Stop The Haul

The part-time activist within me awoke again this week when I became aware of a situation that could potentially threaten some very pristine areas of Western Trout and Salmon country. Public officials from numerous state-run agencies have evidently been spending the past few years planning a program with numerous oil companies (such as Conoco-Phillips, and Exxon), to use rural roads and rivers in the Western United States as industrial corridors, transporting very large pieces of equipment. These "megaloads" (up to 30 feet high, 24 feet wide, 220 feet long and weighing in at 650,000 pounds), would be barged up the Columbia River system to the Port of Lewiston, Idaho, with an ultimate destination of the Tar Sands of Alberta, Canada. Once leaving Port Lewiston, these loads would be trucked along some very hollowed waterways, including the Lochsa, the LoLo, the Main Clearwater and the Big Blackfoot Rivers (the latter being made famous by Norman MacLean's "A River Runs Through It"). Many questions and worries come to mind when hearing of plans like these, especially considering the size and width of these loads, traveling along two-lane, rural highways. Not only should accidents and public safety be considered, but also the impacts on recreation in these areas. Please click here All Against The Haul to learn more and sign this important petition! Attached is a picture of a Conoco-Phillips coker drum, one of many items that could travel this route more than 250 times in the near future. The second photo is one of the Tar Sands in Alberta, Canada. “Alberta oil is conflict-free energy,” stated MT Governor Brian Schweitzer. Really? Lastly, a great shot of the Columbia River Gorge...the area where these megaload journeys would begin. I don't have much of an update yet on a recent post that I did on the Montana House Bill 309 (that could make your favorite fishing spot a "drainage ditch", and inaccessible). It looks like the MT house will vote on this in early March. Look for Montana Troutfitters
on Facebook to keep informed on this one.