Environmentalist wary of oversized Exxon project’s plans to transport through Idaho, Montana

Idaho group wary of Exxon oil project route

BOISE, Idaho — A plan by Exxon Mobil Corp. to transport big and heavy pieces of refinery and mining equipment along U.S. 12 through the Lochsa River canyon is generating concerns from a regional environmental group.

The oil company wants to ship the massive components starting this fall from the Port of Lewiston to Canada. The route would go along the Wild and Scenic Lochsa River canyon, over Lolo Pass and into Montana before reaching its destination, the Kearl Oil Sands fields in northeastern Alberta.

The proposal involves hauling 200 oversized loads of Korean-made modules, each 24-feet wide, 30-feet tall and 162 feet long. The shipments are expected to exceed the legal weight limits for the Idaho stretch of the trip.

Montana officials have prepared environmental assessment and are now taking public comment on the company’s plan, but residents in Idaho will not have a say on whether the state will approve the shipments.

The company needs the equipment over the next 50 years to extract an estimated 4.6 billion barrels of bitumen, a thick oily substance that can be refined for commercial use.

Several shipping alternatives along the Pacific Coast were considered by the company before opting to ship the equipment up the Columbia and Snake rivers by barge, then by truck to the oil sand fields.

“Our bottom line is to accomplish this as safely and efficiently as we can with the least amount of impact,” Pius Rolheiser, of Imperial Oil, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, told the Idaho Statesman.

Jim Hepburn, who founded the Lochsa River Conservancy this year, has been collecting signatures in hopes of halting the shipments. He is concerned about the potential impact on a protected river corridor and its population of endangered salmon, steelhead and trout.

“Our biggest concern isn’t the present process but the precedents it will set for future projects,” said Hepburn, who also works as a fishing guide along the river.

Northern Rockies Rising Tide, a coalition of environmental groups in Missoula, is also protesting the project because it believes developing the oil sands will contribute to climate change.

Unlike Montana, Idaho does not require an environmental review for oversized shipping projects. But Idaho transportation officials say the company will have to customize trailer axles to better distribute weight loads.

The state will also require the company to ensure that traffic isn’t backed up for more than 15 minutes at a time. The shipments will be scheduled at night to limit traffic snarls.

Montana is expected to receive about $1,600 a load from the company to cover costs, while IDT estimates it will get about $1,000 per load.

The company will be charged extra costs, such as adding gravel to improve turnouts or removing overhead power lines.

“In some cases, we’ll be replacing overhead lines with buried lines, which will result in a long-term improvement,” Rolheiser said.

Idaho Transportation Department Spokesman Jeff Stratten said the agency issues fewer than 10 oversized permits per year for U.S. 12, typically for grain silos, boats or wind turbine blades.

Not a single accident for an oversized load has occurred on the roadway in the last 15 years, he said.

Information from: Idaho Statesman, www.idahostatesman.com