I would like to add considerably to Tom G's venting. I travel the western US with my job and constantly see this unbelievable attitude of the NIMBY's(Not In My Back Yard) and BANANA's(Build Absolutely Nothing, Anywhere, Near Anyone) throughout my travels thrust upon the likes of railroads, mines & quarries, power generation, and plain ole neighborhood living. It is a very disturbing and disappointing trend that causes my blood to boil. At the same time it makes no bloody sense.

I would like to sight some first hand examples. Northern Idaho - the green elite, trust-funders and the native Americans are @#$%& about the storage of railcars on lightly used or nearly abandoned branch lines. Oh, they are so ugly and the wildlife can't get to the other side of the tracks so they can be hit by vehicles on the parallel highway!! (Cry me a flippin river, It's OK to build an exclusive golf course and multi-million dollar unattractive multi-story condo resort along a beautiful lake or build a Casino Resort adjacent to a "Scenic River" the lifeblood of endangered salmon and steelhead runs).

Reno, NV - The railroad has to be moved, maybe put it in an expensive hole in the ground! Its too noisy, the merger will cause a continuous flow of trains that will kill drunk vagrants and stupid people hanging around the casinos and impede emergency vehicles (The Transcontinental Railroad was built through the area around 1868, then the city fathers and planners design and build Reno around the station stop, great city planning like all other cities NOT!, @#$%& and moan when the train blocks the crossings, why didn't they plan and fund overpasses/underpasses long ago, lets wait until it's a crisis).

Tualatin, OR - Interstate 5 has turned into a parking lot over the last 20 years with the green transplants, trust-funders, and illegals traveling back and forth along the Willamette Valley. We need commuter rail says TriMET!! Lets work with Portland & Western and utilize the existing rail line, not a bad idea. Cabillions of dollars later we have a Heavy Rail commuter line - OMG!!! I can't hear myself think because of the train horn blaring at the green bicycle riders and drivers who pretend the railroad tracks aren't really there. By the way, I bought this nice house with a railroad in my backyard, I didn't see the trains when I bought the house, therefore, they didn't exist before I was here! The oldtimers tell me this used to be an interurban commuter line, whatever that means. Why does my house shake constantly during the business week now, my property has lost value, and damn, there goes my ears ringing again from that horn!! I demand a multi-cabillion dollar quiet zone, that will solve everything.

Eastern Oregon/Washington - Heard on the local radio wind energy producers want to build windmills among the wheat fields and Columbia River where the wind blows quite nicely. Hold on there, we can't have these oversized and supposedly noisy egg beaters obstructing our view of the rolling fields of grain or the dingy brown basalt cliffs. Don't get us wrong, we support energy independence and jobs but.....we don't really need them here, damn I wish the wind would stop blowing!!

California - Very geologically favorable for gold deposits and oil. Why is there only two major gold mines and limited oil production? Gold is at $900 per oz and Oil is $50 per barrel, California should be bringing in plenty of supplemental money on mineral production taxes. However, the greenies have struck again, no new open pit gold mines are allowed unless they are reclaimed with compacted backfill to the original contour (talk about a waste of resources)and we can't bare to look at those offshore drilling platforms, it ruins the auto induced beautiful hazy red/brown sunsets and kills the sea life (seems to me they catch a lot fish and shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico)!! By the way did you hear California is essentially bankrupt. The Governator and Sacramento is raising your taxes again!! Too bad, so sad. By the way, the gold mining companies have determined that known potential open pit gold deposits will never be economical due to the costs of doing business....ridiculously excessive regulatory requirements. As a guy familiar with gold mining, California has lots of gold yet sitting in the ground! The gold will remain in the ground to the benefit of no one, no taxes, no jobs. So much for being known as the Golden State! I think Green with a hint of Rainbow would be more appropriate don't ya think?

Last but not least, Fernley, NV (Otherwise known as Ferntucky, you'll understand if you ever drive through this oasis!) - I had just rented a house in the town's "exclusive" public golf course subdivision, had parked my brand new cargo trailer in the driveway so I could unload my belongings. Along comes one of the neighbors out to meet me and to welcome me to the neighborhood, so I thought. During the conversation, she quizzed me about my trailer. I tell her I use it to haul my dirt bike to the hills or to move from job to job. A couple days latter I receive a notice from the homeowners association saying I'm in violation of the rules and subject to a fine if I don't immediately remove it from the front driveway/street. It can be parked on the side of the house covered and fenced in and not visible from the front or from the golf fairway in the back (impossible since the houses are built 5 feet from the lot line and of course all fences I find out have to be approved by the architectural committee - what a bunch of BS and property rights invasion - someone needs to get a life). After I received the letter I made sure to conduct a survey of the subdivision to check the trailer rule compliance....I found 10 plus cargo, horse, and RV trailers and several motorhomes and one tractor trailer rig, but apparently I'm the eyesore for this particular neighbor! Did I mention she had two annoying barking dogs that would bark at all hours of the day and night! Unbelievable!!

So, I hope you enjoyed my rant. All I can offer is the next time you hear a hypocrite sound off, exercise your freedom of speech and intelligently put them in their place.

Sincerely,
Goldminer