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Editorial -- Study takes hard look at ethanol transportation iss Tuesday, April 8, 2008
A just-released study takes a long, hard look at Minnesota's ability to transport ethanol.
The study, released by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and co-sponsored by the Minnesota Corn Growers Association and USDA, was designed to examine and record issues associated with the transportation of ethanol and its co-products.
The study found several issues that have arisen or may arise as ethanol output continues to expand.
The challenges include slow rail car turnaround time; limited market destinations that can handle ethanol; poor track conditions and a need for more money to upgrade tracks; the capacity of the current track system to efficiently move ethanol and its byproducts; unreliable transportation services; and railroads unwillingness to seek more public funds out of concern about more government oversight of their operations.
These concerns, as expected, led to a recommendation from ethanol plant managers that a pipeline be built to move denatured ethanol. That proposal makes sense, given that railroad infrastructure improvements are expected to be slow at best, if not outright derailed by intense public opposition.
Minnesota has made a multi-million dollar commitment to rail, but that involves light rail that it is hoped will ease highway congestion in the Twin Cities area. The proposed upgrade of the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad -- designed to carry coal from the west to eastern markets and at the same time improve transportation efficiency all along the line -- has been dogged by determined opposition from the city of Rochester and Mayo Clinic.
Since the project started more than a decade ago, DM&E has been sold to a Canadian railroad and the future of the upgrade remains very much in doubt.
The report issued last month is timely, and raises new concerns about the transportation system's future ability to handle increased shipping demands. Farmers and agribusinesses have long been concerned that decaying transportation infrastructure will limit business opportunities in the future. Improvements in the Upper Mississippi River lock and dam system are a vital part of upgrading the system.
Beyond ethanol's transportation needs, Minnesota needs to move aggressively to address these issues.
The Minnesota study, released last month, will be followed by similar ones in Iowa and Kansas. Those studies will likely increase momentum to upgrade the rail system or build a pipeline to move ethanol more efficiently across the Midwest. |
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