The South Dakota Corn Growers say that Big Oil has "hijacked" the railroads and is cutting into farmers' ability to ship their harvest and access fertilizer:
Dennis Jones, a farmer near Aberdeen, S.D., and co-founder of the South Dakota Corn Growers, said that rail equipment has been “hijacked by big oil,” and farmers can’t move their corn to either the Pacific Northwest for export or to closer destinations to feed ethanol plants.
“We need to get ag products back on the track and get fertilizer here, and move the mountains of grain that should have been shipped by now,” Jones said [Tom Meersman, "Farmers Seek More Rail Capacity for Grain," Minneapolis Star Tribune, 2014.04.08].
The Corn Growers could propose solutions that would lessen farmers' dependence on the railroads: Invest in organic farming that cuts farmers' dependence on industrial fertilizer. Grow more crops that can make profit locally.
Instead, Big Ag advocates letting Big Oil hijack more of their land:
Jones said the longer-term solution to help farmers is approval of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline so that most North Dakota oil could be transported by pipeline instead of by rail [Meersman, 2014.04.08].
I know some folks who'd probably throw a corncob at your head if you told them letting a foreign company seize South Dakota farmland for an oil pipeline is good for South Dakota agriculture. But big corporate lobbies can make any statement sound plausible.
Meanwhile, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe is opening a camp near Bridger in the Cheyenne River Valley to train members of the resistance movement against the Keystone XL pipeline. Perhaps some East River farmers should cross the river, camp out for a few days after planting, and compare perspectives on respect for the land.
Cory,
We appreciate the past efforts from Denny Jones as an SDCGA founder and his time spent as a director. We also applaud his present work to alleviate the rail bottleneck that is hurting both farmers and agribusinesses. But it is worth noting that his statements are not on behalf of our organization. The rail backlog is a serious issue and is something that we have been monitoring/working on for months now. Also, SDCGA does not have a position on the proposed Keystone pipeline.
This sounds like Enron redux. Enron booked California's largest electricity transmission lines and then didn't supply the electricity so they created rolling blackouts. Enron bought electricity from Calif. for $250 per unit,sold that to Arizona for $1250/unit, bought it back and sold it back to California at 5 times the price. Then they bragged about it,all with GOP and dumb bass dubya's blessings.
SDCGA doesn't have an opinion on XL? BS, they are competitors and need the trains for both inputs and product transport. Though allied competitors could possibly describe them better.
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Get corn going back into the beef and hog and stop this clean energy nonsense and your words might hold some weight.
Even with XL online rails will still be impacted. XL has only committed 100,000 bpd for bakken oil whereas at last count they are drawing 1.2 million bpd. TransCanada fought against the onramp at Baker tooth and nail until then Gov. Schweitzer threatened to withhold common carrier status to them. Since the onramp debacle Continental Oil has withdrawn support for XL...... If anybody needs a pipeline south to alleviate the rail situation it would be Continental Oil.
Well Bret, when XL puts in those other five pipes in their theft of your land called easement, that should take a load off Berkshire's train.
If I were a corn grower I would not be a big booster of increased oil supplies. The greater the oil supply the less perceived need there is for ethanol. Already there has been lots of talk in Washington of doing away with the renewable fuel standard.
This subject came up at our dollar a month club meeting in Aberdeen today. Lots of talk by farmers who fear that big oil is using this alleged rail car shortage to blackmail us into allowing the keystone pipeline project to proceed.
You really believe Berkshire will allow his train to be used as a tool to cut into his full time oil transport so he can end up with a part time ag industry, Mark?
The Corn Groaners could solve their problem if they grew food instead of feed. Folks want food; feed, not so much. We must change these perverse subsidies for feed and apply them to human food: fruits, vegetables, etc., yes, and even organics that folks want to eat.
Thank you for the clarification, Jesse. Do you anticipate the Corn Growers taking any position on KXL or eminent domain used against corn growers in favor of Big Oil?
John, there's not as much profit in feeding people as in feeding cars, is there?
I guess for the rail industry, the question is whether they could make more money by lobbying against the pipeline and keeping their corner on the oil-shipping market.
The oil boom in ND isn't stopping anytime soon. I believe the environmental impacts of a pipeline are going to be far less intrusive than that of the rail cars. Didn't one just derail and start a massive fire not too long ago? Dennis is right on this issue as he usually is on things he takes a strong stance on.
Liberty Dick the KXL pipeline isn't going to help with the corngrowers problem...Their problem is coming from the bakken. The KXL is going to transport Canadian heavy oils. You and Dennis need to do some studying...
The North Dakota oil boom has nothing to do with a foreign company operating a foreign pipe through our country who only allowed a 125K bpd on ramp near Baker Mt to get Montana on board with the pipe.
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Liberty has everything to do with protecting our interests and public property in SD unlike our former Gov and current gov who will not step in and put Sen Maher's 2 cent a barrel spill reserve capped at 30Mil. Are you Liberty Dick, uninformed, or just another Dick?
Canadian business interests should never supercede the Consitutional rights of individual Americans.
Bret, Les, and Bree help focus us on issues about KXL to which the environmental opponents don't pay enough attention. The property rights and sovereignty issues ought to stop this pipeline cold with conservative observers. The reality of whose oil it will ship (darn little from North Dakota) and where it will ship that oil (China!) is lost in many of the economic arguments.
Pipelines and railroads both have impacts on the environment and property rights. But LibD, when we get into this debate about pipelines versus railroads, it's sort of like asking whether whether it's safer to inject heroin or smoke it. Either method sustains the addiction. The real question we ought to debate is whether we ought to be doing heroin.
Hell hath no fury like a cattleman seeing stinking shee....er...oil pipelines creeping across his best grazing!
Still, I don't think the President should just be able to single-handedly choose to not approve the pipeline. The fact that there are eminent domain abuses in my opinion has nothing to do with executive overreach.
Bree.... SD Republican party platform 1.11- The South Dakota Republican Party strongly supports private property rights.
I have searched and searched for one instance where my party has ever done so.....
Bree, you're mingling burdens there. I'd say the President should have every right to single-handedly block foreign usurpation of American citizens' property rights. If Canadians hopped across the border and annexed the Bakken oil field, the President could single-handedly order a response, right?