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Ladies,Gentlemen, Railroaders, Railfans, Democrats, Republicans, Independants, and all who refer to themselves as North Americans in the contiguous land mass and those areas of our interest beyond the seas: We have now arrived at a subject that is larger than just the railroad community but also the related communities of the Electric Generation and Transmission industry, the banking, construction, labor, and investment communities and not a few politicans. I have gone to the EnergyPulse website and have looked over the consultants recommendations. Being one with both a public (highway construction) and private utility (generating plant construction) background I feel that now is the proper time and place to begin the discussion for this "opportunity" within the groups that are effected and have an interest. Let us first understand a few things before we start: I have never known a consultant that could do much more than give an idea of what may be possible in an opportunity of this size. To give Mr Shelor credit he does bring out a real possibility. Unfortunatly he does not recognise or apprieciate the size, expense or time required for such a project. We are just with the railroads speaking of about 20% of the U.S. economy and the other half of his recommendation is at minimum involves the majority of the nations' economy that depends on electrical energy (for sourses check out the web site of the Edison Electric Institute for electrical projections and costs). As more than a few electric company execs rail and other execs have said "He really needs to study the whole picture before he recommends such a project" He has made no projection of the environmental impact, Gigawatts required, construction costs involved or the amount of understanding between businesses, legal requirements to be overcome and/or the economic sacrifices that would have to be made by more than a few people and that is before the first yard soil is moved, concrete placed or Megawatt generated and transmitted. Let's say that we as a nation descide to do this recommendation. It costs aprox $250 to $500 per kilowatt to be built under conventional fuels (meaning Coal, Natural Gas or Nuclear). Bio-mass while dependable is not as developed technologically and wind power is not the most dependable of generating fuel sourses. I think that our consultant needs to seek a calculator for the costs of such an undertaking. Now that's just the electric utility side. As for the requirements for ownership and operations on the railroads, I leave to you who work closer in the rail community for requirements and costs on that side of hte question. In the words of General's George Patton, U.S. Grant and R.E. Lee and others "May the balll begin."
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