Second District Judge John Bradbury denied the issuance of a
permit today allowing four mega-truckloads from traveling on U.S.
Highway 12 from Lewiston to a refinery in Billings, Mont.
Bradbury based his decision, in part, on the length of time the
Idaho Transportation Department agreed to allow ConocoPhillips to
block traffic on Highway 12.
"On the face of the Department's Memorandum of Decision, it is
clear that the permits were issued while allowing for delays of up
to fifteen minutes, which of course would also not allow for
passing at least more frequently than every ten minutes, and thus
its decision is arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion,"
Bradbury said in his ruling
The Idaho Transportation Department issued the permits Friday
for the loads to start their journey along U.S. Highway 12 to a
ConocoPhillips refinery in Billings, Mont. But the agency promised
not to allow the trips to start until the court made a ruling.
The loads have to cross the Arrow Bridge by Sunday or risk being
stuck in Lewiston until sometime in October because of the
construction schedule for the bridge. One side has been resurfaced
and there's a construction break before the second phase
starts.
Bradbury's ruling follows an intense two-hour hearing Monday.
Bradbury listened to arguments from Boise-based attorneys
representing ConocoPhillips, ITD, Borg Hendrickson, Linwood Laughy
and Peter Grubb.
Hendrickson, Laughy and Grubb filed the lawsuit last week aiming
to block the loads. The plaintiffs contend ConocoPhillips� plans to
send trucks taking up two lanes down U.S. Highway 12 would threaten
public safety, hurt tourism and potentially harm the scenic river
corridor. Their attorneys are from Advocates for the West.
Bradbury asked attorneys from ITD and ConocoPhillips a number of
pointed questions. Among them was when ITD had reached its decision
to issue the permits and why the transportation department was
allowing the trucks to travel for 15 minutes before allowing
traffic to pass when Idaho code specifies 10-minute intervals.
Bradbury remanded the issue to ITD for further proceedings.
