Buffett’s Burlington Northern RR among winners from Keystone denial

Buffett’s Burlington Northern RR among winners from Keystone denial. The State Dept (yes, the same one that nixed the pipeline) says “With modest expansion, railroads can handle all new oil produced in western Canada through 2030.” Lord TaxMeMore is rewarded by the King for his loyal service.

This post was last modified on January 24, 2012

Bonfire of the Absurdities: After 35 year career writing software for IBM mainframes, am now self-employed contractor thinking of joining a union and striking for higher wages. Cured morbid fear of heights when I learned to look at them as lengths standing on end. Uncompromising in refusal to accept browser cookies. Amateur investor who has accumulated a small fortune in the market after starting out years ago with a large one. For recreation, I run, hike, kayak and play tennis but will not consider synchronized swimming under any circumstances.

View Comments (42)

  • They're so worried about the environmental impact from the pipeline, but has anybody seen what kind of mess a train wreck makes?

    • San Antonio had a huge mess a couple of years ago Atrain crashed and spilledmmm ammonia nitrate I think. It was close to homes, and the wreck cut off all emergency access to the homes. Several people died as a result of pulmonary damage.

      • Unfortunately, there is no good way to transport those chemicals.

        Barges won't do it -- a wreck there takes out a river. Trucks are *worse*. Pipelines are very safe, as long as they are maintained. The thing the Occupant isn't telling his equally dim democrap base is that rail was *always* on the table in the event that the pipeline didn't work out. Railroads are legally obligated to carry these chemicals, especially when there are no other options. They have no choice.

        In classic Fed fashion, this is done while the necessary funds to route rail *around* population centers is strangely absent. But what do you expect from a government that sees rail as a cash cow?

        It must take a special kind of mind to be a democrat -- you have to ignore all these facts.I know one *pipeline* employee opposed to this line -- just on the basis that he was *told* what to believe. What a bunch of f*cking idiots.

        • Beam me up scotty. There is no intelligent life here. Seriously, it takes a special kind of mind to be a politician. The wheeling and dealing that affects peoples lives, and no concience about the deals made.

    • Just so happens the other night in my fair city a switch engine was pushing some cars down the tracks that run down a city street, one of the cars jumped the tracks, took out six parked cars, a bar, most of the street and several trees, One railroad car, 5 miles per hour...where it crashed is where all the hookers hangout, fortunately it missed the hookers...Just one rail car at 5mph did all that damage...we have drills for full blown high speed wrecks with dangerous stuff on board, can't wait for that to happen.

      • There is a lot of force there. That's one thing about why I hate non-railroaders running railroads. When you make a mistake at an insurance company, you get fined, and just make a notation on a financial report. They even build an assumption that they will be paying fines into their finances. When you make a mistake at a railroad, people can die. It has to be understood viscerally. A glorified accountant who got lucky with grafting advantageous legislation and shorting the market just can't understand this.

        They keep on thinking that it is as easy as driving a car or a truck. Ha! Try pulling a train in two because you yanked on the throttle too soon. Or just take one of those nightmare trips where you see the carload of kids at the crossing, know they're going to die, but just can't do anything about it.I firmly believe in capital punishment for people that illegally cross railroad tracks. Why should the engineer have to live with the results of some asshole's stupidity?

        It takes balls ten feet in diameter to get in the cab of a train -- especially if you know what is going on. I have a lot of respect for those engineers. Few years back, one train ran into a manure truck that had thought he could beat the train to the crossing -- the engineer and conductor suffocated.

        • I have been to a lot of Vehicle Vs train or Pedestrian Vs train collisions in my career. One thing is constant, the train always wins. I was at one gruesome train vs pedestrian and talking to the engineer he said it was his 11th fatality collision that year, The conductor didn't fare as well it was his first and he was getting sick up by the engine.

          Probably the Oddest one was a crack-head who got stoned, walked on the tracks, got hit by the train and got her arm cut off..We found the arm about 100 feet from her, still holding an unbroken crack pipe! Of course she lived and now is being supported by all of us.

          I did one of those ride alongs that the railroads have and saw first hand just how many stupid people there are who try and beat trains to the crossing.

  • Memo to Warren:

    Dude, you pissed us off and now we're going to sell our oil to someone else.

    Have fun playing with your empty choo-choo train.

    Signed,
    Canada

    • Well, I'm quite fond of railroads for some-odd reason.

      BNSF started sucking once they got bought by a non-railroader, who will, as all non-railroaders do, run it into the ground. I don't particularly wish them good or ill -- just that Buffet would get out and let that railroad be run like a railroad.

      That said, just dumping that kind of volume on a railroad means that somebody's got to invest in infrastructure. This is a *lot* of volume. I can't say that it would be better, faster, safer, cheaper than a pipeline, because in the long run, it isn't. That's why they *build* pipelines. They're all over the state now -- and a new pipeline is better than a fifty year old one just because of advances in tech, etc.

      The thought that it is somehow *safer* is weird, given that pipelines are always routed *away* from towns, and railroads go *through* towns -- but the pinheads in office were never all that big on details or logic. That's why they are pinheads in office.

      However, don't worry. We can handle it.

    • mornin' belly laff. thanks Co2

      on a different note, I just have to say how irritated I am at the two-faced money grubbing greedy butt illegitimate canine male canine pups ruining my nation and my world. Increases in the carbon emissions is just fine, so long as the crones and groans camp makes more money.

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