April 12 - According to local news reports, in one of the USA's most hotly contested heavy lift transports of recent times, Montana and Idaho's departments of transportation have cleared the way for Exxon Mobile's Imperial Oil to haul a 225-tonne test mod
HLPFI understands this will be the heaviest truckload to ever travel across U.S. Highway 12 in northern Idaho and is a test run for the company and its heavy haulage contractor, Mammoet.
Imperial Oil, a subsidiary, ExxonMobil Corp., wants to use the highway to haul hundreds of similar loads across Idaho, into Montana and north to the Kearl Oil Sands.
Transportation officials in Idaho and Montana have issued permits for the test run before deciding how to handle the dozens of other proposed shipments.
Previously conservation groups and residents who live along the route have sued in federal court to block the shipments and the dispute rumbles on as can be seen at the following website: http://fightinggoliath.org/Pages/mega-loadopponents.html
