Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has.
QUOTE: Originally posted by mudchicken FM: Thinly veiled socialism. Get over it.
QUOTE: Originally posted by bobwilcox More blather from a bunch of lobbysts that have not been able to get any kind of bill out of committee in a decade.
QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal As opposed to the thinly veiled fascism of the current anti-trust exempt rail oligarcy which gouges domestic producers while simultaneously bending over backwards for the import intermodal trade? Pull your head out of the ballast for a while so you can see the reality of what's going on. And for the record (and for the umteenth time), I am not in favor of reregulating rates. I am in favor of breaking up the oligarchy vertically for the sake of establishing market based rates and aggressive expansion via intramodal competition. If it takes the ironic twist of separating the infrastructure from the rest and putting it into public/private consortium oversight, then so be it. Just for the sake of posterity, why has it taken two years and counting to rehab the Orin line? The bottom line is this: The mindset of the Class I's that they are immune to the consequences of their actions (or inactions as the case may be) is finally coming around to confront them in the court of public opinion, and that's the figurative place where legislative action comes to the fore.
QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal QUOTE: Originally posted by bobwilcox More blather from a bunch of lobbysts that have not been able to get any kind of bill out of committee in a decade. Tell me Bob, are you immune to price hikes in your electric bill? You must have a place that is electrified by distributed power systems and warmed by an internal hot air system. No coal? No heating oil? No natural gas?
QUOTE: Originally posted by bobwilcox QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal QUOTE: Originally posted by bobwilcox More blather from a bunch of lobbysts that have not been able to get any kind of bill out of committee in a decade. Tell me Bob, are you immune to price hikes in your electric bill? You must have a place that is electrified by distributed power systems and warmed by an internal hot air system. No coal? No heating oil? No natural gas? We have planned our finances to absorb any prices increases.
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: Originally posted by gabe 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 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: Originally posted by futuremodal QUOTE: Originally posted by gabe 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 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. 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.
Yes we are on time but this is yesterdays train
QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal Gabe, Is it the job of regulated utilities to be risking their investor's and ratepayer's money in railroads? They can barely keep up with AMR installation. They are in many states faced with a minimum "renewables" requirement, further eroding the needed investment in future baseline power production. They can't just be throwing money at a capital intensive project that may become superfluous if King Coal again becomes the bad guy in political circles. If you are saying that energy companies should just run their own railroads, why do we even have BNSF and UP? Isn't it the job of railroad companies to invest in this concept called "railroading"? It's not confusing at all.
QUOTE: Originally posted by jimrice4449 Am I to understand from the above that a power plant that is specifically designed to burn coal (frequently a particular grade of coal) needs only to turn on the gas spigot to begin using gas? I don't think so.
QUOTE: Originally posted by BNSFrailfan The problem is.....There arn't enough Coal Trains. Coal is what's called a low priorty Freight. It can and will sit in the yard for hours for many reasons. I do agree. It is the Railroads falt for not delivering enough Coal. And if and when those P*GS called the Democrats do take over the Government,you will the end of Coal as we know it.
QUOTE: Originally posted by ironken QUOTE: Originally posted by BNSFrailfan The problem is.....There arn't enough Coal Trains. Coal is what's called a low priorty Freight. It can and will sit in the yard for hours for many reasons. I do agree. It is the Railroads falt for not delivering enough Coal. And if and when those **** called the Democrats do take over the Government,you will the end of Coal as we know it. Easy there buddy. There are a few Dems here, namely me!
QUOTE: Originally posted by BNSFrailfan The problem is.....There arn't enough Coal Trains. Coal is what's called a low priorty Freight. It can and will sit in the yard for hours for many reasons. I do agree. It is the Railroads falt for not delivering enough Coal. And if and when those **** called the Democrats do take over the Government,you will the end of Coal as we know it.
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