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Megaload Pulls Out Of Northeast Oregon Port Despite Protesters

Cathy Sampson-Kruse is a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation. Police arrested her after she laid down in front of the so-called megaload bound for Canada.
Anna King
/
Northwest News Network
Cathy Sampson-Kruse is a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation. Police arrested her after she laid down in front of the so-called megaload bound for Canada.

A massive load of oil equipment is on its way to Canada, along a winding route that began near Hermiston, in northeast Oregon. 

Protesters tried to stop the shipment by getting in the way. But the so-called megaload rumbled forward, on its journey through Oregon and Idaho.

About two-dozen protesters held signs and blew horns while police kept them away from the truck and trailer. The megaload takes up two lanes and stretches 380 feet.

Cathy Sampson-Kruse a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation stood in front of the tractor’s intense headlights. She’s a grandmother and called the megaload a mega-monster. She said the shipment crosses traditional Native American homelands, "where we gather our traditional foods. Our roots, our huckleberries, all of our traditional elk, our deer, our fish, it has to stop.”

Sampson-Kruse laid down on the road in front of the huge truck. Police arrested her, but the megaload rolled on. The Hillsboro, Oregon-based shipper Omega Morgan says its working with local law officials to ensure as smooth a trip as possible.

Copyright 2013 Northwest News Network

Anna King
Anna King calls Richland, Washington home and loves unearthing great stories about people in the Northwest. She reports for the Northwest News Network from a studio at Washington State University, Tri-Cities. She covers the Mid-Columbia region, from nuclear reactors to Mexican rodeos.