move that rubber tree plant
>>Anyone knows an ant, can't
>>Move a rubber tree plant
>>But he's got high hopes
>>He's got high hopes
>>He's got high apple pie
>>In the sky hopes
>>So any time you're gettin' low
>>'Stead of lettin' go, just remember that ant
>>Oops, there goes another rubber tree plant
>>Oops, there goes another rubber tree plant
>>Oops, there goes another rubber tree plant."
>>Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .
>>"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
>>http://www.MoscowCares.com
>>  
>>Tom Hansen
>>Moscow, Idaho
>>"This is the 'Mouse that Roared,' 'David and Goliath' and 'Avatar' all rolled into one.  We must remember that the thousands of citizens involved in this effort to protect their personal and family safety, their businesses and their lifestyles are confronting some of the largest international corporations in the world."
>>~ Linwood Laughy 
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>>==============================================================================================================
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