Texans' taxes buy terrific trains
Almost a hundred new ultra-low-emission locomotives are cruising the rails in Texas (98 total, with 46 based in Dallas-Fort Worth, 43 in Houston, and nine in San Antonio) thanks mostly to a $75 million Texas Commission on Environmental Quality grant. According to this article in the Dallas Morning News, the $75m covered about 75 percent of the cost of the Union Pacific Corp.'s 98 new locomotives, which would mean that each one costs roughly a million dollars. The good news? "Officials said Wednesday that the benefits to Texas air quality would be even larger than they bargained for," DMN reporter Brendan Case writes. He continues:Union Pacific places a value of $118 million on the emissions the new locomotives will eliminate over the 10-year agreement with the state. That's 57 percent more than the amount of the state's grant. Compared with the older engines being replaced, Union Pacific's new ones cut emissions of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter 54 percent to 63 percent, while using about 30 percent less fuel, the railroad company said. Diesel locomotives emit about 26 tons per day of smog-causing nitrogen oxides in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, just under 7 percent of the region's total "Nox" emissions, according to the TCEQ.
The locomotives were built by the Montreal-based RailPower Technologies Corp.
So, for $75 million, Texans get $118 million worth of emissions not pumped into the air? Don't quite know how they calculated the figures, but am I reading that right? If so, that's one heck of an investment return.
[Source: Brendan Case / Dallas Morning News, h/t to Domenick, from whom I also cribbed the headline]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
PJD 6:24PM (12/18/2007)
If we insist upon trying to sell environmental projects by attaching $$$ to them at least do the math for us. While $118M return, annualized like an annuity, spread over 10 years from a $75M upfront investment might be a pretty good return, I wouldn't call it "one heck of a return."
It may be a great deal in terms of cleaner air, especially for those living near the train yards. Problem is the average newspaper reader in Dallas may be more concerned with the $$$ than with the people. I'd much rather see coverage focus on the human benefit rather than trying to spin it in monetary terms.
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mike 12:40AM (12/19/2007)
This is the only REAL good news today.
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rem83 9:09AM (12/19/2007)
If Texans were actually concerned about their air quality they'd stop driving so many pickup trucks and large SUVs. Every other vehicle I see on the road in Houston has a V8 in it.
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dlm3 10:45AM (12/19/2007)
Texas is a big place. Pickup trucks and SUVs are excellent transportation for the vast majority of people in the Houston region which covers more land area than some states in the northeast and is one of the largest industrial cities (chemical, petroleum & shipping) in the United States.
It should strike no one as particularly odd that there are so many pickup trucks - most people living in or around the city need to be able to carry large loads as part of their work - which can be anything from farming and ranching to ironwork and heavy machinery maintenance.
Add to the traffic the hundreds of thousands of tractor trailers and large trucks carrying goods to and from the port and then ask yourself this question:
Given all that, which would you rather drive ? A Toyota Yaris or a Ford Expedition ? Which is more likely to survive an impact with a well-laden pickup truck or tractor trailer ? And if you have children, do you want a small, lightweight car that gets good gas mileage, or something with a little more sheet metal and all the airbags you can buy to keep you safe in an accident ?
I'm all for small cars. Porsche 911. Audi R8. BMW M3. Lotus Exige. But I don't want to be an accident statistic, and in an argument between a pickup truck and a small car, the small car loses every time.
Can't say I'm terribly happy that the state is subsidizing union pacific to the tune of $75M, however. They are very pretty locomotives, but I wonder how much real benefit we will derive from the state's largesse. I'm guessing not much.
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