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New oil find in Sevier County Utah; status of proposed rail link
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[quote]QUOTE: <i>Originally posted by futuremodal</i> <br /><br />http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,600131526,00.html <br /> <br />One interesting blurb from the article states that they are trucking the 1500 barrels per day to Salt Lake area refineries. Since one barrel equals 42 gallons, that's only 63,000 gallons per day or 441,000 gallons per week, not enough to justify a shuttle train just yet. They would need roughly 5 times their current production to justify a weekly oil can move by rail. By the same token, if daily production doesn't exceed 10,000 barrels a day, that may not be enough to justify the construction of an oil pipeline into the area. Relatively small production quantities may favor unit train transport over pipeline transport. <br /> <br />Of course, the question is mute if the proposed Sevier rail link is not built. Does anyone know the current status of that project? The line is being proposed to move coal out of the region, but of course it wouldn't hurt to move some oil out as well. <br /> <br />It is unfortunate that the D&RGW chose to abandon rather than rebuild the Thistle branch which once ran into this area. This is one of those sticking points with me regarding current railroad abandonment regulations. If a railroad no longer wants to operate a rail line, then that property should immediately be transferred to the State with everything intact, rather than letting the railroad sell the rails and ties for scrap. When a property owner abandons a brick business building, he is not allowed to take the bricks with him. The local government condems the whole lot intact, and either auctions it off to other bidders, refurbishes the building with public funds, or razes it themselves. This idea of letting railroads scavenge the remains of railroads and then just walking away is detrimental to the national economy, and is inconsistent with standard infrastructure abandonment procedures. <br />[/quote] <br /> <br />WHAT??!! <br /> <br />Where in the U.S. does the government stop owners of buildings from demolition for the sake of keeping the structure??? Unless you are talking about structures on the National Register of Historic Places, I know of no such regulation. Even so, the government does not conmdemn such structures it merely forbids demolition. There is no such justification for stopping railroad abandonments unless the government is willing to nationalize the entire system or Pay the RR the net liquidation value of the line which is already possible under the Offer of Financial Assistance procedures regulated by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Surface Transportation Board. Anything beyond that is a taking of private property without due process of law. So, what you are suggesting already exists, it is merely local governments who don't have the wherewithall or motivation to buy these lines except in a few cases. The ability to buy them is already a matter of black letter law. Get with the program... <br /> <br />LC
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