Federal Judge Hears Arguments on Megaloads Trucked Through Reservation

Attorneys from Idaho’s Nez Perce Tribe and from a unit of General Electric Co. argued in federal court Sept. 9, in Boise about megaloads moving through the tribe’s reservation and a national park, the Associated Press reported.

The tribe said the large shipments of gear heading to Alberta’s tar sands damage the environment and cause irreparable harm to the tribe’s rights and interests, AP reported.

The GE unit argued the courts had no authority to interfere with its shipment. It already shipped one of its 225-foot-long, 640,000-pound water evaporator loads along the highway in August and has one more to move, AP reported.

The remaining shipment would be moved on a two-lane highway through a federally designated scenic river corridor.

The tribe is demanding that no further shipments be allowed without tribal consultation, or the completion of a corridor impact study scrutinizing how shipments might harm the Nez Perce Tribe’s treaty rights, according to AP.