UMATILLA Environmental protesters turned up at the Port of Umatilla Sunday but Omega Morgans megaload the first of three scheduled to roll this winter didnt budge.

Company spokeswoman Holly Zander said the equipment took longer than expected to load, but the transport would be ready to begin its journey across Eastern Oregon Monday night, past the Eagles press time.

Omega Morgan, a Hillsboro-based industrial hauler,plans to take the oversized load to Idaho via Interstate 84 and Highways 395 and 26, a route that will pass through Grant County. It is allowed to travel only at night, when traffic is lightest, and must limit traffic delays to 20 minutes or less.

The Oregon Department of Transportation issued a permit for the move last Friday, and released details on Saturday.

Restrictions set by the permit include:

The load can travel between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. only, and for no more than eight consecutive hours a night.

The transport will be shut down the entire Thanksgiving weekend, with no travel allowed from 6 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 27, to 10 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 1.

The load is not allowed to travel south of milepost 52.1 on Highway 395 before Sunday, Dec. 1. That milepost is near Ukiah in Umatilla County and about 12 miles north of Dale, which means the load wont reach Grant Countys northern border until next week.

On two-lane highways, the load will require closing the whole highway. It is expected to pull over every seven miles to let vehicles pass.

The permit lists the load dimensions as 96 feet long, 23 feet wide, and 19 feet high. With the transport vehicles, including push trucks, the overall length is 380 feet.

Omega Morgan is using Red Wolf Traffic Control for the move. The plan calls for the crew to have multiple communications systems, invluding VHF radio, cell phones, CB radio. The plan also identifies all the turnouts that will be used by flaggers.

The load, described as a heat exchanger, was barged to the Port of Umatilla and could take up to two weeks to travel south through Eastern Oregon and into Idaho, en route to the final destination confirmed by company officials only as Alberta, Canada. Two more loads are scheduled to follow in December and January.

Local concerns have focused on the size of the load, possible damage to roads, interruptions to emergency services.

But similar loads also have drawn attention for their link to the tar sands oil development in Canada.

About 20 protesters showed up in Umatilla Sunday morning. An organizer, Jim Powers of Albany, pointed to carbon dioxide emissions and climate change due to what he sees aso the processing of dirty oil in Canada.

Were lending our roads to being part of a global system that will be really bad for our children and grandchildren, Powers said. Anything that facilitates an increase in carbon emissions is a bad idea. It goes against our self-interest.

Zander acknowledged people are passionate about the topic. However, officials stressed that the load is an empty vessel, and doesnt carry fuels or hazardous waste.

Zander said there will be no digging, no trimming of trees and nothing else about the shipment that will cause any damage to the environment.

People are focusing more on the end destination, and not so much the transportation that Omega Morgan does, she said. I dont think people will even really notice this coming through their communities.

Previous shipments started at the Port of Lewiston, and Omega Morgan trucked the megaloads east on U.S. Highway 12. But environmentalists and leaders of the Nez Perce Tribe protested, in part, because the route that passed through tribal lands and a federally designated scenic river corridor.

A federal judge granted an injunction in September to stop the loads pending further study of the impacts.

To download a copy of the permit and get updates as the load moves, visit www.MyEagleNews.com.

George Plaven of the East Oregonian contributed to this report.