I asked Joe, a wise old fellow, what he thought of the Keystone pipeline and his instant response was, "We don't need anything that will threaten the Ogallala aquifer." He spit that out with such alacrity it seemed practiced. As if that word is on all of our lips. As long as I've known him I've not heard Joe say either of those two words before, "Ogallala" nor "aquifer" and that told me his source of information had drilled successfully that particular point to associate with Keystone. It was odd for Joe to produce the word "Ogallala" on the spot like that as he did.
"The stuff is already being transported by rail."
"So. Just as long as it doesn't threaten damage to the Ogallala aquifer. Because that cannot be fixed."
"It is already threatened by the manner it is already being transported. A pipeline is safer than rail. If you are concerned for an aquifer that you can suddenly name then you will support the safest means possible."
"Well that's to be seen. Nothing should threaten the Ogallala aquifer."
I can see this is far as I'll get. Ogallala aquifer. Well done, Media, now even Joe can bark the word on signal, and he's so pleased with himself for that ability and for his grasp of current events.
Since then two train wrecks involving oil cars has been reported, but I forget where the first one was, it happened right after our conversation, the second one was
in Illinois a few days ago and both times when I heard the reports my first thought was, "Well, well, conservative activists are finally coming out of character, finally taking a page from their adversaries, finally behaving as fiercely as environmentalist zealots by producing catastrophes to drive their points dramatically and sway political discussion, carelessly threatening lives and property in their demonstration of hazardous rail crude oil transport by creating these wrecks, and by contrast then how much safer for the environment a pipeline would be. Clever use of winter weather for plausible deniability.
I don't know how railroad companies keep their tracks together. It's a matter of continuous daily diligence. Due to geology and weather the tracks themselves are continuously moving. The earth under the tracks and around the tracks is moving.
On a train trip back to Denver from Concord and San Francisco our passenger train continually stopped along sidetracks to yield for cargo trains in the opposite direction that used the same tracks. It rained unusually as the train passed through Nevada and then through Utah. In those two states particularly there is more geology than there is vegetation covering it. The water drains down the slope the tracks traverse washing away the surface layer of soil right under the tracks creating oily psychedelic slicks and exposing older layers underneath, you can see the ballast under the tracks washing away, the water is passing right under the tracks and as passengers all sit there waiting and a kind of claustrophobia of not moving sets in and you wish you could leave the train and muck about along side wandering off not too far from the train panning for silver and gold until the train moves again. Surely the water is bringing up new metals and minerals. The entire landscape looks otherworldly, alien, uninhabited, wet and rippling with minerals to be had for the taking right off the shimmering newly exposed smooth wet surface.
All that track would require repair every time it drizzles continuously for days like that. It is impressive that there are not more rail accidents due to track displacement due to geology and weather.
