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Fast Track To Public Rail Electrification
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<P mce_keep="true"> </P> <P mce_keep="true">[quote user="htgguy"]Is it your view that we could currently "come up with the money"? I also think you need to support the single sentence in this entire essay stating that "Our very survival depends on it".[/quote]</P> <P mce_keep="true"> </P> <P mce_keep="true">[quote user="htgguy"]First, what percentage of the oil used in the United States is used in rail transportation? If it is 10% (which I suspect is an outrageously high estimate) a major interruption will still kill the economy-other transportation methods, chemical feedstocks, fertilizer production, etc would all be crippled.[/quote]</P> <P mce_keep="true"> </P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=verdana,geneva>htgguy,</FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=verdana,geneva>Thanks for your thoughtful response.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I Just to be clear, I need to say that I am not advocating this.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I am just connecting all the dots to draw the picture of a movement.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Let me explain what I meant when I said, “Our very survival depends on it.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I say that as being the premise of this new purpose agenda for publicly funded rail electrification, not as my personal viewpoint.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If you read the article by Scott Lothes called <I>WIRED UP</I> and the references in it, clearly they advocate electrification for the reasons that I have mentioned.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And the premise of the most important reason is that our survival as the human race depends on preventing the destruction of the climate.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>So when you connect all the pieces of the reasoning behind this sweeping proposal, it inevitably leads to the conclusion that our very survival depends on it.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Some may not agree with that conclusion, but clearly, it is the main motivation of the non-oil transportation agenda.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></P><FONT face=verdana,geneva> <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=verdana,geneva>You asked if I believe that we could come up with the money.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Certainly the cost would be enormous, but we are in the era of committing to enormous spending.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And the motivation to do this could not be higher in the minds of those who decide to spend.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I would expect that we could come up with some of the money, but as I mentioned, if we remain in economic decline, the money for this may run out.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We could certainly come up with enough money to get started.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The starting point would maybe be something like the multiple wind farm, rail right-of-way transmission line, electrification of part of the BNSF proposal that is being discussed by Matt Rose and others.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I believe this is very likely to happen.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>How much further it goes depends on how this country chooses to spend money in the future, and how economically promising the future turns out to be.</FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><FONT face=verdana,geneva size=2></FONT></SPAN> </P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><FONT face=verdana,geneva size=2>You asked about the amount of oil used by railroads, and whether cutting that amount would make a big difference.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This is about more than just the oil fuel currently used by rail.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>What is being advocated is a national transportation system that moves a large part of what is being shipped by trucks onto rail.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>So it eliminates much of the oil used by trucks.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The proposal also calls for shifting a large part of automobile and air traffic onto rails.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>So it eliminates much of the oil used by cars and planes.</FONT><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></P> <P mce_keep="true"> </P>
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