There have been times as I punch into a rolling wave or lay on the rocky river bank, letting the sun sink into my bones, that I feel completely and utterly content, connected, and loved by the landscape around me. The Lochsa River has an air of the sacred. The water whispers truths I only wish I could understand. It is a place that terrifies me, not only for the sheer power of the flowing water but also for the dependence I feel towards it. Having it destroyed or manipulated would break my heart. I don't say that in exaggeration or as a cliche. When I place my feet in the swirling, numbingly cold water, a feeling clenches my chest that can only be described as head-over-heels love.
Which is why my stomach sinks when I hear Exxon Mobile is planning to ship oil refinery equipment from the Port of Lewiston, along Highway 12, and up through Missoula to Canada. The Korean built machinery is huge (24 feet wide, 30 feet tall and 162 feet long) and construction has already begun along Highway 12 to expand the road so it has the capacity to accomodate the oversized vehicles. The road will be widened to create pullouts and wider turns with who knows what effect on river flow and riparian vegetation. Quiet, star studded nights along the Lochsa River may soon be replaced with the rumble of thousand ton trucks. Development will likely set a precedent for the cooridor to be opened to industrial shipping. Yes, Highway 12 as it is now is a dangerous road with blind corners and little turn out space. And I think that's how it should stay. If you need to get cross country at 80 mph, take 1-90. Even in a car, traveling along the Lochsa makes you slow down a bit, think about where you are going and why.
I have problems with every part of this process. The four dams along the Snake River that make it a "port" (In central Idaho? Really?) have had huge negative effects on salmon runs and regional ecosystems. The shipment process from Lewiston to Alberta will have negative effects on tourism, traffic flow, riparian ecosystems and the general peace and quiet of Idaho and Montana. The Kearl Oil Sands have their own set of issues, from open pit mines to water use to habitat loss. Oh, and the fact that the oil will run out. The project will eventually become too expensive or there simply will be no resource left. If Highway 12 was being developed to ship wind turbines or materials to build sustainable low income housing I may feel differently. But this is Exxon Mobile. Look at their track record, the history of how they have treated the environment and the problems they have created. Their representatives say that they have had no major accidents in the last fifteen years. But wait, wasn't that what BP was saying about offshore drilling just a few weeks back?
Of course, the grand irony of it all is that when I head down to the Lochsa this weekend to meet my parents, camp and raft, it will be in my gas guzzling car. Yet I would rather pay $6.00 a gallon for gasoline than see anything happen to a river I love. Or even better, what if we put our tax dollars towards developing green transportation such as hydrogen and electric so I can ditch the gasoline guzzler all together? I'm tired of watching big oil exploit communities and landscapes that belong to all of us (or none of us? How can land like this be owned by a human?) for their own profit. I'm tired of hearing of oil spilling into the ocean, destroying once thriving maritime and wetland ecosystems and the tourism and other livelihoods associated. I'm tired of wondering if I will be able to share the places I love with my children and my children's children.
Enough already.
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