Posted on 10/02/2014 7:03:29 AM PDT by thackney
The rate of North Dakota oil trains crossing Minnesota got another working over yesterday. At KMSP-TV, Tim Blotz says, “Bakken oil now rolls through Minnesota at a rate of more than 15 trains a day, but on a rail system that has limited space, other critical freight — including grain, Taconite, and propane — is often left off track. Rep. Joe Atkins, of Inver Grove Heights, described the issue as ‘a growing crisis’ at a packed legislative hearing. Even so, it's not a simple blame game. … The troubles for Amtrak aren't just the delays, but the length of them. Along BNSF lines, the minutes of delays per 10,000 miles of track dramatically jumped from last year — and it's the same story for the Amtrak trains operating on Canadian National and Union Pacific tracks. However, rail experts told Minnesota lawmakers that building more pipelines won't solve the problem.”
Speaking of: James MacPherson of the AP says, “A Canadian company that wants to build the largest oil pipeline yet from western North Dakota's booming oil patch is delaying the project for at least a year due to permitting problems in Minnesota. Calgary, Alberta-based Enbridge Energy Partners LP disclosed the delay of the $2.6 billion Sandpiper pipeline in a filing Tuesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.”
Also from the AP: “The oil and railroad industries are urging federal regulators to allow them as long as seven years to retrofit existing tank cars that transport highly volatile crude oil, a top oil industry official said Tuesday. The cars have ruptured and spilled oil during collisions, leading to intense fires. Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, told reporters that the institute and the Association of American Railroads were jointly asking the Transportation Department for six months to 12 months for rail tank car manufacturers to gear up to retrofit tens of thousands of cars and another three years to retrofit older cars.”
Hilarious. I'm sure "pipeline experts" have a different point of view.
Rails were already tight without shipping oil.
Build more rail freight capacity?
Na....
Lets just blow billions of dollars building passenger rail systems in the California desert and other locations where they aren’t needed and will never pay their way.
I have read that Warren Buffet bought Obama’s resistance to pipelines to preserve his railway investments.
News flash to Buffet. You can’t take it with you and you will face God when you go.
It’s been so long since I have awakened in a good mood you wouldn’t believe it. We need rail cars and pipelines? Who was the person who shoved the heavy manufacturers and with them, 25 million jobs, out of the United States? That’s right, the compassionate conservative, George Bush. We need more like him if Zero can’t cripple the country. Let’s vote for amnesty then we can have the Mexicans fix the problems.
Yeah all Bush’s fault. No heavy manufacturing left before or after his term.
In Lima, which has lost 1,600 jobs since Bush became president, more than 1,000 of them in manufacturing,
http://lubbockonline.com/stories/082904/ele_082904077.shtml
I was raised in NE Ohio. The steel belt had become the rust belt long before Bush.
Sorry, forgot to add:
And the number one reason was the insane unions driving away jobs. I had an uncle working at auto assembly in the area. He eventually got requirements set up for the number of pieces that had to be made per day. They worked at the job for an hour then played cards for 7 hours for their 8 hour pay.
And you don’t think the free trade amendments that Bush pushed hard to pass didn’t affect the job loss numbers. Quit dreaming. Normally I agree with 90% of what you post but today you’re defending the wrong man.
I’m not defending him. I’m claiming he isn’t the source of the problem. We have done much to shut out the competitiveness of the American Manufacture; not just the policies he helped put in place.
Perhaps I am reading too much into your use of “the person” in your post. Just struck me wrong.
Cheers
Asking rail experts to comment on the capabilities of pipelines is like asking Muslims to tell us what Christians believe.
Gosh...If only there was another way of transporting oil.
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