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Rail capacity concerns

Levi Taylor, Ypsilanti

There’s been a lot of talk about rail capacity in the state and while issues do exist, the tone and understanding should be refocused.

Often, the same commentators citing the need for rail capacity will argue against or give credence to those opposing pipeline expansions in our state. As a farmer I face more challenge and expense in shipping corn and soybeans, and those folks do far more damage protesting for a cause while blocking real-life answers to solving the issue.

Importantly, it isn’t an us-or-them issue when it comes to the export capacity of our transportation networks. The oil industry struggles with the same challenges, and earns approximately $8 less per barrel shipped from the Bakken. That’s more than $2 million per day in lost revenue for the state’s production taxes and royalty owners. Farmers and the agriculture industry have lost an estimated $67 million in opportunity costs associated with delayed rail congestions and getting their grains to market.

The interest to shift oil from rail to pipeline is there. Look no further than to a new $2 billion pipeline from Enbridge that will carry 200,000 barrel per day or Minnesota Pipe Line which announced a 185,000 barrel per day expansion. Add what could be carried by the Keystone XL (100,000) and these three projects alone could reduce the oil carried by rail by more than 50 percent per day, providing greater export capacity for agriculture.

We can’t have an attitude of agriculture versus energy. The Bakken has brought record tax revenue and new opportunities for agriculture. New plans for fertilizer plants in our state will use natural gas from the Bakken and bring reliable input supplies to our state’s farmers and jobs to communities. Together, strong agriculture and oil and gas industries diversify our state’s economy, secure our energy supply, and power job creation from farmhands and laborers to electrical engineers and management.

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