#No2ndBridge Presentation (Missoula)

On Tuesday, March 5, 2019, at 7 p.m. in the second floor ballroom at the Union Hall, 208 East Main in Missoula, come join us to learn about Wild Idaho Rising Tide’s staunch opposition to an ill-advised second railroad bridge over Lake Pend Oreille, which is under consideration by federal agencies and the U.S. Coast Guard.

This new bridge will mean increasing numbers of trains carrying coal, volatile hydrocarbons from the Bakken oil fields, and other hazardous materials will roll through Missoula every day.

At a time when we in Montana are facing the rising costs of climate change, this is absolutely the wrong time to build new fossil fuels infrastructure. We need to move in the exact opposite direction, to a clean, carbon-free renewable energy infrastructure as quickly as possible.

Wild Idaho speakers will present the consequences of the new bridge: increasing rail traffic, noise, pollution, and derailment dangers. Burlington Northern Santa Fe officials think the new bridge hopes will alleviate a railroad “funnel” at Sandpoint that currently slows the movement of hazardous materials going to the West Coast for export.

There are numerous other impacts of BNSF’s two parallel railroad bridges across Sand Creek and Idaho’s largest lake, Lake Pend Oreille. A second bridge will put lake and aquifer water sources at increased risk to oil and coal spills. The new bridge will also degrade air quality, native fish, wildlife, threatened bull trout, and their habitats, indigenous treaties, public health and safety, historic sites and private properties, boat navigation and emergency and vehicle travel, and recreation and tourism.

Wild Idaho Rising Tide has filed a petition to deny and revoke permits for the expansion and encourages Montana citizens to comment on this flawed and risky project.

Wild Idaho spokespeople will also speak in Moscow, Idaho on March 6, Sandpoint on March 9, and Spokane on March 10.

The Coast Guard has scheduled a public hearing on March 13 at Ponderay, Idaho. Comments on the Coast Guard’s environmental assessment are due by March 25.

For further event and issue information, visit https://wildidahorisingtide.org/2019/03/01/no2ndbridge-regional-talks/

Helen Yost, Wild Idaho Rising Tide
wild.idaho.rising.tide@gmail.com, 208-301-8039

Jeffrey Smith, 350 Montana