Northern Idaho is engaged in its own Big Oil fight
Post Published: 05 July 2010This story doesn’t involve southern Idaho directly, but in this time of Big Oil battles, such as the Gulf of Mexico spill, all of the U.S. is affected in some way. And the people in northern Idaho probably never thought they’d be on the front lines.
What put them there was their remoteness and their highway.
Canada’s Imperial Oil and Exxon-Mobil are requesting permits from Idaho and Montana to move 200 loads of equipment to Alberta’s Kearle Oil Project, known casually as the “Tar Sands.” These loads are oversized pieces of oil equipment: 210 feet long, 30 feet tall, 24 feet wide, and 300 tons. They require tractors on the front and the back.
Oversized oil rig - note the bridge is sagging
Canadians in Vancouver, British Columbia, and every town between there and Fort McMurray, Alberta, opposed such convoys going across their land. So the companies chose another route where they hoped for less opposition: from the Port of Lewiston, 400 miles inland, along Highway 12 to Missoula, Mont., and then up Highway 200 along the remote Front Range of Montana to the Canadian border. They couldn’t use Interstate Highway 90 because of the overpasses.
Idaho Gov. C.L. Otter has pledged his support for the project. The Idaho transportation permits require no public input, and the Department of Transportation is treating this as it would any other oversized load. All that its engineers have to do is to make sure that the loads have sufficient number of wheels so that the road and bridges are not destroyed by the tremendous weight. For that, they’d receive $1,000 per load from the oil companies.
But none of the roads have been stressed for such rigs. Plus, the highway department would have to widen the roads – a challenge considering the steep winding canyons the road traverses – and construct pullouts. The shipments would travel at night beginning this fall. While that seems to help traffic, it also increases safety concerns of reduced visibility and the chance of icing as the year progresses.
About 70 miles of Idaho Highway 12 runs along the Lochsa River, which has the “wild and scenic” designation. People travel to this area for its uncrowded camping, fishing, and rafting opportunities. At mile marker 124 is a campground named “Wilderness Gateway,” aptly named becasue it is a trailhead into the Selway-Bitterroot, the largest wilderness area outside of Alaska. Should one of the rigs go careening into the river, such rugged beauty would be marred.
Since Exxon has yet to repay all the money it owes for the destruction wrought by the Exxon-Valdez, people of the remote areas of Idaho and Montana may not have enough pull to extract restoration funds should something go awry with the shipments.
The people of Missoula are protesting the convoys although the Montana governor embraces them with open arms. In favor of jobs, Gov. Schweitzer pushed aside worries that the route would become a permanent big rig corridor straight through Missoula.
“That’s not the proposal at all,” he told the Associated Press. “This is temporary for 200 loads and nobody’s proposed a permanent corridor.”
Over the holiday weekend, the Nez Perce Tribe joined the groups opposing the convoys, writing a resolution saying the convoys would “would establish a dangerous and unacceptable precedent in one of the most beautiful and pristine federally protected corridors in the U.S.”
For those concerned about the Lochsa wildernss who are interested in adding their voice to the opposition, there is an online petition asking Gov. C.L. Otter to oppose the convoys.
Petition
Hagerman Fossil Beds could expand in the future
Post Published: 27 June 2010On Saturday, the National Association of Geoscience Teachers, Pacific Northwest region, finished their annual meeting, held in Twin Falls this year, by visiting the Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument.
A 30-minute drive west of Twin Falls, the Fossil Beds site is a must for geology fans. Paleontologist Phil Gensler runs the site, which includes a tiny visitor’s center in Hagerman, a fossil lab 3 miles away and the fossil beds in the cliffs near the Snake River. A fairly new addition to the park system, it was designated in 1989 so it’s still somewhat unknown.
Hagerman Visitor's Center
The Park Service rents the building that houses the visitor’s center, which has outgrown the limited space. A few reconstructed skeletons and fossil displays crowd the lobby and a short 12-minute film is shown in a small viewing room. The center includes a small room that provides information on the Minidoka National Historic Site that commemmorates the Minidoka War Relocation Center.
Gensler said the Park Service owns 56 acres near the fossil labs so he’d like to build a larger visitor’s center there but has yet to be granted the funds. He has to compete with other Park Service projects and lost out to some hotel upgrades in other parks this year.
The monument is the richest fossil site in the world, Gensler said, as far as the number of species and number of fossils. Most of the fossils are from 3 to 4 million years ago. So far, they’ve found 600 different fossil caches, of which the Horse Quarry is the most famous. Fossil prepareder Tom Nelsen said workers remove 3,000 to 5,000 fossils every day. As a result, he has a 30-year backlog on the fossils he needs to clean. So he’s hoping the site can get more funding to hire more workers.
Tamarisk and its leaf beetle not a problem around Twin Falls and points east
Post Published: 23 June 2010On June 15, the USDA ceased its attempts to control saltcedar trees using biological control. The saltcedar, also known as tamarisk, is an invasive species that blew into the riparian areas of the West with the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Native cottonwoods and willows can’t compete with the saltcedar because the damming of rivers has sharply diminished their ability to proliferate.
A few years ago, the USDA imported saltcedar leaf beetles to attack the invader. But now, scientists have learned that the beetles are indirectly threatening the southwestern willow flycatcher by destroying the saltcedar that the birds now nest in. So they have suspended the program and will levy a fine on any group that continues to introduce the leaf beetle.
Fortunately, the saltcedar doesn’t appear to have made many inroads into the Magic Valley. Representatives from the Minidoka Wildlife Refuge, the city of Twin Falls that manages the Shoshone Falls and Dierkes Lake parks, and the Twin Falls County parks have said that saltcedar is not a problem. That’s good news for any southwestern willow flycatchers in these parts.
Saltcedar leaf beetle
Otter fights to get ‘Outdoor Idaho’ into wilderness
Post Published: 19 May 2010Here’s a little different take on what does and doesn’t belong in wilderness areas…
A few months ago, it was the Idaho Department of Fish and Game wanting to fly helicopters into the Frank Church. Now, the Associated Press says Idaho’s governor is pushing the Forest Service to let a public-television camera crew in:
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter is taking on the U.S. Forest Service over its decision to forbid the state’s educational broadcasting network from sending a camera person into a central Idaho wilderness area.
Idaho Public Television, licensed by the federal government as a non-commercial television station, wanted to film a student group doing conservation work inside the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area for its “Outdoor Idaho” production.
It’s filmed similar shows in the wilderness in the past.
But Frank Guzman, supervisor of the Salmon-Challis National Forest, said in a letter this month that “this sort of filming is commercial, and thus not allowed in the wilderness.”
On Wednesday, Otter urged Guzman reconsider, saying “the claim that IPTV is a commercial entity is patently absurd and defies common sense.”
USGS tries out online water updates
Post Published: 18 May 2010Need a closer eye on Idaho water?
Sign up for WaterAlert, a new service through the U.S. Geological Survey that will e-mail or text you about current river, lake and groundwater conditions. It’s yet another example of how the federal government’s testing out online services.
The federal agency announced the service Monday, pitching it as another tool for people involved in resource management, business operations, flood response and recreation. Its press release also featured a Weather Channel meteorologist who praised the online tool’s potential for flood and drought warnings.
Categories that can be monitored include river flows, groundwater levels, water temperatures, rainfall and water quality at more than 9,500 sites across the country.
Signing up for alerts was pretty straightforward when I tried it, although the site pulls from a limited number of groundwater and precipitation monitoring sites in Idaho.
Give it a try here.
Dry fire season ahead for Northwest
Post Published: 16 May 2010Big surprise, I know… Idaho and most of the rest of the Northwest is drier than normal and has a higher potential for wildfires this year than normal, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise.
El Nino’s responsible for the weather pattern that left us this way, the Associated Press quoted a center representative as saying. And the moisture we’re getting now doesn’t help — Nevada is just as dry, but better off than we are because it remains dry and desert grasses can’t grow.
Of course, it remains to be seen what will actually happen. Fire seasons don’t always go how they’re expected to. Look at last year — a damp spring led to a hot, dry summer that fire officials even in September warned could turn ugly. It never quite did.
The full AP clip is below the jump. Meanwhile, as it gets warmer, keep an eye on here as one source of fire information.
Court date set for wolf appeal
Post Published: 27 April 2010Wolf advocates and critics are now one step closer to resolving whether the predator will be placed back on the endangered species list.
The Associated Press, citing the Helena, Mont., Independent Record, reports that U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy has set June 15 as the date for a court hearing regarding last year’s delisting of the wolf in Idaho and Montana.
A range of environmental groups have argued, among other things, that the recovery plans in the two states aren’t sufficient to keep wolves from becoming endangered again. Also — and perhaps most importantly — they take issue with whether the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was allowed to split out wolves in Wyoming and keep them protected when it made its decision.
Molloy won’t rule immediately on the issue after the hearing. But past statements have revealed a glimpse of his thinking:
“In a ruling last September, Molloy said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to leave federal protections in place for wolves in Wyoming while removing them in Idaho and Montana appears to violate the law. He said Earthjustice was likely to prevail in its lawsuit, but he denied the group’s request for an injunction stopping hunts in Montana and Idaho, saying the population could withstand a hunt.”
For past coverage of the wolf issue and Idaho’s inaugural hunt, try starting here or here.
Simpson: Second take on water bill still doesn’t pass muster
Post Published: 25 April 2010UPDATE (4/27): The only member of Idaho’s congressional delegation not to weigh in on the bill has been Rep. Walt Minnick, who represents Idaho’s 1st District. A staffer said today that Minnick spent a good part of last year studying the issue and listening to both sides in case it would come up in the House. He hasn’t yet had a chance to review Oberstar’s new bill.
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A Minnesota congressman is continuing his attempt to free the Clean Water Act from restrictions placed on it over the last decade by the U.S. Supreme Court. But while U.S. Rep. James L. Oberstar, a Democrat, says his latest bill avoids previous concerns about expanded federal authority, Idaho’s delegation doesn’t seem likely to buy that.
The bellwether is U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, who spoke out strongly against the revised America’s Commitment to Clean Water Act in a press release last week. Pledging to submit an amendment banning the Environmental Protection Agency from following the bill should it pass, Simpson argued the revised version would still rip state and local water authority away and give it to the feds.
“Under this bill, the reach of federal jurisdiction over water in Idaho would be so broad that it could significantly restrict the ability of landowners to make decisions about their property and the right of state and local governments to plan for their own development,” Simpson stated.
The bill is a new version of 2007’s Clean Water Restoration Act, which Simpson and Idaho’s other congressionals have sternly opposed in the past.
It seeks to reverse two Supreme Court decisions in 2001 and 2006 that, according to Oberstar (citing the New York Times), cleared the way for companies to “have spilled oil, carcinogens and dangerous bacteria into lakes, rivers and other waters without being prosecuted.”
Fish, fishers and non-fishermen
Post Published: 19 April 2010Apologies for the quiet the last week or so… Here’s some of the latest pieces from our pages:
- The Nature Conservancy is coordinating a push to prioritize management of Silver Creek, the famous fishing spot and preserved stream. To learn more or get involved go here.
- Emergency dispatch centers both large and small are finding different ways to meet a federally mandated change in their operations. For a look at their ideas, go here.
- The Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s done a decent job of preserving its budget — it’s supported by fees and grants rather than the state’s general fund. But hunters and anglers still don’t pay for one program in particular, and now officials are searching for ways to fund conservation of non-game species.
- Federal biologists are weighing endangered-species protections for two Rocky Mountain species. The fisher, a small, fanged predator that some liken in appearance to otters, has been struggling ever since it was over-trapped in the 1930s. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will also review the range of the wolverine, settling a lawsuit dating back to 2008.
Auger Falls: Good for more than paintball
Post Published: 09 April 2010Took a stroll today down to the city of Twin Falls’ (kinda) new park in the canyon, and I’m happy to report Auger Falls makes for a pleasant afternoon hike on a sunny day. But it looks like it’s going to take quite a bit more work before the general public can visit without having to hike 2 or 3 miles — something I’m sure would be an issue for some.
The area already has its regular visitors, of course… But now their trips will be much more legal, with a route directly across public land.
Click on the above link to see the road you’ll take. There’s no sign at the moment beyond this one:
But you’ll soon learn that you can’t drive farther:
(Click on the photos for larger versions, by the way.)
Head on down the road on foot and you’ll soon see the river from behind the bushes and trees:
