Judge sides with Idaho conservationists - February 17, 2013

Providing coverage of Alaska and northern Canada's oil and gas industryFebruary 2013

Vol. 18, No. 7

Week of February 17, 2013

Judge sides with Idaho conservationists

A federal judge has sided with environmentalists and ruled the U.S. Forest Service erred by not exercising its regulatory authority when the state allowed huge trucks to haul giant oil refinery equipment along U.S. Highway 12.

U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill issued a decision Feb. 7 that handed Idaho Rivers United a victory in the case.

The group sued the government in 2011 after the state allowed ExxonMobil’s Canadian unit to ship hundreds of so-called mega-loads from Idaho’s Port of Lewiston along the two-lane highway. The roadway runs through a scenic corridor protected by the 1968 Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

IRU claimed the forest service neglected its duty by not getting involved in the decision-making process.

Winmill agreed, saying the agency has the authority to intervene in such cases.

—Associated Press

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