There’s a new blog in town, driven by Missoulian reporter Kim Briggeman: http://missoulian.com/special-section/big_rigs/.
As in: Big Rig blog.
This is the place to find all manner of stories related to the Kearl oil fields of Alberta, the big rigs that ExxonMobile wants to use to drive oilfield equipment up the Lochsa, over Lolo Pass, into and through Missoula, up the Blackfoot and into Canada. And now that Conoco wants to use as a transport route for even larger equipment bound for its Billings refinery.
Kim’s idea, and I think it’s a great one, is to have one central collection point – his blog – for stories written by newspapers all across the U.S. and Canada that relate to this transport route and the huge Albertan oil fields. Already, on Day One of the Big Rig blog, he’s found a half-dozen stories to highlight for Missoulian.com readers.
Here’s just one example:
June 8, 2010 Gulf oil disaster will change industry forever, Imperial Oil chief says
Bruce March told the Economic Club in Ottawa on Tuesday that the development of the Western Canadian oilsands is “a lot less environmentally destructive than critics allege.”
March said environmentalists are wrong to characterize the oil sands as the “dirtiest of a dirty sector,” reports Julian Beltrame of The Canadian Press.
“If it was once true, it no longer is, he said. New technology has softened the impact his industry is having on the environment, so that now the carbon footprint gap between oilsands and conven-tional oil production is about 10 per cent.”
www.winnipegfreepress.com/greenpage/environment/imperial-oil-says-bps-massive-spill-puts-entire-industry-under-scrutiny-95872609.html
This new blog is just one of the myriad ways the Missoulian is telling the story of this proposed haul route and oilfield development. We’ve established ourselves as the key source of information on this controversy, and intend to strengthen that reputation by the day. We’re going to ask the tough questions, insist on credible answers, talk to all the key sources, and continually look for new and creative ways to bring the information home to our readers.
You’ll want to include Missoulian.com and Kim’s new Big Rig blog as part of your daily information-gathering on this ongoing story.
We’re here for the duration, and hope you will be as well.
Sherry Devlin
I’m glad you’re paying close attention to this environmental fiasco. One would hope the oil spill
threatening the entire coast of Louisiana, Florida, Alabama, etc. would give a hint as to the moronic attempts big oil makes to get more money in spite of the cost in human and earthly life.
Once these oil mongers make Missoula their own special road to hell it will turn our state into
their established, regular route. What would happen if families showed up having picnics on all the turn-outs? Would the trucks run us down? I’m packing my basket right now. Thank you for
putting public attention onto this disastrous oil profiteers attempts to make waste of our state.
Thank you, Missoulian for starting this blog and staying on top of this vital issue. And thank you, Sheryl, for your very astute comments. But, why start our resistance at the turnouts? Why not see to it that the rigs never leave the Port of Lewiston? If the Montana and Idaho Depts of Transportation either won’t or can’t say no to big oil, we the people can, through non-violent, obstructive actions, if necessary. But, before it comes to that, we can still make our voices heard, regardless of the DOT’s arbitrary “end of comment period.” The comments on this proposed fiasco can never be silenced and will never end, especially if it is allowed to go through. People, please continue to write to the DOT, to Governor Schweitzer, and to your fellow citizens, through forums such as this.
Another possible non-violent approach may exist within the legal realm. I’m no legal expert, but I wonder if the Nez Perce Nation has some legal authority to prevent this hazardous cargo from passing through their reservation, which is eight miles east of Lewiston and contains a long stretch of the proposed route on Hwy 12. Back in the early ’90s the tribal nations of the Flathead Indian Reservation stopped a dilapidated oil pipeline from being rebuilt on their lands and permanently shut it down. Someone should look into that possibility.
I called the big rigs “hazardous cargo” not only because of the risk to the Lochsa and several other rivers along the proposed route, or because emergency service vehicles will be blocked by the rigs for however long it takes for them to reach their next turnout (at 5-20 mph), but because of what they are designed to do, once they get to Alberta. Besides the massive environmental destruction they will facillitate, they also will continue to kill human beings. Several First Nation villages of Alberta have already been drastically effected by toxins and loss of wildlife, and one village of 1200 people has already lost 100 of their citizens to cancer, evidently caused by the tar sands project, according to Eriel Deranger of the Rainforest Action Network (http://ran.org/), who spoke at the SKC campus in Pablo recently. That last fact should be motive enough to stop this project, but there is so much more.
Enough for now. Thank you.
George
(P.S. You should change the heading “Mail” above to Email. I lost my first version of this letter due to writing in my mailing address. When I went back to change it the letter was gone.)