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DM&E Denied $2.5 Billion Taxpayer Backed Loan

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[quote user="Doublestack"] [quote user="ericboone"]I heard on the radio that the FRA denied the loan to the DM&E.  Thank goodness the taxpayer isn't going to be left holding the bag for a railroad that goes bankrupt when they can't steal the business from the UP or BNSF.  Of course it may get appealed.[/quote].... so in the mean time, the poor tax payer is going to pay through the nose by virtue of ever increasing utility rates, driven by massive rate increases from UP and BNSF for transportation of coal from the Powder River Basin, because there isn't currently enough capacity to create actual competition and therefore, they can take rate hikes in excess of 80% and you get to pay that, in the form of your electric bill.  I've been at hearings involving utilities, RR's and Gov't officials and the utilities are citing increases in excess of 80%.   Why?  Because the RR's (UP and BNSF) can, because they're the only game out there.Why do people think that there's a free ride out there?  Considering the billions of coal revenue UP and BNSF generate annually (25-35% of their annual $26B collective revenue), that's about $6B every year,  wouldn't $2B once to DME to create some competition be a good thing? [/quote]I think this controversy had a lot more to do with coal than it did with coal trains or federal loans.  I cannot say whether competition would have held electric rates down, but the biggest force to push those rates up will be government mandates to go green and switch to wind and solar electric power.  I wonder if Mayo would have objected to trainloads of windmills.
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