[Vision2020] Grain Exports

[Chris Storhok]

Mark,
 That is a great read that explains the foundation of the massive rail and
timber system that eventually collapsed with the depletion of the forest and
finally the Stieger Act which wiped out small rail lines.  Those great land
swaps (unparallel in US history) gave rise to the great Weyerhaeuser
syndicate. The read is worth it just for Idaho history. 
Have a great weekend,
Chris 

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Solomon [mailto:msolomon at moscow.com]
Sent: Friday, September 09, 2005 2:30 PM
To: Chris Storhok; vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: RE: [Vision2020] Grain Exports


Chris,

I agree. As nice as trails are I would much 
prefer to see the rail capability restored. 
Unfortunately, if one looks at the history of the 
western US railroad corporations, it is much more 
a story of land acquisition/speculation than rail 
transport. Having pilfered as much as they 
possibly could from the public domain and 
transferred it to private empires, they are now 
closing/abandoning all but the most profitable 
routes. For an in-depth look at the railroad that 
the inland NW is most reliant on, Burlington 
Northern-Santa Fe (aka Burlington Northern aka 
Northern Pacific) see "Railroads and Clearcuts" 
by Jensen, Draffan and Osborn (1995).

Mark Solomon

At 1:57 PM -0800 9/9/05, Chris Storhok wrote:
>Ron, Mark, Tom,
>
>Not only is the current transportation network is inefficient and subject
to
>failure when significant strain is placed on it, it also ties the hands of
>decision makers when looking for alternatives to river transport for dam
>breaching.  Bert Bowler and I collaborated for a few years on alternatives
>to barge transportation.  Unfortunately, our conclusion was rather simple
>without rail there really is not an alternative to barge transportation on
>the lower Snake River.  The cost of restoring the entire rail system that
>moved grain prior to the completion of the dams was well in excess of $100
>million (it was rapidly approaching $200M in 2003) and had become,
>unfortunately, almost politically impossible.  Maybe one of the few
>positives of this disaster will be fresh look at our inefficient and
>outdated transportation system.
>Chris Storhok
>   
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com
>[mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]On Behalf Of Phil Nisbet
>Sent: Friday, September 09, 2005 1:37 PM
>To: vision2020 at moscow.com
>Subject: RE: [Vision2020] Grain Exports
>
>
>Ron
>
>The zone is actually from Lewiston to Tri-Cities, with reloading to ocean
>going in Portland or Vancouver.  The tearing out of rails not only of the
>lines mentioned by Chris, but also the old Milwakee line across to St Regis
>took a lot of that transport back to rail to the Tri-Cities and pushed
cargo
>
>container traffic to use Rail in Portland or Seattle.
>
>I appologize for lumping all of the other Port facilities from Lewiston to
>Tri-Cities under a single banner.  It was a tad sloppy.  Thanks for
pointing
>
>it out.
>
>But Hansen was infering with his rather snid post that the Columbia River
>System was somehow not a significant waterway and that it could not
possblyt
>
>handle the shipment of Grain exports.  While New Orleans does ship almost
>twice the grain that this system does, it is actually cheaper if rail were
>still in place to do it, to ship from here and there is more than enough
>availible capacity to do so for the Northern Tier and Midwestern grain
>producers.
>
>If we are at all serious about lowering our reliance on overseas oil, we
>need to lower our use of fossil fuels by moving goods wisely, not on
>semi-tractors, but on modern rail systems.  Just as importantly, we need to
>have a better diversification for our Port systems so that the failure of a
>single mega-Port like New Orleans does not so radically spin us toward
>economic failure.
>
>Phil Nisbet
>
>
>>From: "Ron Force" <rforce at moscow.com>
>>To: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>>Subject: RE: [Vision2020] Grain Exports
>>Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2005 13:16:12 -0700
>>
>>Phil, I believe the 27% applies to the entire Snake-Columbia River system,
>>not just the Port of Lewiston.
>>
>>source:  RTC Bi-State Transportation Committee
>>   http://www.rtc.wa.gov/meetings/bistate/bistatereport.011129.htm
>>
>>**********************************************
>>Ron Force         Moscow ID USA
>>rforce at moscow.com
>>**********************************************
>>
>>The Port Of New Orleans is indeed a large mover of grains and agricultural
>>productsm, but you seem to be disparaging of the Port Of Lewiston.  27% of
>>all grains exported from the USA every year go through the port 27 Miles
to
>  >our south.
>>
>>
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