<div dir="ltr">

















<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 3in;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><b><span style="color:black">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</span></b><span style="color:black"> <span>            </span><span>           </span><b></b> </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Times"><span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="color:black"> </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Times"><span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="color:black">On Tuesday, March 5, 2019, at 7 p.m. in the second floor ballroom
at the Union Hall, 208 East Main in Missoula, 350 Montana will host Wild Idaho
Rising Tide (WIRT) and the organization’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. <span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="color:black"><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><b><u><span style="color:black">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. <span></span></span></u></b></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><b><span style="color:black"><span> </span></span></b></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="color:black">350 Montana spokesman, Jeff Smith, says “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.”<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="color:black"><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="color:black">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.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Times"><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="color:black">There are numerous other impacts of Burlington Northern Santa Fe’s
of two parallel railroad bridges across Sand Creek and Idaho’s largest lake. 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.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="color:black"><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="color:black">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.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="color:black"><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="color:black">Wild Idaho spokespeople will also speak in Moscow, Idaho on March
6, Sandpoint on March 9, and Spokane on March 10. </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Times"><span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Times"><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="color:black">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.<span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Times"><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="color:black">For further event and issue information, visit <a href="https://wildidahorisingtide.org/2019/03/01/no2ndbridge-regional-talks/" style="color:blue;text-decoration:underline">https://wildidahorisingtide.org/2019/03/01/no2ndbridge-regional-talks/</a><span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="color:black"><span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="color:black">Helen Yost, Wild Idaho Rising Tide</span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Times"><span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="color:black"><a href="mailto:wild.idaho.rising.tide@gmail.com" style="color:blue;text-decoration:underline"><span style="color:blue">wild.idaho.rising.tide@gmail.com</span></a>, 208-301-8039</span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Times"><span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="color:black"> </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Times"><span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="color:black">Jeffrey Smith, 350 Montana</span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Times"><span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="color:black"><a href="mailto:yswolfhowl@gmail.com" style="color:blue;text-decoration:underline"><span style="color:blue">yswolfhowl@gmail.com</span></a>
406-880-8320</span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Times"><span></span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="color:black"><span> </span></span></p>





</div>