Megaloads Monitored, and Mini-Megaloads

For readers following the Highway 12 megaload issue, we thought we’d pass along a summary we received recently from the neighbors on the ground. The first two of ConocoPhillips megaloads traveling from Lewiston to Billings have made it through Idaho and are now traveling through Montana. (According to the most recent report, one load has reached Lolo, and one is “stuck” on the side of the road near Lolo Hot Springs.)

The loads traveling through Idaho have been monitored by an intrepid group of some four dozen night-owl volunteers, including  our colleagues at Friends of the Clearwater, observing, videotaping, and tracking the progress — and lack thereof.

ConocoPhillips said the shipments would take four nights each. The first shipment took six nights, the second shipment took seven. Including layovers, the eight days planned for the megaload shipments turned into a total of thirty-four.

Also, according to monitors, among other annoyances and permit violations, the shipments:

• delayed traffic longer than 10 or 15 minutes multiple times during both shipments.
• driven wheels outside the fog lines.
• scraped a rock face.
• diverted traffic unto unpaved turnout surfaces.
• broken highway signs.
• torn tree limbs throughout the corridor
• disturbed residents along the highway with noise and lights from the 20 vehicle convoy

Idaho state police and snowplows have been diverted to accommodate the shipments. And, as if to emphasize the economic irony of it all, the ConocoPhillips shipments requested at least seven regular trucking companies avoid using the highway.

Meanwhile, perhaps watching this Highway 12 fiasco unfold, Exxon’s shipper, Mammoet, has quietly applied for and obtained permits in Washington, and have been shipping reduced-sized loads via interstate for about a month. It isn’t entirely clear whether these are the same loads originally intended for Highway 12. Exxon is also reducing the size of supposedly-irreducible loads already in Lewiston to interstate-size. In any event, Exxon shipments are moving between 10 pm and 4 am through Spokane’s I-90 corridor using the established Spokane and Spokane Valley “high route.” The shipments have Washington State Patrol escorts and are escorted by at least three pilot cars. We presume these smaller shipments then continue along I-90 through North Idaho, but we have not yet seen ITD documents or approvals.

 

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January Flooding May Have Caused the Worst Coeur d’Alene Basin Contamination in Years

Late last week, we were forwarded an email from Greg Clark with the U.S. Geological Survey, whose team did some water monitoring during the flood event January 18th of this year. The monitoring in Harrison, where the Coeur d’Alene River flows into Coeur d’Alene Lake, shows that the conveyor belt of contamination from the upper basin to the lower basin was particularly bad during the flood this year.

According to Clark’s email, a measurement of the concentration of lead in the water at Harrison was the second highest ever recorded, the highest being a major flood in 1996. Also, the sample had the highest concentration of zinc and highest concentration of cadmium in more than 20 years. Clark said, “Based on these numbers, the load of lead delivered to the lake on January 18 alone was about 160 metric tons, or about 75% of the mean annual load of lead delivered to the lake during 2004 through 2009.” (Our emphasis.) However, Clark noted that sampling at the Lake’s outlet on January 20 was low, indicating that most of the lead settled to the lake bottom.

More disturbingly, however, is the measurement of flooding right before the peak. According to Clark, the river flow at Cataldo was higher than what was measured at the peak of the 2008 flood, but river the flow at Harrison was quite a bit lower. Clark says that this flow data indicates that a great deal of the water — and its accompanying sediment and metal contamination — was dumped into the lateral lakes along the lower basin. As Clark somewhat understated it in the email: “Obviously not good news as far as wildlife is concerned.”

Aerial photo of Coeur d'Alene River flooding at Harrison in 2008

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Can They Do That? The Proposed Continuing Resolution in Congress and the Wolf Loophole

The messy wolf issue is now getting messier, thanks to Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) in the House and Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) in the Senate. In the “continuing resolution” needed to avoid a shutdown of the U.S. government, the two Congressmen have inserted language that would essentially de-list wolves from being covered under the Endangered Species Act in Idaho and Montana. Recall that a federal judge in Montana had ruled that the wolves must remain on the endangered list due to Wyoming’s failure to submit an approved management plan because the species must be considered one population and managed accordingly.

Regardless of how people feel about delisting wolves, however, the manner by which the Congressmen are attempting the delisting raises serious legal questions about how a federal government with separate branches of government is supposed to work.

The obscurely worded text of the proposed Senate provision (the House version is identical) is here:

“SEC. 1709. Before the end of the 60-day period beginning on the date of enactment of this division, the Secretary of the Interior shall reissue the final rule published on April 2, 2009 (74 Fed. Reg. 15123 et seq.) without regard to any other provision of statute or regulation that applies to issuance of such rule. Such re-issuance (including this section) shall not be subject to judicial review.”

Under our Constitution, the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch are separate, with well-known “checks and balances” on each other.  This legislative provision, however, certainly usurps a lot of executive and judicial power.

The executive branch of government is charged with implementing the nation’s laws, and as part of doing so, agencies issue regulations to administer programs. Here, however, Congress is telling which regulation to issue, and when, and regardless whether the regulations comport with existing law — in this case the Endangered Species Act.

Meanwhile, the judicial branch of government is charged with interpreting the laws as applied in appropriate cases brought before a court. Here, Congress is eliminating any such jurisdiction of a Court to do so.

All of this is a complex area of federal jurisdiction and administrative law and would make for a great law school final exam question. In a strictly legal sense, Congress, arguably, can probably get away with what it intends to do here. Unless the president vetoes the entire continuing resolution — his “check” on this exercise of Congressional power in this instance — a provision like the one proposed will be the law of the land.

Ultimately, what this means is that the functional integrity of Endangered Species Act no longer exists. Rather than science, management of endangered species will be left to Congress, to legislate by loophole. This would be an unfortunate outcome beyond the wolves who will be “managed.” We hope during the next week or two of intensive debate, Congress will consider the consequences of this ad hoc loophole approach to governance.

UPDATE 3/7: The folks at NRDC point out that as the Senate takes up the continuing resolution, they have deleted all of the anti-environmental riders attached by the House of Representatives. Except one. This one.

UPDATE 4/10: The deal to avoid the dreaded government shutdown apparently still includes the rider.

UPDATE 4/12: The rider goes even further — it folds in a Wyoming court case too. This post from NRDC sums up the reasons why this rider is just plain bad government.

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Otter, Labrador Pick a Fed Fight With BLM

The battle over an obscure policy directive by Interior Secretary Salazar over BLM lands blew up this week, with Governor Otter testifying before the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources, and Rep. Raul Labrador introducing his very first piece of legislation.

The “wild lands” policy, announced in December, would simply have BLM consider wilderness values if and when it writes management plans for the properties under its control. Until a Bush administration settlement with the State of Utah in 2003, it has been the standard practice of the agency dating back to a Congressional mandate in 1976. Salazar’s directive doesn’t create new areas for wilderness-level protection. Rather, it simply allows some sort of continued protection to occur, if warranted, and after an extensive public review. Indeed, both Democratic and Republican administrations have maintained provisional protections for these places until Congress can consider permanent designations. Nationwide, less than 1% of BLM’s land is designated as wilderness. Some 42%, however, is leased to oil and gas interests.

According to a 2007 management plan and environmental impact statement for the Coeur d’Alene region, BLM identified only three parcels that might qualify for wilderness-level considerations. One is a 720 acre BLM parcel adjacent to the Forest Service’s 98,000 acre roadless area on the Selkirk Crest. Another is a 12,000 acre BLM parcel adjacent to 22,000 acres of Forest Service roadless area on Grandmother Mountain in Shoshone County. Another is 9000 acres around Crystal Lake at the headwaters of Latour Creek south of Cataldo, also in Shoshone County.

But continuing to protect this type of spectacular roadless land is some sort of outrageous, apparently.

Labrador’s bill, called the “Idaho Land Sovereignty Act” would require Congressional approval for BLM’s continued protection of these lands for their wilderness values. Labrador’s over the top press release says:

This denies jobs and security to a nation in need of both and is a sad example of the out of touch decisions being forced upon us by an aloof administration. In addition, the administration is totally out of line with the interests of Western states by denying us the right to manage our own lands and wildlife populations.

Meanwhile, Idaho’s fiercely anti-wilderness Governor Otter testified to Congress that the floating green on Lake Coeur d’Alene was more valuable than Idaho’s 2-million-acre Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness managed in part by the BLM.

It’s a nice green, on a really nice lake, but literally, there’s no comparison.

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Snow, Ice and Salty Water

There’s a LOT of snow up on the passes this week. And what that also means, though, is that there’s a lot of salt being put on the roads on the passes. In a unique study, Idaho DEQ has taken a careful look at what happens to the road salt in the watersheds around 4th of July pass. And that’s the subject of yet another fascinating “lunch and learn” noon meeting at the Iron Horse this Thursday.

DEQ scientist Tyson Clyne will talk about some of the data collected, and what it might mean for aquatic life in the streams along the interstate. According to a preview presentation given to the Coeur d’Alene Watershed Advisory Group last month, Clyne says that the Idaho Department of Transportation puts down some 150-300 pounds of salt, per lane, per mile, per snowstorm event. On average, in our region, there are 30 such events each year.

Clyne’s study shows fairly significant loadings of salt into the local streams, but Idaho does not have numeric water quality standards governing the amount of salt allowed in a stream. The primary impact will be to fish spawning, but other impacts may also be felt to groundwater, soils, and nearby vegetation.

Despite alternatives like magnesium chloride, beet juice, and sand, it turns out that regular everyday salt might actually be the best choice for keeping roads passable. But the choice is not without impact. Join us to learn more.

 

 

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