MISSOULA – Missoula County commissioners have voted to file a lawsuit seeking to stop an oil company from moving oversized loads of refinery equipment across Montana to Canada.
The commission on Tuesday unanimously approved the lawsuit against the Montana Department of Transportation.
Commissioners say the state agency did not sufficiently analyze the effects of moving hundreds of oversized loads through the state.
Deputy county attorney James McCubbin says the lawsuit will be filed in Missoula district court as early as this week.
The Missoulian reports the county will be joined by the National Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Club, and the Montana Environmental Information Center as plaintiffs.
Imperial Oil, an ExxonMobil Corp. subsidiary, plans to transport 207 “megaloads” through Idaho and Montana to the oil-sand fields of Alberta.