Big loads, big issues…
![In this April 11, 2011 photo, activity around the Imperial Oil test module increases as crews prepare to depart from the Port of Lewiston in Lewiston, Idaho. The module, which is 250 feet long, 30 feet tall, 24 feet wide and weighs almost 500,000 pounds, will be the first of many the oil company hopes will travel the route on its way to the Kearl Oil Sands project in Alberta, Canada. (AP Photo/Lewiston Tribune / Kyle Mills)](https://thumb.spokesman.com/1mE19kKB0Q1TiYe1e6BalQGQJbg=/810x0/media.spokesman.com/photos/2011/04/25/628abd57392f3a08ea0e6a7067003065.jpg)
Here's a link to my full story at spokesman.com on the news from today's megaloads hearing, including ITD's contention that it wouldn't be "practical" to require the giant loads to be cut down and run on routes other than scenic, winding U.S. Highway 12 - even though the company that's planning on sending the loads is doing just that right now for dozens of them. Today was the first day of a contested-case hearing that's expected to last at least through the week; at stake is Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil's plan to run more than 200 giant loads of oil equipment from Lewiston across Highway 12 to Montana and then up to the Alberta oil sands project; the loads are so large they'll block both lanes of the two-lane highway, creating a rolling roadblock.