Legalectric

Today was the Zip Rail meeting at the Kenyon High School, and it was PACKED.  I printed up 80 flyers, but ran out and could have handed out another 80.  WOW!  It’s great to see people so interested.

I’ve been learning about this project, and it takes some digging to get information.  My goal is to encourage people to ask questions, and where there’s the opportunity, to file comments.  In this case, we have until August 6, 2014, to send comments in for scoping on the “Tier 1” EIS.  This means that we should tell them what all we think should be covered in the environmental review, and send the comments to:

Comments due by August  6, 2014.  Send comments to:

          info@goziprail.org         or

MN DOT Passenger Rail Office ATTN: Zip Rail

395 John Ireland Boulevard, MS 470

St. Paul, MN 55155

 

What I’ve found is that it’s hard to find anything.  Start looking, and what do you find?  Zip!  The best information source is the Midwest High Speed Rail Association, and to look at their “Studies/White Papers” page.  I’m most interested in “Midwest” “HSR” (high speed rail) and “Economics,” and HERE IS THE RESULT for that.

Here is my favorite for basic information, it’s got some basic cost estimates, particularly on p. 105 of 151, for the Metro – Chicago route, take a quarter of that and it’s a good starting ballpark figure, just over $7 billion (the number I hear being thrown around is $1 billion, and no way, no how, so just pay no attention and do some digging):

Economic Impacts of High Speed Rail 2011

And some others:

ROCOG Presentation ZipRail_011714

tac-02

Zip Rail Report

NOI_posted_051313

And remember, here is from the Minnesota Zip Rail site, their documents, sparse, but this is what we have:

Title	Document Type	Date	Format	File Size
1 Page size: select  10 items in 1 pages
Zip Rail Open House Flyer	Public Meeting Materials	Jul 16, 2014		132 KB
Newsletter – July 2014	Newsletters	Jul 07, 2014		885 KB
Technical Advisory Committee Meeting No. 4	Other	Jul 07, 2014		5 MB
Zip Rail Scoping Package	Reports	Jul 07, 2014		7 MB
Technical Advisory Committee Meeting No.3	Reports	Oct 17, 2013		3 MB
Draft Purpose and Need Statement	Reports	Oct 07, 2013		634 KB
Public Involvement Plan	Reports	Jun 01, 2013		4 MB
Notice of Intent	Reports	May 13, 2013		28 KB
Technical Advisory Committee Meeting No.2	Reports	Apr 04, 2013		1 MB
Technical Advisory Committee Meeting No.1	Reports	Feb 28, 2013		1 MB

Trying to figure out what kind of duck this quacks like!

In STrib: Suburbs skeptical of speedy Zip Rail

I get nervous where there’s something big proposed, but not much in the way of info.  I do care who owns and will own the project, where the money’s coming from (more massive subsidies of Rochester/Mayo?), potential isolation of people suddenly blocked off from their access roads, and no stops along the way so affected communities receive no benefit.  I think I’d prefer light rail, but ???  Need to know more.

The format of these meetings prevents you from asking important questions, speaking your mind, and making comments publicly so that we can share information and questions.  Public opinion is silenced. This is a NEPA process, MN EQB noticed, and should have a formal public hearing.

Comments due by August  6, 2014.  Send comments to:

          info@goziprail.org         or

MN DOT Passenger Rail Office ATTN: Zip Rail

395 John Ireland Boulevard, MS 470

St. Paul, MN 55155

Note there is an EXISTING COMMUTER BUS SYSTEM, serving many locations, which a “Zip Rail” would not.  Zip Rail would only serve 2-3 locations in the Metro.

What I do see is they’re trying hard to line everything up, here’s from a meeting with Secretary Ray La Hood (just to L of flag):

Now to start, full disclosure, I don’t really have a dog in this fight, and don’t know much about it, so I’ve started looking because this week are the scoping meetings on “Round 1” of the environmental review.  Tonight was Rochester:

Rochester
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Rochester Community and Technical College

Inver Grove Heights
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Inver Grove Community Center

Kenyon
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Kenyon-Wanamingo High School

All meetings 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm

Hey, Chuck Michael, long time since the Mesaba Project!!!

I’ve been hearing a lot about the “Zip Rail” through southern Minnesota, between the Metro and Rochester.  But when I look, I don’t see much.  This was selected as part of a “Midwest Corridor linking Chicago, IL with Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN, Detroit, MI, St. Louis, MO, Indianapolis, IN, and the Quad Cities, IL/IA.”  We know our friend Scott Walker tanked it in Wisconsin, but Walker is not a permanent fixture so that could change.

My gut says that it’d be a lot easier to justify a Metro – Chicago train than Metro – Rochester.  Maybe it’s a step, but ???  As a stand-alone, it’s hard to get worked up about, considering what I imagine the impacts would be.

The most detailed report I’ve found so far is:

Economic Impacts of High Speed Rail (2011)

This is from Midwest High Speed Rail Assn.  There’s a lot on this site, like a Minnesota projects page.  One I didn’t know about, the Red Rock Corridor, from Hastings to St. Paul (which may have switched to a pus project).

Here’s the official Minnesota Zip Rail site, and there’s not as much:   www.goziprail.org

Here’s their “documents” page thus far for the Zip Line:

Title	Document Type	Date	Format	File Size
Zip Rail Open House Flyer	Public Meeting Materials	Jul 16, 2014		132 KB
Newsletter – July 2014	Newsletters	Jul 07, 2014		885 KB
Technical Advisory Committee Meeting No. 4	Other	Jul 07, 2014		5 MB
Zip Rail Scoping Package	Reports	Jul 07, 2014		7 MB
Technical Advisory Committee Meeting No.3	Reports	Oct 17, 2013		3 MB
Draft Purpose and Need Statement	Reports	Oct 07, 2013		634 KB
Public Involvement Plan	Reports	Jun 01, 2013		4 MB
Notice of Intent	Reports	May 13, 2013		28 KB
Technical Advisory Committee Meeting No.2	Reports	Apr 04, 2013		1 MB
Technical Advisory Committee Meeting No.1	Reports	Feb 28, 2013		1 MB

There’s some reading to do.  But there are a few questions that are jumping out at me:

• Ridership numbers – was the modeling done pre-economic crash?
• What’s the ridership demographics?
• What’s the cost – Alan said to figure $100 million/mile — is that accurate?
• Who benefits from this, geographically, and specifically (is this for Mayo?  I have a hard time imagining sick people on the train.  I’d guess they’d fly in or take a limo.)
• It’s supposed to be electric — above train or part of the track below (meaning lower profile?)
• How will it sit on the land — in trench, or above ground, and how will it be fenced in/walled off?
• What are predicted operating expenses?
• Ownership is “flexible.”  The DOT now owns it but that could change, it could be federal, state, private, and/or a combo, and if so, what is impact on land acquisition if a private project?

So there’s a little to think about before the meetings tomorrow and Thursday evening!  Be there or be square!

Found in Finance & Commerce:

Photo provided by the City of Lynchburg, Virginia April 30, 2014.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Platts confirms it was Bakken BOOM! crude oil:
CSX says 15 cars derailed from train in Virginia

From Bloomberg:

This time it’s Lynchburg, Virginia. Don’t know where the train originated, what type of oil, but there is indeed a trend!

Video from News8000.com

Bakken BOOM crude oil MUST be DEGASIFIED before it is shipped, shipped by rail, shipped by pipeline, it must be DEGASIFIED before it goes anywhere, because the high gas content is what makes it dangerous.  DEGASIFY now.  How many more towns must burn before they DEGASIFY?

Here’s the DOT letter regarding degasifying:

1_2_14 DOT Rail_Safety_Alert

And here’s the part that addresses degasifying the crude before transport:

Come on, DOT, how hard is that to understand?  Bakken crude must be degasified before it goes rolling down the track.

From Common Dreams:

Black Smoke, Flames Spew from Train Derailment

From Reuters:

CSX train carrying oil derails in Virginia in fiery blast

From desmogblog:

Breaking: CSX Railroad “Bomb Train” Carrying Crude Oil Explodes in Lynchburg, Virginia

From the STrib:

Tanker cars carrying crude oil derail, catch fire in Lynchburg, Va.; buildings evacuated