Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Killing The Keystone --> More Diesel Trains and Semi's Hauling Oil; Now More Trains Hauling Coal

Updates

Later: See first comment below. This information about "40 more unit trains daily through Billings" is coming from an environmental group. I was spoofed. I thought 40 unit trains/day was a bit much. Maybe there is enough coal and enough demand to warrant 40 unit trains but now that I know a bit more about the source, I have to question the validity of the story. A huge thank you to "anonymous" for alerting me to a bit of hyperbole and its source.

Original Post

The faux-environmentalists killed the Keystone XL so that "they" could put more semi's on the road, and more diesel trains on the track. And, of course, this works out well for the oil companies: they pass on the extra cost of transportation to the mineral owners and/or the consumer, but they now have the flexibility of moving their oil where they want and not constrained by pipeline. Also, any pipeline spill, no matter how small, shuts down the entire pipeline for an indefinite period of time. Not so with a derailment or a motor vehicular accident: within hours things are back to normal.

Now this story: how would an extra 40 coal trains per day through downtown Billings, MT, affect quality of life there?

This is not a joke. [Well, maybe it is. See first comment below, and update above.] Forty more unit trains/day. Not forty more railroad cars, but forty more unit trains -- a 100-cars in a unit train.
The expected shipping of coal from the Powder River Basin to Asia is likely to increase train traffic through Billings, according to a conference brochure.
For investors: find those manufacturers building rail cars. 

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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousMarch 7, 2012 at 11:36 PM

    Bruce, the so called "conference" is promoted and paid for by the local enviro extremists. The Global Warming crowd is using fear of increased train traffic as their latest excuse to try to kill a proposed MT coal mine.

    Same tatic as using fear of fracking as their latest tool to attack the oil industry. Same song, different day. I sure wish they'd just be quiet for awhile. Of course they won't.

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    Replies
    1. Bruce OksolMarch 7, 2012 at 11:45 PM

      A huge "thank you."

      I've updated the posting -- see above.

      It will be interesting to see if the newspaper provides a better accounting of the conference.

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