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2006 - The Year of Re-Regulation of Railroads?

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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by gabe [quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by Limitedclear These are the same people who have the opportunity to fund the DM&E and are hanging back?!? PLEASE...typical rail customers seeking to justify their own rate hikes by blaming it on the RRs... Situation normal... LC [/quote] How about this point FM? I am glad LC nailed this one, as I remember reading about the funding of the DM&E, and thinking where in the heck are all of the energy utilities in all of this? That answered a lot of questions for me as to the complaining that the utilities have been doing. [/quote] The only thing LC has nailed is his brain to the ballast. We discussed this before, that any ambitious rail project, especially one whose ultimate fate rests with PRB coal, will need federal backing. Yes, PRB coal is hot right now, but what happens if the Democrats take back the White House and Congress? Coal may again revert back to the ranks of "unclean" status. We may get the dreaded "carbon tax" (ostensibly to mitigate the perceived "cause" of alleged global warming/abrupt climate change), and if so coal is dead. Nuclear power may get a big boost. In other words, there are a lot of uncertain variables lurking that could kill any potential returns on such a capital intensive investment. The real question is why any private investors would even consider such an investment without some guarantees. Well, DM&E now has the guarantees in the form of the federal loan guarantee, which means the private capital will now be available. And by every measure, the current coal shortage is most definitely the fault of the railroads, specifically BNSF and UP. They are only delivering at 85% of normal. So the railroad types turn around and blame the utilities, claiming "they should have stockpiled more". How? How can they have been expected to stockpile more when the railroads can barely keep up with past demand? Who is supposed to deliver this extra coal, trucks? Paaaalease. "Situation normal"?!? Are you kidding me? Meanwhile, the ghost of Chairman Mao sits back and revels in the returns his minions are receiving from the US railroads.
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