PENDLETON Icy roads held up Omega Morgans megaload last week, as sub-zero temperatures and snow hit the region, but the transport is expected to move again Wednesday night.

The load a massive tanklike vessel was parked off Highway 395 just south of Pendleton Monday, a week after starting its land journey from the Port of Umatilla.

Omega Morgan, the Hillsboro-based company transporting the load, was waiting for weather to improve before starting the next leg of the trip.

The Oregon Department of Transportation said the load could reach Mt. Vernon by Thursday morning. If it leaves at 8 p.m. Thursday, it could reach John Day by 9 or 10 p.m., and continue east to Austin Junction.

From there it would continue east toward Vale, possibly arriving Saturday or Sunday.

The schedule depends on the weather, however.

The oil refinery equipment is bound for the tar sands region of Alberta, Canada, but must first go south before it can head north.

The route was chosen as one of the few the load could physically clear, project manager Erik Zander said to the North East Area Commission on Transportation last Thursday, Dec. 5, in La Grande.

This was the only route through Oregon, Washington and Canada that would work, heightwise, Zander said. Our biggest issue is just waiting on the weather now.

ODOT has permitted the megaload to drive only at night, and only when conditions are clear.

Yet the megaloads havent escaped controversy. Climate activists and members of the local tribes have vehemently protested using Oregon as a route to the tar sands, which they argue contributes significantly to global warming. Three protesters were arrested trying to block the load in Umatilla, and succeeded in delaying its departure Dec. 1.

Numerous protesters were also arrested in August when a previous shipment ran through the Nez Perce Reservation and a federally designated scenic river corridor on U.S. Highway 12 in Idaho. A federal judge later ordered megaloads stop using the route.

That brings the next three scheduled shipments through Oregon, though Zander said it is unlikely they will use the area as a long-term industrial corridor.

It doesn t make good sense, Zander said.

Members of the transportation commission asked few new questions, and nobody protested during the presentation. The project drew additional praise from Debra Dunn, president of the Oregon Trucking Association, who joined the meeting via teleconference.

Omega Morgan meets the requirements to move the load and do it safely, because theyve put together such a good plan, Dunn said. It tells me the permitting process is working.

From Oregon, Omega Morgan plans to take the load across central Idaho and into Montana, over Lost Trail Pass.

The Associated Press reported last week that Montana Department of Transportation officials are considering an application for the load to move through the western part of that state.

Were still reviewing it, but I guess I dont see anything alarming that would stand out, Montana Motor Carrier Services administrator Duane Williams told the Missoulian newspaper.

Williams said he does not expect the load to reach Montana for a few weeks.

The Idaho Department of Transportation had not yet issued a permit but officials said they were working with the company on a schedule for the journey.