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[quote user="gabe"] (1)  I think the DME is a fairly intersting railroad, and I hope it does well. (2)  I like farmers, and something that helps farmers would be swell. (3)  I would be amused and bemused if UP and BNSF had a third competitor in the PRB halauge rights. (4)  I like trains as much as anyone. (5)  I only like Mayo when it is on a roast beef sandwich. However, why are we trying to gather a petition to support DME expansion?  If there were a financial justification for the expansion, why would the federal government have to come in with one of the biggest government loans in history?  Wouldn't private enterprise take care of the loan on its own if expansion was economically justified?  If the power industry really believed in the economic justification for this railroad, wouldn't it pony up some money to the table? From my understanding, UP and BNSF have superior routes, superior resources, and superior pricing abilities.  The addition of a third competitor will, by definition, produce lower rates not only for BNSF and UP but for the third competitor. I am not trying to knock solzurles, but I simply do not understand why people are so up beat about DME expansion.  There just seem to be so many problems that are overlooked with this project. Mark my words, there is going to be a political blood bath preceeded shortly by a bankruptcy and it is simply going to sour government assistance of railroads in situations wherein there is a direct justificaiton for the assistance--like Chicago corridor work. Gabe [/quote] 1.  Online government petitions do work, although due to abuses by environmental groups in the past regarding public comment solicitation, the generic forms tend to be discounted.  As long as you frame the petition in your own words (but without all the hyperbole, aka "...big industry is killing our children, oh won't someone care about the children, our children are dying...." - that kind of stuff), it will carry more weight. 2.  UP and BNSF cannot handle the work load now regarding coal deliveries, and it's only going to get worse in a few years.  Don't be complicit with the UP/BNSF duopoly being the primary cause of a near future energy shortage - do whatever it takes to get DM&E and any other railroad into the PRB  coal hauling business.  There a coal plant projects on the drawing board right now that will more readily come to fruition if the DM&E project is a go. 3.  Don't forget, both UP and the predecessors to BNSF got their start with federal aid, albeit with grants, not loans that have to be paid back.  If anything, the federal portion of DM&E's finance package should also have been in the form of a grant.  As it is, the loan is the best we can do for now.  It's just how things are really done in America.  Mayo knows this, they get plenty of federal aid. 4.  Competition is good for American, and it keeps industry on it's toes.  Lack of competition is bad for consumers.  You do the math.  5.  And where do you get the idea that UP and BNSF have "superior" routes?  UP and BNSF have the only routes out of the PRB, and frankly are not all that good since they were mostly aligned using 19th century engineering.  Any new rail alignment using modern engineering will be far superior to those alignments of yesteryear. 6.  Oh, and while you're at it, tell us about the political bloodbath that proceeded the bail out of Penn Central, New York Central, et al, and Chrysler, and the ag industry, and the steel industry, and.............................aka, that speculation is much ado about nothing (don't forget what I said about hyperbole!)
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