I agree about the railroad being there first. If you buy a house or invest in a business next to an existing rail line, road/highway/freeway, navigable waterway, airport, pipeline or industry - do you have the subsequent right to control how their business changes?

There is a reason why interstate commerce is primarily under federal jurisdiction. Could imagine the horrific confusing mess that would exist if the states, counties and local jurisdictions could apply their own individual restrictions written by local politicians under the influence of their constituents, "consultants", experts, environmentalists and union leaders?

There is a dirty secret not of misinformation, but the failure to voluntarily disclose known information. I was surprised that the Bakken crude was so volatile. Typically heavy oils as crude, asphalt and even up to diesel are stable due to their higher flash point - unless heated. There is a legal and real difference between "combustible" and "flammable". You can't tell me when the refineries began processing fracked Bakken crude that they didn't know exactly what was in it and how it reacted. If they didn't, I'm sure there would have been a sudden increase in refinery and storage tank incidents.

What has really caught everyone off guard - look how drastically rail traffic patterns and rail operations have changed in the last 5 or even 2 years. Some of this is clearly growing pains. And into this mess PTC is supposed to be implemented, not to mention electronic controlled train brakes. Throw in railroads implementing Trip Optimizer and a perfect storm is brewing. A friend in the industry says right now there is a 10,000+ car shortage of rail cars to carry frac sand. He is negotiating leases on old junk hoppers for three times the usual rate. This should lead to a shortage of grain cars by this fall.

Hang on folks - we ain't seen nothin yet. And who knows what the next election will bring.

BTW - The Longshoreman's Union contract for the Left West Coast is supposed to expire July 1st and a strike is becoming a real possibility as each day passes. Portland, OR has become a center of attention. Columbia Grain has been using non-union personnel for a while already, having to use independent contractors for final delivery of railcars and barges. Mysteriously a grain barge broke loose of its moorings a while back. T6 (intermodal) has just seen the union fined by a NLRB judge for their intentional slow down, and at least one shipper is threatening to leave the Port of Portland. Many of the shippers and docks are owned by offshore interests, so they aren't as willing to play the union game. This isn't going to be pretty and could get real nasty in a couple weeks.