The
Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho went to court on Monday to try and stop a second megaload shipment from passing through the reservation.
Tribal leaders and members staged four nights of protests when the first truck went through the reservation last month. A second truck is due on September 18, according to news reports.
“We need the word one way or another, what’s going to happen,” Chairman Silas Whitman told The Spokesman Review.
The tribe was not given an opportunity to object or control the route, which crosses 72 miles of the reservation. The decision instead came from the state of Idaho.
“They’re pushing us into a corner,” Whitman told the paper, “and the last time we were pushed, we left and tried to go to Canada. We’re tired of being pushed into corners to carry out manifest destiny. That’s not the name of the game any more.”
After leaving the reservation, the truck went through the Clearwater National Forest, an area where the tribe retains hunting, gathering and other treaty-based rights.
The
U.S. Forest Service, however, did nothing to stop the shipment and doesn't appear to be taking any action against the upcoming one.
The trucks are being used to transport a 225-foot-long water purification unit to the tar sands oil development area in Alberta, Canada.
Get the Story:
Environmentalists, Tribe Seek To Halt GE Megaloads Headed For Canada's Oil Sands
(AP 9/9)
Tribes, environmentalists plead with judge to stop Highway 12 megaloads
(AP 9/9)
Megaloads dispute hits federal court in Boise
(The Spokesman Review 9/10)
Related Stories:
Silas Whitman: Nez Perce Tribe ignored on
megaload shipment (9/9)
Nez
Perce Tribe hopes litigation blocks second megaload truck (08/13)
Editorial: Address controversy affecting megaload
shipments (8/12)
Nez Perce Tribe aims to
stop megaload shipment with litigation (8/9)
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