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[quote user="nanaimo73"][quote user="futuremodal"]  You all have got to get off this myth of US railroads being the collective poster child exemplifying "a private, for-profit company".  There's simply too much history of federal aid for railroading in the US to use them as such. [/quote] How much has BNSF recieved from the taxpayer for PRB lines since Matt Rose took over from Krebs ? [/quote] Why is "since" more relevent than "before"?  It's fairly easy to show the facade of being an exemplary private company after you've cashed all the welfare checks from prior decades. [quote][quote]  ...unless the Democrats take over DC and all coal fired power plants are shut down to *save* us from Global Warming. [/quote] Anything further the Democrats do will increase the sales of PRB coal and hurt eastern coal. [/quote] It's more than just the low-sulfer vs high sulfer debate.  Look around at all the states' with renewable mandates on their ballots this year.  These renewable mandates (usually demanding 10% or 15% of electricity generated be from so-called renewables) are mostly pushed by Democrats, so it is likely that if the Democrats take back Congress, they'll nationalize that so-far regionalize initiative.  That plus the prospects of a carbon tax on the national level would kill most new coal projects. [quote][quote] That being said, I don't think I have ever seen a company come out in public opposition of a potential competitor in such a shameful brazen way as BNSF has regarding the DM&E project.  No KMart exec has ever voiced opposition to a Walmart that I know of. I have never heard of a McDonalds manager publicly voicing opposition to a Wendy's or a Burger King.  [/quote] Walmart or Wendy's or Burger King are not applying for billions in tax dollars to fight K-mart or McDonalds in their most profitable markets. [/quote] Not sure what you mean here - DM&E is simply asking for something it's competitors have already recieved. [quote] Dave, if you want to say DME is the good guy, and this project should go ahead, then I'll agree with you. You seem to keep using the wrong arguments to support DME. [/quote] DM&E is new competitive rail capacity, something sorely lacking out West.  That's what makes them the good guys.  And as a prospective conveyor of new competitive rail capacity they are deserving of some form of federal support same as the current PRB duo have received in the past. [quote] I also can't understand why you are so passionate about this, and have so little interest in CREATE. [/quote] Becasue CREATE has all the earmarks of a mamoth boondoggle on the scale of Boston's Big Dig (or Seattle's proposed Alaskan Viaduct replacement project), and for the same wrong reasons - trying to squeeze in more activity in an area that is already over populated, over built, over indulged.  We (i.e. the rest of us non Chicagoans) don't need the CREATE project to speed rail service between East and West.  There's more than enough room to build east-west rail connections far from any of the Big Cities. Urban projects such as these make no sense to me in the context of some supposed national gain from what is strictly a glorified urban renewal project.  City properties are mega times more expensive than non city properties when considering ROW purchases.  There is no hard fast rule that states all Northern Tier US rail traffic absolutely must pass through Chicago.  It would be a fraction of the cost to move such rail connections a few hundred miles south at the least, if not a few thousand miles south. I'll reiterate - East West rail traffic does not have to move through Chicago. Contrast CREATE with the DM&E project - the nation can do without CREATE, even if it means finding an alternative farther south, while the DM&E project is by consensus deemed vital to national energy security.  Ergo, there should be no federal funds for CREATE, and significant federal funds for DM&E's PRB project.
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