Comments sought on Alaska Railroad extension to Delta Junction
Originally published Friday, December 26, 2008 at 12:00 a.m.
Updated Friday, December 26, 2008 at 1:41 p.m.
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Stumble It!FAIRBANKS - A transportation board has opened the door to comments from anyone interested in the Alaska Railroad’s plan to extend track from North Pole to Delta Junction.
The state railroad corporation already has laid out plans for its proposed 80-mile extension to Delta and for a bridge across the Tanana River to reach military training grounds.
The federal Surface Transportation Board this month issued a draft environmental impact statement for the plans. The government has assessed the proposed rail extension’s potential impacts on the environment, and the board will collect public comments before Feb. 2, according to a letter sent to local agencies early this month.
The proposed project, dubbed the railroad’s Northern Rail Extension, aims to add commercial and passenger railroad service southeast of Eielson Air Force Base. Right now, the most common method of getting commercial freight from the Fairbanks area to Valdez or Delta Junction is by truck. Railroad spokesman Tim Thompson said the entire project, including the bridge, could cost more than $700 million, adding that the corporation has so far secured roughly $100 million in federal money. The Alaska Legislature also has given the railroad the OK to issue bonds for as much as $500 million for the project, Thompson said.
The railroad corporation sees the project as a chance to help the military access the Tanana Flats and Donnelly training areas on the southern side of the Tanana River and the west of the Delta River, according to the draft statement’s summary.
The railroad had originally planned to begin construction next year or early in 2010, but Thompson said the start date has been pushed back at least a few months.
“We’re going to have to wait and see,” Thompson said of the environmental pre-construction process and a possible start date for construction.
The transportation board plans to host four public meetings on the proposed extension project’s impact statement and will accept comments at each meeting, according to the agency.
The transportation board also will accept comments after the meetings by mail or electronically at its Web site (www.stb.dot.gov).
Community Discussion
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Who is paying for this project? If the military is the primary user, why isn't the military paying? As I understand this article, there is only $100M in federal investment, although the military would be the main user. Alaskans should not have to pay for this project, not in the form of interest on bonds, or increased user fees for the railroad. Maybe I am missing something?
"Who is paying for this project???" Who do you think?? WE ARE. It doesn't matter where the money is coming from. This is a needless project that would not be considered privately at all. We have a state run corporation seeking federal money to help the military. That should make a lot of good sense. Not to mention the railroad will continue to compete with private trucking companies. The best is a comment by Lisa Murkowski that this would allow passenger service to Fairbanks from Delta. That will be a huge market there. More waste and more spending money the country does not have. We don't seem to be learning.
I personally think it's a fantastic thing. With gas prices set to climb again, having a rail link to Delta will make the Junction set to become the agricultural hub of Alaska again. Imagine how much more economical it'll become for farms to set up operations. Not to mention the fact that a rail link would keep Greely and Eielson going concerns. They're much less likely to shut down if there's a big investment in infrastructure.
Plus, with what Obama's saying, there's a damn good chance that the federal government will pick up most, if not all of the tab!
instead of a pie in the sky rail to delta why not spend some money to clean up the rail road industerial toxic waste that is scattered all over the area and move the rail road south of the city away from the population so in case of a fire or explosion by chemicals you would not have huge loss of property and or life. the farming in delta has never been a financially viable option, everytime the state threw money at it it still failed.
James, are you from alaska? you said,"listen to them scream".
The state legislature has approved issuance of $500 million in bonds for this project. I would like to know how these bonds would likely be rated and how they would be paid. I assume from RR revenues with the military and petrochemical industry being the primary rate payers. If that happened the Deltana agricultural prospects might be enhanced by lowered transportation costs and lower energy cost, both of which have doomed previous efforts. This might be a good infrastructure investment.
Bring back the trains--get that railroad here! Or get your new dog sled ready to travel. Dog food prices have gone up!
With the American taxpayer already on the hook for 8.5 trillion to bailout America's banksters; what's a paltry 700 million for a "railroad to nowhere"? I'm sure Ben Bernanke's printing press can handle it.
First of all Delta Junction, Fort Greely and the missle sight is certainly, "SOMEWHERE"! Know the community before you make such a bias ingnorant statement.
There is a lot of prospective users of the rail, besides military. There will no doubt be shipments of domestic animals for processing from the farms in and around Delta and the farms between here and there. That will definately help our small buisness in the area for processing, Tanana Valley Meats. In turn giving we the public another choice of purchasing.
The rail will also help the public travel to and from especially in the winter when that road gets pretty bad from time to time.
Lots of food, equipment, and construction materials would be benefitted by the rail.
I for one am attending the public meetings, will you?
Stop by the railroad terminal and or offices and pick up the information and dates of the meetings.
Obama's stimulus package is becoming a joke. Las Vegas wants millions to create a mob museum. New Jersey Governor wants billions to redo an old bridge, $500 million just to remove the paint. The labor unions are saying only union members should be allowed to work any stimulus job. The lines are forming fast with projects. The $850 billion will prpbably result in The Congress will have a field day determining this new earmarks. It will probably result in fewer projects than anyone expected. Look at Boston's Big Dig, how many billions of dollars and years did this take. The battle in Congress for this money will be fun to watch.
Retired - Preston Lancashire - others:
I am extremely confused at how a rail line can assist the ag industry of the Delta region. Transporting barley? To where - Fairbanks? Why would/should/could Fairbanks have a processing center for that grain? Looped all the way to Anchorage? Ditto? Looped all the way to Anchorage thence sea-freighted to Seattle? First, I thought someone mentioned this was a way to increase efficiencies...and second, there already IS a marine grain elevator complex....built just for such Delta ag production, in Valdez. Perhaps you've never been there: that white elephant was constructed almost twenty years ago and it has been used........exactly once.
Passenger service? Neither Fairbanks nor Anchorage can get riders even on their inner city bus routes. Sure, mass transit is a laudable goal - far more economical and environmentally friendly than individual vehicles. But seven decades of American history have incontrovertibly shown that If You Build It, They Won't Come.
So, to me it sounds as though a number of the other posters are correct: the extension would have as its sole real customer the bases of Greely and Eielson.Therefore, IF those bases survive the new administration's budget axe, THEN let the military decide whether the best use of the finite funds they are allotted is on such a project.
TRebellion- without a cause - There is no such thing as a "bridge to nowhere" or "a railroad to nowhere". Build a bridge and someone will cross it to build a future, build a railroad and someone will find, grow, or make something to ship on it. Check out J.B.Says law in economic history, PRODUCTION CREATES ITS OWN DEMAND. The "nowhere" theory is closely akin to the" flat earth theory". Any serious student of history knows that economic growth follows transportation infrastructure development.
Where have you been the last of couple of years, crosswind, retired? People in Anchorage and Ketchikan think they're somewhere too, but it hasn't helped them with their own nationally reknowned and now infamous projects to "nowhere". The national media and late-night comedians have already made Ketchikan a national laughing stock just because they want a bridge to their primary connection(their airport) to the outside world. So why wouldn't Delta or any other community in Alaska expect not to suffer the same treatment?
I'm not opposed to Ketckikan's bridge or Delta's railroad and if you read my post, you might understand that what I'm being snide about is our nation's double-standard of spending trillions to bailout the banks while quibbling over relatively tiny millions for this and other projects.
But a good question remains is who is going to pay for all this and by what means. Ben Bernanke's printing press is the short-term answer which in time means the American people will pay for it through a severely devalued currency and price inflation that will one day be hard to imagine.
I think everyone should look at it this way: This will make take the railroad closer to a link with the lower 48. Imagine how much cheaper everything would be up here if there was a railroad link to the lower 48. Along with the possible tourism dollars that would bring.
Pat Gamble should throw himself in front of a moving train! According to the State of Alaska, the Railroad is it's own entity. So what the hell are they doing asking for the State to fund their projects? That would be like giving Fred Meyer money to build a new store. AKRR CEO's get some pretty nice bonuses. How big of a bonus will Gamble, Shake, Binkley and the others get if this goes through? They are just as corrupt as the politicians that are going down. Somebody better do their homework on this funding. How many State Funded programs, small businesses, or average Joe Alaskan has lost everything due to the current crisis? This State is in financial trouble due to oil prices and the best they can think of is to give the Railroad money?! This will mainly benefit the military? Really? When was the last time any of us got an Alaskan discount on the military base? The Railroad already gives the military bases and Flint hills sweet deals on shipping. Do Alaskans really want to take it in the rear end again by our States poor decision making skills?
Rubit,
You hit it right on the head. Actually that idiot Bush wanted to build an RR through Canada to Alaska as part of the missile defense plan. One of the few good ideas the man had. However it is my understanding that Canada nixed the idea due national security issues, that since the main function of the RR would be military it would be a target for terrorism. This is just something I read at one time. The cost of the railroad would be offset by the savings on transportation of goods and services.
Build baby build.
If it's ready for construction, then get it done. It may technically qualify for a national public work program which is happening nationally to put folks to work. It will eventually connect to the lower forty-eight through Canada anyway. Let's build it now!
Let me say first off - I grew up in Delta and see the potential that part of the world has for agriculture. The fed's threw tons of money into the fields down there when I was in middle/high-school and told the farmers - "here, we'll give you this low-interest loans and you guys plant X, Y and Z on your fields." When the farmers planted X, Y and Z, it didn't grow. So the farmers said, "hey, feds, we'll plant A,B and C and we know those crops will grow, we'll still meet all the requirements of the loans and everyone wins." The feds said no. In a matter of a few years my dad as one of the head volunteers on the ambulance squad cleaned up at least 5 farmers who committed suicide when loans came due and X, Y and Z hadn't produced enuf to pay them. That land is still there, its still fertile and with the right crops, could be farmed till I'm - well I'd say old and gray but how about older and grayer? Delta has a lot of potential, farming, agriculture, a lot of untapped resources that could/would benefit from a rail line.
FLAT EARTH THEORY - The ignorant masses of Europe laughed at the geographers who said the earth was round just as the dumbed down Tina Fey type TV pabulum fed masses of the American public laughed at transportation infrastructure development in Alaska. The Erie Canal, the Cumberland Trail, the Oregon Trail, and the Trans-continental Railroad were all transportation" infrastructure to nowhere"in their day; the difference is that then people could read, write, and reason better and more clearly than they can now.
I hope they would build some railroads to rural villages so the price of energy would go down. We are still paying eight dollars a gallon for fuel out here because of our transportation costs and fixed schedule of cave man barge transportation and excessive air transportation costs, four hundred a round trip. SO we could do with some new ideas out here as well. Create some jobs and long-term transportation systems.
There's a reason "getting railroaded" has become a widely used term in the American Lexicon...
http://www.stb.dot.gov/FD34658Files/Summ...
-----------
The Feds finally figured out they put Hanford Atomic Wasteland in the wrong spot, so they're gonna load all that radioactive gorp onto rails and ship it to Ft.Greedy, and the Russkies need a garbage dump too.
How much depleted-uranium has been shot-off into Alaska's soils??
..does anybody care?
http://www.schillerinstitute.org/conf-ic...
Be careful what you wish for, because future generations will curse their grandfathers for giving them the opportunity to grow up on the wrong side of the railroad tracks.
http://larouchepub.com/other/2007/3418be...
I like railroads if they're properly managed as a dynamic conduit for transport in the transparent context of civil architecture..
but all too often infrasturcture projects become a turf-battle for hucksters with hidden agendas.
http://www.newsminer.com/news/2008/apr/2...
If I was a bigshot-bigwig Civil-Engineer I'd solve the problem of Tanana River Flood/Erosion Control and River Barge Channel before I tried milking the Dying American Dollar for more poorly planned pork of trying to make a railroad pick a 1000year fight with a river. Yeah, a railroad can help tame a river, but you better think of that ahead of committing to build the project.
Does anybody know how much gold is sixty-feet deep under the Tanana from Chenamouth to Delta ??
Why pay for the project with phoney-money if it can be paid for in gold?
http://images.google.com/images?um=1&...
Maybe I should add insult to injury and make a Port District in Fairbanks, then name myself Port Manager --- Welcome to the redundancy department department department department department...
a multi-millenial subsidiary of the Globalist NAU
http://spp.gov/
Question Authority
Heads I Win, Tails You Lose
It's The Economy Stupid !
..it's broken and doesn't need fixing
Has anybody checked the bilgepump on this sinking ship lately?
Nucking Futs !!!
I'd rather see somebody put up $100mil to build a little but powerful condensate polypipe from N-slope to FBX..
much better bang for the buck!
I can hear the pigs -a- oinking on this one!
How does a rail line to Delta to benefit the average person in Fairbanks? Does it in any way reduce the cost of living -- such as the cost of food or fuel?
$700,000 million could fund a gas or power line to the slope, thus reducing the cost of heat and electricity to every one in the rail belt including Anchorage. Also, there would be money left over to fund some hydro/geothermal power projects.
In Africa they are looking at building multiple power plants to produce 4 gigawatts from mgeothermal plants in the Riff Valley.
Build enough railroads and Alaska will no longer have any wilderness.
Building a statewide polypipe-gasline/fiberoptic network without needing to build any access roads, and letting this gas/fiber-network sink into the tundra/taiga will make 50,000sq.mi. a happy-healthy nation of sustainable villages in a wild ecosystem..
..fully compatible with small-biz independent mining, trapping, fishing, riverrunning, aviation,etc. -- the kinds of things we all enjoy about Alaska.
Carefully done, Alaska is big enough to hide a million more indians up here, and we'd still have to hike 5miles to see the neighbors.
Alaska is losing 100times more lost-orphan gas to the 4winds than it would take to provide light&power for 500,000 more rural residences in the interior. A big steel megapipe[cash register] will do nothing but delay the immediate deployment of polypipe gas-gathering and redistribution inside Alaska.
N-slope-Chukchi-Beaufort is losing more than 1tcf/year -- polypipe it past the Brooks.
YukonFlats is losing more than 100bcf/year -- polypipe it up&down the Yukon.
Nenana/Minto has 10tcf of gas, and you're gonna buy $100million of polypipe from Irving,Texas or Joffre,Alberta because you're money is burning a whole in your pocket and your too lazy to make your own polypipe with your own ethane ??
[no wonder why Alaska has trouble with keeping the kids inspired, the kids read the same old news year after year then realize the parents generation is horribly dysfunctional]
what happens when the military closes fort greely?
if the military is the prime beneficiary let them pay for it 100%.
Thank you
A long time ago they built a road,
it took many a day and many a night.
It went to a chunk of land,
that the government had purchased.
The land was called a folly,
by the many who had heard of it.
They never called it a road to nowhere,
the war was on and troops needed to get there.
As we look back it would be smart to remember,
if they never built that road many would not have seen the splendor.
Millions have been spent on many, many things,
from a pipeline to hover craft.
Infrastructure is important and takes investment,
but the benefits far outweigh the detriment.
OK, so I am no poet, but hopefully you see that building something today may not pay off in five years, but it will in the long run.
Much the same with a gas line from the slope. Either use the existing line (liquefy it and send with the oil, if it's possible, and separate when it gets here) or piggy back a separate line on the existing line.
Sooner or later it will be utilized to its maximum, waiting longer to go forward with it will just delay that, and cost more in the end.
As some others have pointed out there is no "nowhere", just a lack of understanding of what the infrastructure will mean to those who want it by those that don't care to find out the why's and then reject and ridicule it.
Every time the railroad expands its right away it cuts off a big chunk of Alaska that you can not get to as it is considered trespassing to cross the tracks exept at their crossings. They do not like to have any crossings because of the liabilty. I have tried to buy property on the other side of the tracks only to be told that they would not allow a crossing.
Hey, check this out...
There were these Old High altitude arial photographs I found a while back, I don't recall where I found them at, but I think it might have been on-line at a Government or History websight. And If I remember correctly, there may be a simpler solution...
It Seems that prior to the [F]irst World War the Army Corp of Engineers had cut a coridor from Seatle to Lad Air Field Via Canada, Most of which was abandoned prior to the Second Word War, however, part of it is currently being utilized by ARR from Healy to Fairbanks and there is also an old abandoned Military Airfield located near The Healy Cemetary that is one of it's rememnents and with little improvemt other than Tarmac would redily accept
(comercial or) Military Aircraft, Most likely Heavy Cargo planes for which it was originally intended and designed. I wish I knew where to look again, because the other part is that there is an exising(although overgrown with eithty years worth of trees) prepaired railbed that meanders through the mountains from Healy to Delta Junction Via the back side of Greelys training area, and I believe that would probably be more cost effective re-opening it than trying to build that bridge others have mentioned above.
Building a Delta to Healy spur would potentialy open up more of the interior for development, provide a large amount lumber which is markeatable to help offset the cost of the project itself, and also make the shipment of any of Deltas agriculture products equally as accessable to Anchorage markets and vice versa. and might I mention, Healy alread has a railyard that would easily be able to be tyed in.
burke, when were you in Delta Junction?
I live in Delta, and I know it to be a community of enormous potential, even without the military business.
Maybe you should move to CA
Now to mention the issue of enviromental impact...
It would seen to be less damaging enviromently to reclaim an existing corodore, and then lay new rail for what I mentioned above, than the proposed project!
I think that this is a terrific opportunity for Alaska and Delta as a whole.
Build the train, but don't stop at Delta! Keep building it all the way down to the lower 48. It would mean a huge increase in traffic for both Alaska and the Yukon Territory, goods could start coming in cheaper, and that means that building and more investment in both regions would be larger in the future.
Unbelievable, this boondoggle will make the Delta Barley project in the early 80's seem brilliant by comparison.
This spur will be as useless as the grain elevator* they built at Valdez for all that barley'! Actually worse,'cause they'll insist on having to maintain it even after it has proved to be another dismal failure. Since it is for the military,there will the patriotism catch which the elevator doesn't have.
I should have pretended I was a farmer like some of the smart guys did during the earlier scam. Give them a bid from Green or some other big contractor on clearing my new land ( some of them were in the six figure range) and then skoo-doodled like many of them did. ( They actually gave them clearing checks with only the "farmers" name on it )
Bet some of those guys are sitting on the island they bought in the Caribbean right now from the state's generosity while I'm calling the heating oil outfit to make sure I get a delivery before the big cold spell coming sets in real hard.roadtrip is right, I'm stupid.
dog
* thanks for the memories, BigOldMooseHunter
If Delta is "worthless", then why do you stop there on your way to your boat slips in Valdez?
If they did run the railroad as planned, just think of the moose & fishing spots it would open up on the other side of the river!
If a rail benefits Delta, Fairbaks will also benefit. And why should it be all about Fairbanks, anyway? Are Deltans not citizens of Alaska as well? You Fairbanks people just sound selfish and self centered.
If the military wants to train in this area, which they do, it makes sense to get Strykers off the Richardson Highway and onto a railroad track. When was the last time any Fairbanks people shared the road with 20 Strykers?
As I see it, the only drawback will be the potential for easier commute from Fairbanks to Delta, and we really don't need any of the problems Fairbanks has currently been experiencing here!
Probably the only reason to not build it is that it will never be finished. Anyone looked at how long paved roads last in the Arctic and sub arctic? Do the Canadian railroads extend to the north much past Whitehorse?
Does anyone see a difference between passenger rail and freight? see...
http://www.aar.org/IndustryInformation/~...
Also
http://cnebusiness.geomapguide.ca/
I happen to be a resident from Delta Junction, when I am not being moved around the world by my job.
Delta Junction/Ft Greely is a great community that does not deserve any of the denigration posted by some of my fellow Neanderthals pretending to have an ounce of knowledge on this web site. And yes I do support such a project. For reasons I will state.
For my fellow Alaskans who make comments such as "...who is going to pay for it?" In ways that are incomprehensible to most of you; your already paying the cost! Its called the present inefficiency of tax dollar use. And you will eventually pay more than the proposed cost if the military keeps transiting and transporting equipment, personnel and vehicles through the current road network.
Here's a homework/research brain teaser. Projected costs to the state and federal of same system vs. a rail line over the next 20 years? Include the estimated costs of fuels, vehicles, road & bridge maintenance and repair construction projects. Also add to that; estimated costs in lives and injuries. Also project how much can be saved using a rail line.
Such a project would benefit the local economies and result in future cost savings to all the military installations in this region of Alaska, and our federal government over the long hual.
Toni Johnson, DH3, EOD_Dave, Crosswind, Scotty Berg, Made in Alaska, Territorial and James ...THANKS for the positive input!!
Burke; shame on you! Your assinine stereotype comment of the Russian community in Delta is so like one who is too bigoted and ignorant to comprehend the obvious. You know nothing of the people, the culture and in particular nothing about the great majority of the Russian community in Delta who are hard working loyal American citizens, trying to earn a living the old fashioned way. Work!!
A rail line would be a step in the right direction for all concerned
Try doing a comparative cost/benefit analysis of this project compared to a condensate-line from N-slope to Fairbanks ---
---for every benefit you can identify that supports your railroad in the river project, I'll give you two reasons to support the polypipe-gasline project. The patient is combative and delirious with 50years of bowel-obstruction causing severe gas-bloat, the doctors recommend intubation into the posterior orifice with a long plastic hose.
[it's easier than passing gas in church]
..better yet, help me build the condensate line from P-to-F and I'll build your railroad for you.
[I'm half Russian, quarter Athabaskan, quarter mutt-- so I know how to insult everybody equally]
If the State wants to avoid legislating an income tax...
...here's an alternative revenue source, $250k/day
[ Data from PolyPipe Design & Engineering Manual ]
6" type-3408 SDR-7 poly-gasline weighs 7.336 lbs. per foot.
6" nominal [ 6.625" OD actual size ]
SDR-7 [ 4.66" ID actual size ]
Wall Thickness 0.946"
Operating Pressure gas/fluid-rating @ 50F 368psi new -- 317psi after 50 years
[ psi capacity is much higher in colder temps ]
Burst Pressure 1600psi
Propane vapor pressure is 30psi at zero-degrees F -- 20psi at -25F
Ethane vapor pressure is 220psi at zero-degrees F -- 100psi at -25F
[ ethane can be shipped in this gasline when there's snow on the pipe ( below 32F ) -- propane can be shipped anytime summer/winter ]
NatGas condensates physical properties are well within the rated-capacity of SDR-7 type-3408 HDPE-pipe
it's 2,200,000 feet from Prudhoe to the rail siding in Goldstream/Fairbanks
16,139,200 pounds of polypipe
type 3408 poly pellet is currently $2/lb
$32,278,400 polypellet cost
I can get you the extrusion machines airfreighted to FBX for $5mil
I can get a shipload of polypellet shipped to Seward.
..add $5mil for the condensate pumpstations [modularized in TEU's]
Now we're looking at roughly $45million for a basic gasline-kit to FBX..
A few small teams of workers can deploy this gasline during winter at a rate of 100,000feet per day..
it's as simple as dropping a gardenhose onto your lawn [almost]
An NFPA-58 fire-insurance waiver can be managed to allow the first test shipments of condensate to occur in winter until the gasline can be buried next summer.
Total installed cost can be slightly less than $100million.
This gasline is easily capable of delivering 200gallons per minute of LPG or ethane-condensate to Fairbanks.
200gpm = 288,000 gallons of condensate or propane per day
NetBack wholesale rate roughly $1/gallon
$100million at amortization rate of $288k/day = full amort in 348days
http://s281.photobucket.com/albums/kk209...
..I can pack all of this in one shipment of 10,000dwt
I would suspect that those who don't think the military needs the railroad, you don't drive the Richardson highway during "convoy" season. The military doesn't like driving off road vehicles down the highway either.
You could also solve the problem by moving the units that use the "Donnelly Training Area" to Fort Greely. New housing units are already planned.
Moosehunter:
I say nothing reference barley, wheat, corn, or hay being shipped on the anticipated rail.
I was referencing our local meat packing and processing plant receiving (in time) domestic animals from the Delta area.
And yes I believe materials can be easily and cheaper shipped in the larger volumes to Delta. Fairbanks / North Pole are not the only ones that have had a building boom taking place. And will for quite sometime. Understanding all industries have peak and slow times.
Some of the best gravel and concrete in the interior is down the road about 100 miles from North Pole.
There is considerable hay from the Delta farms sold here in the N.P. and Fbks. areas also.............
Keeping in mind after the rail is built we will undoubtly see a stock and shipping yard built along the railway in more then one location.
I don't know why everyone is so against helping Delta, It will if nothing else bring some more jobs to Delta. As for all you people who live in fairbanks, and want to call it a road to nowhere, I suggest you drive the other direction next time you need to come this way because we don't want or need you here. And as for agriculture, and all other business in Delta it would be a big help, to be able to get things brought here instead of driving to fairbanks all the time. We can use the jobs, and Delta does have great potential. If you have never lived here don't make comments about us or the town we love. All season long I see hunters, and fisherman come to Delta, and complain and then think they own the place and can trash it. If you have a problem with Delta why don't you come here and voice it. As for the rail line I will give up my PFD for a couple of years to see it come through, because it would help my ranch in the long run. IF YOU DON'T LIKE ALASKA THEN LEAVE.
Oh by the way. Seasons greetings, Merry Christmas (9 days left of twelve) and a blessed New Year to one and all. Enjoying the many blessings this season and Alaska has given me, I was thinking about a common thread we all have living in this wonderful place in North America.
We greatly enjoy our wilderness (or mostly immediate access to it) and our independence from the more mundane existence we'd have if we lived in mostly urban North America. However, to have true independence we need a sustainable economy were we have locally produced food (local timber production, dairy, grains, fruit, meat and seafood). We came perilously close to losing our local dairies, but those with an entrepreneuerial spirit our farmers have hung on.
We haven't seemed to learn the lesson of September 11th - when our food supplies were cut off and we might have had to rely upon what we produced locally to survive upon. I read the article in today's paper about UAF doing research on how to supply our own chemicals for fertilizer in the absence of Agrium. DistantThunder continues to flash and thunder regarding the remarkably immediate possibilities for methane and other North Slope resources here in Alaska. Irrespective, we need affordable transport as well as fertilizer for our farmers and that is what a rail link can provide.
Rail is incredibly efficient, once a train is moving its momentum keeps it moving at low costs. Rail won't only benefit the military and Delta, it will benefit the state as a whole. It can lessen impact on areas by only providing that type of access through untracked (no pun intended) wilderness. Such a rail line extension can help build our local economy and in time it will be extended to Yukon Territory, perhaps to Skagway with a third rail on that route.
Fertilizer from North Slope gas can bring us the advantage we need for our own Alaska based economy. We can use it for building gas supply lines the North Slope to Southeast Alaska to Western and Southwest Alaska to Bristol Bay. Some of the petrochemicals can be shipped via rail, pipe - both to other parts of Alaska and the world. We need to add value to our resources prior to export - otherwise we will continue with a third world existence.
Southeast Alaska where I live and hail from originally, has abundant wind, wave, tidal, geothermal and inexpensive hydroelectric energy. Our region wouldn't object to sharing this with our more northerly and westerly neighbors. And we are actually pretty close to you with Yukon's electrical extensions. (con't)
Skagway has a hydro plant just near the BC/Alaska Border and Yukon's power line is as close to Southeast as Carcross Yukon. From Carcross, the line already connects to Whitehorse and from there to Stewart Crossing, Mayo and is interconnected as well to Dawson City. All pretty close to Interior Alaska someday we'll be interconnected, either that way or through a subsea Gulf of Alaska crossing.
So we need all of these energy and transport links, of course it has to come incrementally, but it can bring construction and more long term jobs as a permanent legacy for the North. Let's work together so we can build this infrastructure incrementally and for the benefit of a sustainable North.
FYI, Here is a link to a map which shows the electrical network just next door in Yukon. http://www.emr.gov.yk.ca/pdf/map_mines_e...
Also, the proposed Alaska - Canada rail-link isn't a pipe dream. It will happen when the time is right, but not until the stars are aligned. We can do a lot until that happens.
Thanks Territorial for the shout about FLNG I was yammering about on the other thread..
There's always millions of new concepts and opportunities bursting forth every day in this busy world, and good&timely information can often replace most of our expected CAPEX [capital expenditures].
...it always pays to do more than 200% of your homework long ahead of time for the test.
Being one of the thousands of workers who risked life&limb to make the P-fund a reality, and then walking off never drawing a dime from it, I keep pushing hard trying to promote the vigilance required to keep our past efforts from being squandered by the next-generation...
...so, if I often sound grouchy it's my way of showing my love for Alaskans.
There's much more value in our untapped resources than has ever been gathered into the P-fund, and many of these resources are perilously close to being siphoned out of The Big Dipper by outside opportunists who are all too willing to turn our generosity into gullible stupidity.
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