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WALZ BLASTED BY FELLOW DEMOCRAT OVER DM&E; CONGRESSWOMAN CALLS WALZ’S CRITCISM OF LOAN “ABSURD HYPERBOLE”
By Michael B. Brodkorb | February 6, 2007
"The rail expansion was a central campaign theme for freshman Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.), who will drop off stacks of personal comments from residents in his district at the Transportation Department today. Walz and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) have asked House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) to examine the circumstances behind the DM&E proposal, and Walz said late last week that Waxman has requested documents from Transportation officials.
Herseth, however, has responded with her own request that Waxman stay out of the issue, calling Walz's and Maloney's criticism of the loan 'absurd hyperbole' and suggesting that the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, not Government Reform, assume jurisdiction over the DM&E application.
'If my colleagues disagree' with the transportation bill’s 2005 changes to the railroad-loan program, Herseth wrote to Waxman on Dec. 20, '… the proper recourse is to seek changes in the law, not to engage in political grandstanding under the guise of legitimate oversight.'" Source: The Hill, February 6, 2007
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20 Responses to “WALZ BLASTED BY FELLOW DEMOCRAT OVER DM&E; CONGRESSWOMAN CALLS WALZ’S CRITCISM OF LOAN “ABSURD HYPERBOLE””
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February 6th, 2007 at 10:28 am
I think the DM&E project is great. It’s good for South Dakota, good for the utilities in getting coal to plants considering the current rail infrastructure is at capacity. Good for SW Minnesota farmers and other shippers.
Michael, if you have any contact with Norm’s people, tell them that not to be stupid about this. It looks like Coleman wants to kiss up to Rochester as he needs to carry that area heavily in 2008, but trying to block a project that means 100’s if not thousands of jobs to South Dakota is not the way to do it.
February 6th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Oh, and Waxman’s an idiot.
February 6th, 2007 at 10:46 am
How Many South Dakotans will be voting in the Minnesota House or Senate races in 2008?
Norm and Tim are correct in opposing this plan, just as the Dakotan’s are right in supporting it. It will be good for them, and bad for us. I want a senator and a congressman who will vote on my behalf. If I wanted to be represented by people who cared about the Dakotas, I would probably MOVE TO THE DAKOTAS.
But, as they say, any cheap shot in a storm, ‘eh Michael?
February 6th, 2007 at 10:59 am
Any time you dismantle a major component of the U.S. health care system that has taken two centuries to build in order to gamble that a railroad hauling COAL from which to make ethanol is a sound business proposition you are smoking something.
We will want a recorded vote on the Hill for any action taken on DM&E. Herseth is merely trying to weazel out of responsibility because she she’s she made a major goof supporting DM”&E. As for Coleman, he’s up in 2008 and we are watching as South Dakota’s Teapot Dome Scandal of the Century finally comes into public view. Go back and do your homework! A Wharton graduate did not cook this up; a politician did.
February 6th, 2007 at 11:17 am
Fred and Norma,
You guys are both wrong. Do some objective research on this, not paranoid Rochester talking points.
Most of the traffic will be diverted long before it gets that far east. The few trains still on that route by the time they get to Rochester will glide through town at about 25 mph on heavy welded rail. Have either of you ever been trackside along a modern well-maintained railway?
Can you provide me with destinations east/south of Winona were all these coal trains are to go?
February 6th, 2007 at 11:21 am
Fred, I do not one my Senator killing jobs in another state due to paranoia and poor information. I expect my Senators to be above that and be more ethical.
February 6th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
Dave-
When you look at the statistics on the Federal Railroad Administration’s website
you will find that Minnesota has four Class 1 railroads (Burlington Northern Sante Fe, Canadian Pacific, Union Pacific and Canadian National) then, there is the DM&E, which through annual profits is considered a mid-size or Class 2 railroad. DM&E had more accidents than all but one of the Class 1 railroads last year.
This is not the sort of safety record we should reward with a multi-billion bailout so that they can run trais past our best medical facility? And since when did Republicans join the chorus for corprate welfare?
February 6th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
Fred,
The main reason they have a high accident rate is due to the horrible condition of the physical plant. The huge bucko’s that will be invested here will make this into a world class freight hauler. I have a friend who works out of Weseca on the DME. He is looking forward to the rehab.
How about 35E and 494 being along hospitals in St Paul. How can those hospitals run.
February 6th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
Folks, the $2.3 billion loan would be on top of a $233 million gift DM&E received from taxpayers in 2003, so why not up the ante? It would be cheaper for Dem Herseth to give every person living in South Dakota a couple hundred thousand dollars than it would be to subsidize DM&E, a private railroad with a shaky past that has virtually no chance (or intentions) of paying taxpayers back. This, all to subsidize DM&E’s competition into an already competitive market. Any free market, conservative worth his or her salt should be offended by this loan.
Coleman is smart to lead on this issue and protect the third largest city in MN and the largest private employer in the state. The National Taxpayers Union, Citizens Against Government Waste, Minnesota Taxpayers League and former House Speaker Dick Armey’s 800,000-member FreedomWorks coalition all agree.
February 6th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Dave-
I would create a thousand jobs for Minnesota if they were just to give me 2 billion dollars.
Where should I go to get my check?
February 6th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Fred, I will try to talk to gov’t into loaning you that money if you create a thousand jobs and will be able to pay it back on a fixed schedule.
I hate gov’t subsidies, corporate welfare, etc. I see the Army Corp of Engineers as just big corp welfare for the barge companies.
You can oppose this project, but use facts please. The Mayo clinic (aka center of the universe) will not be harmed any more then Regions Hospital is harmed by 35E or St Lukes Hospital in Duluth was harmed by the I-35 extension a few years back.
-ask the utilities if there is competition to haul coal. Rates are raising and service is getting worse (although the Utilities won’t invest one dime in transportatin infrastructure).
-I’m about as right wing/free market as they come, but I see this as a good investment. I don’t have as much of a problem if you oppose it just because you don’t like gov’t loans, but the people in Rochester are not being truthful. That raises red flags about those who oppose the project.
February 6th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
This is a complicated issue, so it’s understandable how MDE readers might not know the details. If the coal trains come through, and the FRA in its’ ruling last week said they expect 100%, or all 37 trains to come through Rochester to Winona; Minnesota and local cities can expect to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for mitigation. There is no precedent for railroads to pay mitigation. It’s on taxpayers, and that’s just one of the reasons the anti-tax groups are against it. DM&E is one of only two railroads in the US being officially watched by the FRA. It isn’t because they have old track, it’s because they don’t train their employees and don’t have enough inspections of bridges, crossings, and track. Everything I said about # of trains and safety is online at the FRA, if people don’t believe it.
February 6th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
“and the FRA in its’ ruling last week said they expect 100%, or all 37 trains to come through Rochester to Winona;”
To clarify, it’s 17 loads, 17 empties max out of the coal fields. (and 3 general freights). Even if this many run, many will be diverted long before they reach Rochester.
According to friends in the industry, about 45 trains a day go through La Crosse with no problems. About 55 through Moorehead. Have you been to the waterfront in Wayzata? They have built all kinds of things along the tracks there. And yes, coal trains go through Wayzata.
But yes, it’s not really a subject for MDE, and certainly not a partison one.
February 6th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
Sorry Dave, you’re wrong. Read the FRA report, no diversion of coal trains. If you have some facts, point them out, like where exactly along the line the trains will be diverted. I’m sure the communities would like to know, so they can prepare, maybe even ask for an EIS. And you’re right, some places can handle lots of trains, especially places that have had decades of dozens of trains, so appropriate infrastructure can develope around it.
February 6th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
Someone told me to do my research several blogs earlier. I have indeed researched this: South Dakota had the largest bailout for drought in history in 2006. American taxpayers paid for water to be trucked in, for access to reservoirs urgently needed by a major city be created; and overall $ to sustain farmers who had no income for crops. How do you make ethanol? With water. Lots of water. It is a statistic reality that neither Dakotas nor Minnesota have a water table sufficient to sustain agriculture in difficult years, certainly not an ethanol industry. Again, the business package for DM&E was inept, flawed from the outset, the premise was not based upon reaality (for anyone but DM&E. How farmers of the region suckered on this is the amazing question. Who is running your Farm Bureau and Farmers Union to have bought into this fiasco? BTW, on the matter of Mayo: if you will research the web, you will see documented that people in the Lakes region living next to coal trains are suffering from emphysema, cancer, and heart disease related to air pollution. This week the New England Jouranl of Medicine documented this in an extensive study. Be careful what you say about Mayo unless you know whereof you speak. BTW, I am NOT from Mayo; I am from VIRGINIA working with the second largest cancer support group in the nation — many of whom go to Mayo. Mayo today is spearheading a major $5.9 million dollar research project to permit early identification of family members at risk for Alzheimers. Mayo is engaged in vaccine production and research for the military. The list goes on and on and on.
This is NOT a Mayo Clinic issue: This is a University of Minnesota issue, a National Institutes of Health Issue, A National Cancer Institute issue — Mayo is a designated NCI Research Center..in addition to all the patient care.
Who did the city of New Orleans ask to provide follow up, and continuing medical care after Katrina? Mayo. A team has been there for the past 10 days. Mayo Clinic has its feet squarely on the ground of reality. Do you all always take wooden nickels so readily from your politicians?
February 6th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
Bob, don’t know if this thread is still alive, but for one would be Owatonna. The DME purchased the ICE, which it crosses in Owatonna. Gives it a more direct route to the south and the long haul for rates (keeps the trains on the system much longer then turning them over to the CP at Winona, therefore more revenue). That’s the main one, but also could hand some over to the UP in Mankato, for example, trains going to the Black Dog power plant in Burnsville or those heading into central and eastern Wisconsin (Weston, Green Bay). Maybe some to the BNSF via Marshall but haven’t heard anything about that yet.
Bob, take Amtrak to Chicago some time and look at the suburban sprawl along busy freight lines ouside of Milwaukee and Chicago.
February 7th, 2007 at 7:57 am
Dave, I got news for you: The FRA report specifically mentions coal can’t go down the ICE. Like I said, read the report.
February 7th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
Just did a quick scan of the document. From a quick reading, it looks like it says that before the DM&E can use it’s IC&E subsidairy, another environmental inquiry needs to be done (p 11), to which the DM&E asked that this process be speeded up. Interesting, I have never heard of this for an increase in traffic on existing rail lines. The opponents are getting creative. I can’t imagine this not getting approved as there is no precidence (that I know of) for this. P 26 talks about the connections at Owatonna and Mankato that may be used to divert the coal trains. Also says that if an agreement can’t be made with the UP (which wisely kept ownership at these key points), a new track may be built at Owatonna to connect the two routes.
February 7th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
[...] Congressman Walz is a member of the majority party in the U.S. House of Representatives and a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Rather than engaging in what a fellow Democrat called "absurd hyperbole" on the prosed DM&E railroad expansion, Walz should start acting like the "independent leader for Southern Minnesota" he claimed he would be and ACTUALLY take a position. posted by Michael B. Brodkorb at 1:10 pm [...]
February 7th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Dave, like I said, DM&E can’t use the IC&E link for coal. They do need to do an EIS for whatever lines they have that they want to use for coal. BTW, a speedy EIS is a contradiction in terms. Don’t hold your breath. The situation in Mankato is a separate issue, it’s not about diverting trains, but the best path through the town.