The Star/Tribune last week ran a piece noting and lamenting the fact that as many as 50 trains carrying oil from North Dakota’s Bakken oil fields cross Minnesota – every week.
And I remembered – when I was a kid growing up in rural North Dakota, we used to get over 20 trains a day passing through…
…mostly loaded with coal to power the Twin Cities powerplants.
Yea, I sent in a Letter to the Editor about that piece, making this simple comment:
“If only there was another way to move that oil, so that farmers could get their crops shipped. You know, like a pipeline. We could call it Keystone XL!”
I sincerely doubt that it will be published.
Agree that the disconnect with the Left on “too many oil trains!” versus “no pipelines, wing-nuts” is getting on par with their “too many people in jail” versus “celebrate our record low crime rates” take, but…
Those trains come through our town on what seems like an hourly basis. In fact I’m surprised it’s only 50 a week. If you drive along Highway Ten between Big Lake & St Cloud, you are bound to see two or three of these on the southbound side sitting and waiting for the traffic pattern to open while one or two is heading northbound. My spouse believes the Left is holding out on pipelines until one derails and blows up in say Anoka, Fridley or Minneapolis, to give Sen. Klobuchar the ultimate Legislation Named for Dead Children opportunity.
Freight railways are one of the least talked about successes in the logistics industry. They are recognized as the best in the world.