Fred Frailey's first Darwin Awards

ccltrains — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 14:40:22 GMT

There is a big difference between PRB and Applachian coal. PRB is cleaner (low sulphur) but has a lower BTU content than Applachian coal. Applachian coal can and is being cleaned up to mitigate emissions and offers a higher energy content. Also its far superior met properties means that App coal will be mined for years to come. App coal used for power generation is in the big market area for electricity, not in the middle of nothing far from the markets. There are several power plant at the mine mouth where transportation costs are non existant. I forsee a grand future for App coal once (and if) the current economic problems are solved. Now if we can just reign in the United Mine Workers.

Rail Pundit — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 00:22:20 GMT

Pasadena Bound: No, the sky is not falling. Do you really think an employer is going to pay dockworkers and/or clerks such an obscene wage? I'd be willing to bet there is considerably more to this story than meets the eye. Greed is the human condition. We all want as much as we can get. Presumably, if the ILWU clerks can get the amount mentioned, someone has decided they are worth it. I've not heard of any of their employers going bankrupt and out of business.

Al DiCenso — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 22:49:56 GMT

Old Head:

A lot of Clearfield coal still moves on a regular basis, 20 to 30 trains per month, to the PPL Strawberry Ridge plant over NS and the Nittany & Bald Eagle.

Pasadena Bound — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 21:53:47 GMT

Sadly the GREED of Americans is what has/is killing America.

No clerical employee is worth that level of compensation and time off!

However, in our present state of legislative morass I would respectfully suggest that both Darwin Awards be given separately to the Majority Leader of the United States Senate and to the Speak of the House of Representatives.

Darwin studied and defined evolution within a confined conceptual understanding.

The named elected Representatives of the People have “achieved” a life form of stupidity never present within the known physical sciences… “You Can’t Fix Stupid”.

(Applicable to the west coast union and politicians equally.)

The Mighty Oz — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 21:30:51 GMT

Darwin Awards? Geez, I could hours nominating things from work.

oltmannd — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 20:15:49 GMT

Gotta agree with JDKuehn on this one. It's met coal. You can own a whole bunch of assets and still make a buck exporting it.

Now, if only you could do ground storage there, then NS could make big bucks.

Too bad they are stuck with half the coal fleet sitting, full, waiting on ships and the newly modernized "rube goldberg" style dumper to empty cars into the ship, two at a time. Hopper cars are rather expensive coal storage devices. An the dumper has a whole lot of motion to it just to get the coal out of the car.

With ground storage, you could use rapid discharge hoppers, dump a whole train in minutes and then use a stacker/reclaimer to do the loading/blending.

But, you can't. sigh....

UPWillie — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 12:27:12 GMT

$195 grand to sit on my butt for 31/2 months a year? Heck, I'll do it for $150 grand. Take me, Pleeeeze.

DRGW9 — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 07:59:09 GMT

Attention Wal Mart Shoppers: Prices for all Chinese goods are dropping since containers are going to be coming through Mexico and Prince Rupert, Canada. :-)

It is going to take some serious stimulas money to save these union jobs!

Good call for a Darwin Award.

However, I agree with the consensus on the NS Coal Export Pier modernization. You gotta sell coal wherever you can, and it makes sense to export it as efficently as possible.

jdkuehn — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 23:58:02 GMT

Fred, I have to say I think you are wrong on the NS award. The Lambert's Point facility exports mostly metallugical coal which has a very different market structure than steam coal. Met coal can be used as steam coal, but many steam coals do not have the right chemical properties to be used as met coal. The market for 'met coal' is a derivative of the steel market. Given global economic weakness, maybe the 'met coal' market is a long-odds bet, but it is not suffering the same environmental regulatory onslaught and the same source competition from natural gas that steam coal is facing. Also the magnitude of this investment is trivial (a bit more than 1% of the NS capital budget for the first 3 quarters of 2012). Hardly what I would call a 'bet-the-company' move.

ElkinsParkGG1 — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 23:43:30 GMT

Sadly, the 'Darwin Awards' should be presented to the endless parade of nincompoops in trucks and cars who try to outrun trains at gradecrossings. Posthumous awards, unfortunately, have little deterent effect.

IC67 — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 22:50:40 GMT

Remember the MidAmerica Corridor anounced by NS and CN almost four years ago in Feb. 2009? There was a lot of money spent on infrastructure improvements but the first coal train has yet to run.

A recent story that not everyone is turning to gas is from Louisville Gas and Electric which will spend $940m to install updated environmental controls at its southwest Louisville facility to allow the facility to continue using Illinois Basin coal.

Fred Frailey — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 22:31:17 GMT

Sno-cat, allow me please to amend your nomination. If the person responsible for NJT's Sandy damage is still employed by NJT, I want to nominate for a Darwin Award the person that poor slob reports to. Make sense?

Fred

sno-cat — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 22:17:00 GMT

I want to nominate the individual who left the New Jersey transit trains in a location where they were severely damaged by SANDY dispite many days of weather warnings concerning the severe flooding expected.

jimnorton — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 03:55:03 GMT

Despite having great oil reserves we choose to import. Now, despite our vast resources of coal and a new political climate, we will export that away. And I am sure China, India and other countries will gobble our coal up with zeal. All the while, we listen to our windmills whirl.

SteveGravelle — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 22:51:55 GMT

Yeah, because Hostess was raped by management it's exactly the same!