Rabblerousing group Stop the CRC is organizing a protest tomorrow at the ungodly hour of 8:30 AM up at the Expo Center, outside the first meeting of the Columbia River Crossing's new independent review panel... or "rubberstamp panel" as the anti-CRC crew is calling it.

Governors Gregoire and Kulongoski pulled together the review panel after four local leaders called for the bridge process to take a step back and consider smaller, greener options for the big bridge project. The governors said there could be no delay in the bridge process and called together an eight-person review panel with no Oregonians similar to ones that oversaw Seattle's disastrous Viaduct and 520 Bridge projects.

The chair of the committee Tom Warne directed a freeway project in Utah that wound up getting slapped by a judge for having a flawed environmental assessment and not evaluating enough alternatives. Hmm... sound familiar? Critics think the panel will do nothing more than sign off on the CRC's current $3 billion plan.

One things for sure: it's going to be an exciting first meeting. The protest meets up at 8:30 AM at the EXPO Center MAX stop.