COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHY ISN’T LONG AND SKINNY ALWAYS OUT OF STYLE? 
“Maybe it is just me, but I feel like the folks that are for the high speed rail are the same people that are against the Dakota pipeline. The HSR will undoubtedly have large environmental concerns for the state.” [Bocepheus, commenting on High Speed Rail Case Heads to Trial] Illustration: Lulu
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Yes, it’s just you.
The threat of leaking a million gallons of high API crude into deep highly porous glacial sand soil deposits is quite a bit different than rerouting drainage and elevating some areas… I don’t think that’s a winning argument. Not that I am for the rail by any means. Murky big money is behind this rail project. All the signs of a private-equity screw job are there. Good luck to the farmers and property owners out there.
Any chance yall were around Houston on tax day or Memorial day? You know when us Houstonians were attacked by the very environment we cautiously live in. I bet throwing up a more murky big money development deals, will help said environment. I mean the people that stand to benefit the most from it, say so.
I used to think like you. I had decided that “saving the environment” was idiotic because it conflicted with my world view that no one or thing should get in the way of my enjoyment of life. So, I looked for any apparent hypocrisies that I could use as an excuse to write off an argument. But I grew up and it turns out that reality isn’t so simple. There are various types of environmental impacts to weight against any time we build anything. Even though that’s true, there is such a thing as a balance – where we can have a well functioning natural ecosystem and its services alongside our civilization and still lead profitable, modern lives. We have science to help tell us how much we would impact the environment, can put a price on it, and make a thoughtful decision about it.
Adulting makes sense. A good idea isn’t ruined by the acts of a hypocrite but exposes them for what they are. They’re only committed to their ideas when its convenient thus making them the wrong spokeperson. I think that’s what people are attacking, not the idea.
This reminds me of that time I poured used motor oil in my garden, and someone told me that was really bad for the plants and the environment
I replied, if you have no problem with me pouring liquid water on my plants, then you should have no problem with me pouring motor oil! You know, since both of them are liquid.
/s
rail vs pipeline is a discussion. there’s a reason that oil companies want to use pipelines rather than tanker cars in trains. they get more product from A to B via pipelines than via rail.
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whether these pipelines are built or not, the product is going to be shipped from where it is being produced to where it will be refined. are we going to ship it via pipeline, or are we going to ship it via rail?
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every year we ship more oil via rail because supposed environmentalists are trying to protect our environment by blocking these pipelines. they should realize by now that their manipulations are creating more oil spills.
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another interesting effect of shipping all this oil via rail is that all the other stuff that used to be transported by rail is now stuck in trucks, a very inefficient form of transport compared to rail. and it makes it harder for us all to move around.
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Blocking the construction of pipelines is one of the stupidest things that environmentalists can do. and I’m a pretty big environmentalist myself.