Home
»
Trains Magazine
»
Forums
»
General Discussion
»
Energy, Powder River Basin, and the DM&E

Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
[quote user="MP173"] Another interesting discussion.Dave wants increased capacity from PRB for coal to keep his rates down (understandably so).  I want low electricity rates.  I also want the highest rates of return for my investments.  The environmentalists dont want coal to be burned (what are we supposed to do, go to nuclear? or back to the caves?).I think this upcoming debate over energy will really shape our policy for years to come.   Not only coal, but also oil, corn (fuel or food?) and others.The amount of capital available for investment is at a high water mark.  Private equity funds are flush with cheap money in the form of loans.  Yet DME cannot (yet) get funded.  What does that tell you?  PE funds are looking for steady cash flow in order to pay down the high levels of debt they take on for buyouts.  Comment was made earlier that Buffett and BH was investing in BNSF, not DME...well, are you sure that he isnt also into DME?   Remember that BH owns considerable energy, I believe it is in Iowa.  Hmmm...vertical integration?  Wouldnt put it past him.[/quote]My guess is that DM&E has enough investors lined up to start at least the first few phases of the project.  May not mean the actual extension just yet, but rather continued concentration on the core money makers.  My bet is that DM&E is restructuring it's PRB extention request, perhaps disguising parts of it as "just loans for our current trackage".  Remember, the entire project as promoted was one comprehensive package which included rebuilding most of it's SD/MN line from Wall to Winona.  As was pointed out, the FRA did okay a loan for the Colony line improvements.  Who knows, they may not even include any mention of the PRB extension for their next request, yet as we all know corporations have a way of shifting funds to meet desired goals.
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag