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July 15, 2022 11:42 PM UTC
31 Comments
Morning.
Kind of long- winded, ain't cha?
It was a slow morning at the landfill, too, today. 😉
10 Heated oil trains through the Rockies, Denver, and through Glenwood Canyon- what could possibly go wrong?- Chase Woodruff, Colorado Newsline
Colorado has had its share of oil train derailments and fires, including many in Northern Colorado, like this one in 2014. Between the oil trains and the standing oil tank and battery fires, the air is often smoky, and the public officials tend to say as little as they can get away with. Evacuations are expensive, and someone’s head will surely roll.. And Colorado doesn’t have any problems with wildfires, right?
Biden approved the Utah train permit, giving Pear a raging case of cognitive dissonance ( More Oil good, Biden Bad🤷♂️). Hick and Bennett have “concerns”. Eagle County is suing. Glenwood Springs is agin it. The Forest Service is all in, even though a protected area will be bulldozed. Moddy sez yay.
I can’t find any opportunity for public comment, but the lawsuits are ongoing, so I hope this bad idea goes down the memory hole, instead of up in smoke.
A bit of context? Assuming I didn’t fat finger my calculator, ten 2-mile long trains would mean … “A one mile long train of 60′ cars would come to 85” 85x2x10 is 1700 cars per day and 365 days would be 620,500 cars per year.
Terminated carloads of crude oil on U.S. Class I railroads rose from 9,344 in 2008 to a peak of 540,383 in 2014 before falling sharply and then rising again, in part because of large volumes of crude oil originated in Canada and shipped by rail to refineries in the United States. In 2021, U.S. Class I railroads terminated 236,069 carloads of crude oil.
Any assurance that the line will handle 115% of the peak year for the entire country? More than 2.5 times the number of cars in 2021 for the entire country?
“At least 21 oil train derailments have occurred in the U.S. and Canada since 2013, according to a 2021 report ” — 3 per year doesn’t seem like a huge deal Size of the industry by “trains” confuses me, but my calculator says that even if all the cars were concentrated into 2 mile long trains, that would be 3 accidents per 1389 trains, or 0.2%.
The Colorado example you link to says “6 cars jumped the track. Only one tanker leaked. But one Colorado report on the derailment said that the leaking tanker carried 28,000 gallons of oil. The Union Pacific Railroad said only 6,500 gallons of oil had leaked.” Again, significant, but doesn’t seem TOO devastating.
By contrast: one story in the Denver Post described
each barrel is 42 gallons, — so 672,000 gallons REPORTED in one state in one year.
I’m all for safety, and there is no doubt reason for concern with ANYTHING going through Glenwood Canyon — but it doesn’t cause me the same level of concern as a number of other environmental hazards.
47 people died in the Lac-Megantic oil train rail derailment disaster on July 6, 2013, John. Even one derailment per year can make a huge difference.
There is no reason this project can't connect into the Union Pacific and run southwest through Utah, to Vegas, and then onto the LA area. No reason at all to bring it east along the Colorado River and through the Moffat Tunnel.
And 42,915 people died in U.S. auto accidents last year, CHB.
Clearly, it is time for a total ban on private automobiles, which incidentally eliminates the need for train tank cars.
Now, how do I get you on a bicycle?
CHB climbs fourteeners for fun. I suspect he can handle himself on a bicycle.
And I bet he drives an SUV to those 14ers. If all oil and gas use is evil, then driving to those 14er sites is evil.
Unfortunately, VG, you're missing the points and missing the boat.
Not really, CHB. You want a world in which everyone uses prodigious amounts of energy but in which no one is allowed to produce energy. I devoted many years to fighting for RTD , bike lanes, car pools and ways to save this embattled planet. Your NIMBYism is part of the problem.
NIMBYism? I think you need a couple shots of Jack Daniels to help ease into nighty-night time. As in, where did I say I don’t want anyone to produce energy?
FWIW, I’m one of the 30,000 original subscribers to Xcel Energy’s Windsource program, meaning I get all my electricity from wind.
Oh, and you don’t get me onto a bicycle. See my comment below.
Arguing from extreme example — especially like Lac-Megantic, which had multiple factors leading to the disaster — isn't a particularly persuasive tactic with me.
I continue to get on airplanes, despite "two Boeing 747 passenger jets collided on the runway at Los Rodeos Airport" Total fatalities: 583. Total survivors: 61.
J i D, the Uintah Basin Railway ( UBR) project is an economic, climate, and environmental disaster all linked together and rattling down rhe tracks.
Whether or not the rail transport piece of it is the most dangerous to public health and the environment is debatable. People who study such things say that pipelines are safer than rail or truck to transport oil. But of course, Coloradans would not allow a pipeline from the Uintah basin in Utah to Colorado, which isn’t even the oil’s ultimate destination- it’s supposed to be going to global markets via the Gulf coast. Environmentalists nixed the Jordan Cove pipeline in Colorado, for similar reasons.
The rail transport piece concerns leaders responsible for protecting their constituents and lands:
Do you think these leaders are “arguing from extremes”?
But even if the oil were somehow transported safely through Colorado to Gulf refineries, it would still be a disaster for the climate and the environment:
The recent SCOTUS decision says industries don’t have to weigh climate impacts in proposed projects. That was, you would probably agree, wrongly decided.
And Utah taxpayers gave up (were bilked out of) 28 million of their community recovery funds to gift this lovely URB project to the rail and energy companies, the latter of which are happily screwing consumers at the gas pumps, and making record profits.
All so we can have hot oil chugging through our wild and urban landscapes, bound for the Gulf of Mexico for energy industry profits.
Two items for whatever they’re worth……..
1) I submitted personal comments, meaning not representing any organization, opposing the Uinta Basin project. Why should Colorado take on potential for damage just so Utah can reap profits? I’m also reminded that when it comes to clout with the Utah governor, legislature, congressional delegation regarding protection of wild lands, several dozen rural county commissioners have more clout than do up to a million voters on the Wasatch Front.
2) I have never been on a bicycle of any kind in my entire life.
Based on the statistical threshold you provide JID I am surprised you are not advocating for cessna single seats….
Nah, Cessnas use gasoline. Our kiwi is a strictly helium balloon advocate.
please don’t tell her we get most of our helium from natural gas. I can’t stand any more hectoring.
I fear another Lac Megantic, and hope it is not here in the Rockies or Denver area.
<Too many clicks on the keyboard this early in the morning.
Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on me.
Fool me thrice, call me Chuck Schumer.
Joe Manchin Defends Retreat on Climate and Tax Plans – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Apparently, he may be willing to work on a compromise come August or September ….
This opinion piece
https://lefsetz.com/wordpress/2022/07/15/manchin/
perfectly reflects my thoughts.
I'm not sure this bombast can be characterized as "thoughts."
More like a buffalo fart.
The person writing that blog is either high or stupid.
First off, we get Joe Manchin in that seat or we get a Republican. Those are the choices.
Second, Joe Manchin gives us Schumer running the Senate instead of McConnell. On that alone he's a deal worth accepting.
Third, he also votes for Biden's court nominees reliably well. That doesn't mean I don't call him "Charles Manchin" once in a while when I'm pissed.
Joe Manchin has also been the primary barrier in the Senate Dem caucus in resisting more reckless spending. Yes, there were things in Build Back Better that I wanted to see happen. But ponder what inflation would look like with an extra $1.9 to 2.5 trillion floating around in the economy?
And that amount was a compromise, of sorts, Bernie originally wanted $5-6 trillion. I lost track of the original amount. But to paraphrase the late Everett Dirksen: "a trillion here, a trillion there, pretty soon you're talking real money."
Lucy van Pelt syndrome. Pulling the ball, again….
Manchin hails from an industry that invented “moving the goal posts”. He has worked into an art form.
Let’s all sing it: “How do you solve a problem like Joe Manchin?”
The problem with Joe Manchin is he represents his state well. Sadly that is to the detriment of the other 49.
He really has the Dems over a barrel because he knows they won’t primary him. If someone willing to tow the party line were to win that primary, they would surely lose in the general and then the GOP has a majority in the Senate again.
The only solution is to widen the Dem majority in the Senate a bit and make him irrelevant. Tall order, but not impossible.
Yep..
He has this kind of power because of that unfortunate circumstance. Change the numbers…make him irrelevant…go ahead…see if I care…😄
Bill Palmer has listed the currently most competitive Senate races for maintaining or picking up seats.
Pennsylvania – Ohio – Florida – North Carolina – Wisconsin – Arizona – Georgia – New Hampshire – Nevada
Donations to these and/or to the DSCC would seem to offer the most bang for the buck. Also remote GOTV efforts. Manchin has to be made irrelevant.
Cook Political Report pretty much agrees on Senate seats.
As bad a candidate a Vance appears to be, I think I might swap OH-Open and WI-Johnson. Plus, WI primary isn't done until August 9, which doesn't leave a great deal of time for the winner to pivot, ramp up campaign and fundraising operations, and develop a clear contrast to Johnson.
I try not to think about how much talent and skill I lack as a writer but am thankful for the many writing companions that I already have on this blog and the fun of their unending insights and humor. You are a wonderful source of inspiration to me even when I disagree with your facts or conclusions.