The Idaho Supreme Court on Monday lifted a lower court order that prevented ConocoPhillips from moving giant refinery parts along a rural highway across the state.
In a 3-2 decision, the court said that Judge John Bradbury of Idaho's Second Judicial District Court and the Supreme Court itself, had no authority to rule on a permit issued by Idaho's highway department allowing the movement of giant coking unit parts along the U.S. Highway 12.
"The district court lacked jurisdiction, as does this Court, to consider respondents' petition for judicial review," wrote Justice Warren Jones in the court's opinion announcing the decision.
Residents along Highway 12 had sought to block a contractor for Conoco from moving giant coking unit drums, weighing up to 323 tons (293 metric tons) and stretching 225 feet (68.58 meters), from the port of Lewiston, Idaho, to the state's border with Montana.