suspended the mega-shipments from the Port of Lewiston
after the collision.
“This is another situation where we would much rather be
wrong than right,” says Corvallis resident Patricia Weber of
the coalition All Against the Haul. “But we’ve said all along
that narrow two-lane highways are not the place for these
megaloads.” Weber, who works with Idaho and Montana
residents on the megaloads issue, adds, “This latest accident
proves that to be the case. The question is not whether or not
these megaloads are safe, but when Idaho is going to pull the
plug on the permits for them once and for all.”
This isn’t the only incident involving megaloads. The
Missoula Independent reports that an oversize shipment
from the Washington-based company Nickel Bros.,
following the same route taken by the Imperial Oil loads,
delayed Lorna and Pete Scott of Augusta, Mont., an hour
while they were trying to take Lorna’s mother to the
hospital — she was suffering an apparent heart attack. The
woman made it to the emergency room and recovered and
the Montana Department of Transportation later contacted
the family to apologize, the paper reports.
In November, the Obama administration decided to
delay the construction of the $7 billion TransCanada
Keystone XL pipeline pending further review. The pipeline
would carry tar sands oil from Canada through the U.S. to
the Gulf Coast for processing. Tar sands crude is said to be
dirtier than other forms of crude oil and that may have led
to this summer’s Exxon Silvertip Pipeline leak that spilled
40,000 gallons of oil into the Yellowstone River.
About 10 percent of Oregon’s fuel comes from tar
sands production.
The Keystone issue came back this month when House
Majority leader John Boehner attached a “rider” for the
pipeline project to the payroll tax bill. The payroll tax
break for 160 million U.S. workers is set to expire Dec. 31.
Tar sands oil production is becoming Canada’s largest
single emitter of greenhouse gases, according to the Sierra
Club. On Dec. 12 Canada announced that it was withdraw-
ing from the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, though the
country said it would honor a separate, carbon-reducing
agreement reached at the climate change summit in Durban,
South Africa, over the weekend. — Camilla Mortensen
CITY VIOLATES
CITY LAW, AGAIN
The city of Eugene has violated its own code again in
using bike parking as barricades to keep homeless people
from sitting down.
The Eugene police locked trashed bicycles to city
landscaping downtown this fall to keep homeless people
from sitting on low walls at Olive and Broadway streets.
City Code 5.420 prohibits “a bicycle left on public
property for a period in excess of 24 hours.” At least six
other code provisions prohibit locking trash on sidewalks
and blocking pedestrians.
After complaints, the city removed the trashed bikes.
But now the city has replaced the bikes with bike racks
bolted into the sidewalk six inches away from the low
landscaping walls like fences.
But that also violates city code that requires bicycle
racks be placed so that bicyclists can actually use them.
Eugene Code 9.6105(2) requires that racks be placed a
minimum of two feet from walls.
The city routinely enforces bike parking codes against
retailers and other businesses, but the downtown racks
serve as a public reminder that the city itself does not
comply with the laws it requires others to respect.
The legal violation of the city’s own laws by the police
themselves also comes as the city has come under criticism
for prosecuting the homeless and young people downtown
for alleged minor code violations such as sitting on a low
wall or standing on a sidewalk grate around a tree.
Last time the city violated its own laws with the junked
bikes, the city didn’t prosecute itself. The police auditor
dismissed a complaint of misconduct without investigating.
— Alan Pittman
WOLF LOOKS FOR LOVE?
WOLVES FROM OREGON’S IMNAHA PACK
Perhaps on an important quest to find love, OR-7, a young gray wolf, once part of the Imnaha pack, set out on Sept.
10 from northeast Oregon’s Wallowa County and ended up in Klamath County, where he’s been roaming the same 100
square miles since Nov. 8.
While media outlets around the world have focused on OR-7’s incredible 700-plus mile journey, wolf advocates are
equally amazed and excited about what this might mean for wolf conservation in Oregon.
“We hope he’s found what he’s looking for,” said Robert Klavins, wildlands and wildlife advocate with Oregon Wild,
adding that the group assumes the wolf is looking for or has found a mate.
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) officials aren’t entirely sure why he has stayed in the area and can’t
confirm whether he’s found a mate. “We haven’t observed him and haven’t observed (whether) he has another wolf with
him,” said Michelle Dennehy, ODFW wildlife communications director.
But it wouldn’t be a surprise to find him with a partner. According to Dennehy there were some reports of wolves in
the southwest Cascades a couple years ago, and it’s possible he paired up with one of them. Under Oregon’s Wolf
Conservation and Management Plan, the state must have four breeding pairs for three consecutive years to take wolves
off the state endangered species list and seven breeding pairs on both sides of the Cascades is the overall objective. To
become a breeding pair, OR-7 and his potential mate would have to give birth to two pups that would need to survive for
at least a full year.
The possibility of a breeding pair in western Oregon is a welcome relief for Klavins, who says that wolf recovery has
stalled in Oregon over the last couple years.
Oregon Wild is attempting to get all Oregonians excited about OR-7 through its Connect with the Wild Campaign,
which is taking name submissions for the wolf and artistic depictions until Dec. 16. To enter go to http://wkly.ws/155
— Ted Shorack
PHOTO COURTESY ODFW
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EUGENE WEEKLY DECEMBER 15, 2011 9