Montana Prepares Permits for Kearl Loads

The Montana Department of Transportation has announced it is preparing to issue permits for 300 oversize loads via Interstate 90 and 15 through Montana to the Canadian border. The revised transport plan eliminates Highway 12, the route preferred by Exxon, Imperial Oil and heavy transporter Mammoet.

The 205 original modules from South Korea were reduced in size to meet interstate highway weight and size requirements after Idaho denied use of Highway 12, a route that did not have overpasses. A Montana judge modified a previous injunction that would allow the Kearl loads to travel along Highway 12, but the current application includes only the interstate highways, according to local reports. All shipments are bound for Imperial/Exxon’s Kearl Oil Sands Project in northeastern Alberta.

The loads will enter the state of Montana on Interstate 90 in Mineral County and exit the state of Montana on Interstate 15 at the Port of Sweet Grass in Toole County, according to a MDOT statement. Some of the loads will originate from the river ports in Pasco, Wash., and Lewiston, Idaho, where they were broken down into smaller pieces. Some of these loads --about 30 downsized loads from Lewiston--have already been trucked into Montana.

The smaller, conventional loads are able to move during daylight hours, while the larger loads on hydraulic trailers must move after 8 p.m. The largest of the modules measure 25 feet wide, nearly 12 feet high and 123 feet long.

Mammoet USA is responsible for the transportation of the modules. It expects to begin the Montana leg of the plan this week and plans to complete the transport of all loads by the end of March 2012. 

Photo shows Kearl Oil Sands modules awaiting permission to leave for Alberta from the Port of Lewiston. Courtesy of the Port of Lewiston in Idaho.