MISSOULA – A proposal to move huge loads of oilfield equipment through northwestern Montana translates to $68 million worth of jobs, Gov. Brian Schweitzer said.
“If I could wave a magic wand and get Stone Container open again and get the timber industry going again, I’d do that,” Schweitzer said Friday. “In lieu of that, $68 million worth of road work and flaggers and utility work along the highways — I guess we’ll take it. It’s $68 million worth of jobs.”
Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil has proposed moving 200 extra large loads of equipment into Montana at Lolo Pass through Missoula and across mostly two-lane roads into Canada through the Port of Sweetgrass north of Shelby. The equipment is destined for an oil sands project in northeastern Alberta.
An analysis by Tetra Tech of Missoula estimates Montana will realize $67.8 million of economic activity as roads are readied and the modules are moved through the state.
If the state Department of Transportation is satisfied with the company’s plans to mitigate any damage along the way, the modules will start moving this fall and continue to pass through the state for up to a year.
The loads could be as large as 24 feet wide, 30 feet high and 50 yards long.
The equipment is being built in Korea, shipped to Oregon and the plan calls for moving it up the Columbia and Snake rivers by barge before being loaded on trucks at the Port of Lewiston, Idaho and hauling it to the oil sand fields.
Schweitzer downplayed concerns that northwestern Montana will become a permanent transportation corridor for big rigs going to the Canadian oil fields and elsewhere.
“That’s not the proposal at all,” he said. “This is temporary for 200 loads and nobody’s proposed a permanent corridor.”