More bad publicity in the U.S. for Alberta’s oil sands
Protests are mounting over proposals from big oil companies to turn narrow highways running through wilderness country in Idaho and Montana into shipping routes for huge oil drum and other equipment bound north to the oil sands of Alberta. One of the routes runs along the Blackfoot River, setting of Norman Maclean’s beloved novel of father-son angst and excellent fly-fishing, A River Runs Through It. “We’re transforming a wild and scenic byway into a major industrial corridor without even telling anybody,” said Laird Lucas, executive director of a group called Advocates for the West. A lawsuit to overturn permits to ship heavy oil development gear along one of the wilderness highways will be heard by the Idaho Supreme Court on Oct. 1.