Well, here in LA over the weekend we had a little smattering of civil disobediance, when truck drivers blocked a freeway here and also staged slow 10mph caravans along other freeways here to protest the high costs of diesel fuel. At $2.40 a gallon for #2 diesel, It just dont pay to be a truck driver anymore. At least here in LA.
The Railroads have been increasing there volumn shipped lately, I wonder if theres a corellation between the higher diesel costs for truckers and the resulting increase in costs for shipping by truck -vs- the increase in volumn shipped by rail i.e. rail being more economical for shipping? Are we seeing a long term trend here as fuel prices, once they get high, rarely ever go down far.
Maybe this will finally light a fire under our president and congress to finally get their act together and make a long term energy plan. But somehow I doubt this will really do that.
Too many people throwing money to too many in office so we taxpayers will have to continue the status quo of being screwed at the gas pumps. Why can’t people with common sense be put in office (like ED [:)] ). People with a fair amount of integrity who will put the needs of the people first and not the needs of their bank accounts ! ! !
This could become a hot topic considering the price now of gas/diesel and what it is predicted to become later this summer and next year.
I doubt it, Big Money, Texas Oil men, Multinational Oil Exec’s, all have the ear of the President, and are getting filthy rich, while the rest of us pay through the nose.
I dont except to see any changes, this admin sat by and let California get robbed blind by Enron et all, so why change now?
Bravo Jim!!! Perhaps the Bush administration is just what the voters needed to WAKE UP!!! I’m looking forward to November, I just hope we have slate to choose from that will improve things in Washington. I’ve said this before,### regardless of party vote the incumbents out!
ABB is all I’m going to say, least I get Bergie on my case once more for lighting fires again…[;)]
Anybody
But
Bush
It’s just getting too ridiculous out there, I havent heard one blip nationally about this protest, I wonder if it even made the national news? does DC even hear whats happening in the real world anymore?
Interestingly, there is currently a thread here that is discussing how the railroads have managed to reduce their capacity by removing double track, etc, and we’ve recently discussed how Unlimited Parking is short on crews…
Our politicians are so beholden to so many special interests that we can expect virtually nothing out of them. And without the money from the special interests it’s virtually impossible to get elected. Somewhere, out there, is somebody who would be the perfect President - balanced, knowledgeable, the works. If we could just figure out which shoe store they work in, we could see what we could do to get elected (with apologies to the movie “Dave”).
Yeah Vic, I don’t think that the elected officials care about what the people want anymore. They use all of that big business money and, don’t think about the little guys. They don’t have to listen to us, WE DON’T PAY THEIR BILLS. This is why the people need to stand up and make a statement in November that ALL OF THOSE IDIOTS WILL HEAR, AND VOTE THEM AND THEIR MONEY OUT.
As far as Bergie goes, I think as long as WE police this topic, he won’t have to. SO, LET’S NOT LET IT GET UGLY GANG.[swg]
I’ll go you one better than ABB!!!
ASQ
ANTI
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QUO[:D]
Maybe Ralph Nader should change the name of his party, or at least their campaign slogan.[;)]
At least rails are easier to lay that new highway lanes. Most of the old double track ROWs are still there. The railroads can double track again, and yes, pay for there own lack of foresight.
I’m pretty sure BNSF is kicking itself for selling off the Pasadena/Foothill line to the MTA for our light rail Gold Line. That line used to run nothing but intermodels and Amtrack, now all that traffic is piled onto themainline that runs down thru Santa Fe Springs to Fullerton, along with the 11 round trip Amtrack coast liners and who knows how many Metrolink commuter trains each day, now add all the fright pouring out of Long Beach, the busiest port in the US and you can see there is a bit of a traffic flow problem. At least one train can carry over 200 containers, thats an economy of energy, speed and safety.
As for truck traffic? New freeways out here are budgeting out at around $1 Billion ( ! ) a mile… that plus the NIMBY’s get screachy screaming loud crying to high heaven about any widening proposals or extensions so its safe to say no new freeeways will be built out this way. That plus a tremondous amount of frieght is still getting shipped from Long Beach by truck onto the already jammed freeways and onto the already j
Vic, wasn’t there some talk about Amtrak adding an extra LA to Vegas train. Trains vs flying, trains don’t do to well. But, trains vs driving especially at that range, compares much better. Time is similar though cost is still higher. I think we are getting closer here though, because of the relaxation and safety issues. One of these days!!!
Been toying with something that I heard here in the true Midwest - someone got a hybrid car and the state wanted to or did - tax him more than a regular car. So what would they do with the Green Goat or hybrid engines? Feds that is…
I’m not sure where you are trying to go with this Mook. I think a state will tax anything. I would think that given the state of the current energy situation, they would be handing out credits.
Prehaps their logic is to make up for lost gasoline tax revenue, so that they can fund road repair. The car will still use public roads, but pay less tax. This is their way to get even.
As for the Green Goat it should make no difference, state or federal, the railroads own their track.[:)]
Amtrack still goes to Vegas? Last I heard they had cut that run, although that was a couple of years ago I heard that.
Dam. if they had a train i would take that ANY day over driving the route of hell that I15 has become…
Think about it, sure the flight is less than an hour but sheesh, you can spend at least 2 hrs just going thru security, add the commute, parking, unloading, getting on the shuttle bus, getiing into the terminal, you can spend 3 hours total time from when you leave home before you even get onto the plane. then 40 minutes in the air, picking up baggage, getting a taxi or rental car, and getting to your hotel, thats near 4 1/2 to 5 hours right there! Heck, Amtrack is 5 hours, but its time you can read, look out the window, talk, sleep and not worry about driving.
You live in the wrong state then, here in LA they’re is a big pu***o encourage Hybrid use, one of them is to allow Hybrids to use the commuter carpool lanes even if they’re is only a single occupant.
Sorry Vic, I’m living in the past. There used to be a split leg of the Zephyr from Salt Lake to LA going through Vegas. I rode it one time back in the mid 80’s, Vegas to Denver.
I was totally shocked when I went to Amtrak’s web site, and found BUS SERVICE!!! What a CROCK!!! Maybe it’s time to bring back a train.
Maybe all the western railroad mergers had something to do with it’s demise. NAOMM, similar to NIMBY but for railroads. It stands for No Amtrak On MY Mainlines.[B)][:(!][V][:0][;)]
Dont worry Kevin, if we get those new fancy e-lectronic voting machines here in California this November, I just might be casting an extra voting for you also, but thats only if you want to vote for Bush without knowing about it though…
Latest is that the computer voting machine will NOT be allowed in California as they cannot guarentee a failsafe system, so they might all be sent to Florida instead…
You all need to be educated on why fuel prices in Califonia are so much higher than the rest of the U.S. It isn’t Texas oilmen getting rich, or Bush and his croneys raking it in, or any of that left wing political crap. It is that fact that:
California has more stringent standards for fuel blends than the rest of the U.S. All it would take is for the State Assembly to remove those rules so that refineries can produce and sell cheaper blends. Doing so would instantly knock 30 cents a gallon off California’s average fuel price.
More importantly, federal environmental policy has had the effect of discouraging the construction of new refineries (the U.S. hasn’t built a new refinery in decades, while older refineries are running up on their expected lifespan), has discouraged exploration of U.S. oil and gas reserves (e.g. ANWR, offshore California, et al), and has made the construction of new transporation corridors (e.g. those that would result in reduced overall fuel use) prohibitively expensive, whether it be for highway, rail, or waterways. On the latter note, if BNSF or UP wanted to expand trackage, it would take 5 or so years just to get through all the regulatory paperwork/litigation/frivilous environmental lawsuits/etc. Look at how much crap DM&E is going through just to tap into the PRB.
You are also correct in that a comprehensive energy bill needs to be passed, but look at which party has been blocking passage of that bill for three years now (hint: it ain’t Bush’s party). Why are Dascle, et al, doing this? They want to create higher energy prices to try and use it as a political ploy in the 2004 elections by blaming it all on Bush. Given the respones seen on this thread, it seems to be working!