SPOKANE — ExxonMobil and Imperial Oil are seeking permission from the state of Washington to ship giant oil sands processing equipment to the Port of Pasco, and then move the loads by truck across eastern Washington for eventual shipment to Canada.
The companies say they are seeking the new
route because intense opposition has slowed their original plans to ship the equipment to the Port of Lewiston in Idaho and then truck it over scenic U.S. 12 into Montana and finally up to the Kearl oil sands in Canada.
The oil companies say the equipment to be moved through Washington would be cut down to a smaller size than the megaloads planned for movement across U.S. 12.
“Because of delays, we need to pursue other routes to keep the project on track,” ExxonMobil spokeswoman Cynthia Bergman White said.
Regulators in Washington, Idaho and Montana must approve the new shipments, which would last for more than a year.
Bill Legg of the Washington DOT said they are testing road shoulders and bridges to make sure the existing road can handle the loads. He said permits would not be issued prior to mid-October because of construction work on I-90 in the Spokane area.
The permit request in Washington call for using four-lane divided highways and would not require road closures or highway upgrading.
The megaloads originally proposed for U.S. 12 were up to 30 feet tall, weighed more than 500,000 pounds, and would have required a rolling closure of the highway as they moved down the road at night.
The loads proposed in Washington would be no taller than 15 feet and weigh no more than 345,000 pounds. But there would be many more of them, up to 350, because they are smaller, Exxon said.
The oil companies said they will continue to seek permits to move the full-sized modules on U.S. 12, which is more cost-effective.
The companies were already using an alternative route from the Port of Lewiston, trucking smaller loads up U.S. 95 to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, then east along Interstate 90 into Montana and north on Interstate 15 to Canada.
The new route would see the oil sands equipment shipped across the Pacific Ocean and up the Columbia River to the Port of Pasco. It would be trucked up U.S. 395 and then I-90 through Washington, Idaho and western Montana, then north up I-15 to Canada.
A business group immediately welcomed the new plan.
“Washington has a tremendous opportunity to participate in a valuable job-creating regional transportation project,” said Colin Hastings, director of the Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce. “We encourage state transportation officials to support this project.”
Imperial Oil, a subsidiary of Exxon, originally hoped to truck the 30-foot-tall modules from the Port of Lewiston, Idaho, to Canada’s oil sands. But permit issues and legal challenges from people who don’t want the giant loads to clog scenic U.S. 12 have delayed the shipments.
The modules are made in South Korea. They will be assembled into a factory at an $8 billion complex at the Kearl oil sands. Oil-sands critics say the mining operations waste water and energy, emitting more greenhouse gases and pollutants than drilling for oil.
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