OK! Who has read Chris Hedges book “Empire of
Illusion” or listen to His Lectures on Foratv.org.???
All the answers are there just READ. Chris is very
good at explaining world events and history of. I
don`t always see it His way but I always respect His
WAY-opinion, perspective and emotional cultural
value. Corporate dictatorship along with the Military
industrial corporations-complex happens to be Chris`s
playground. Being quite a few years older than Mr.
Hedges, and having kept up with current global events
for 55 years, makes it easy for me to understand and
appreciate Chris Hedges….. gifts of aging. Peter.

Old timers remember Mrs. Roosevelt visiting the prisoner of war camps, and seeing pale prisoners on beds with apparently fresh linen but smelling of mothballs from storage… Care packages also distributed on days she visited!  GULAG ARCHIPELAGO recounts Stalin’s use of trucks painted up to look like produce and meat delivery vehicles, to transport prisoners around Moscow.  So what’s new?

Oil companies like BP and Chevron and Shell can alert their respective boards of directors and shareholders to the ramifications of Peaking Oil, and begin deliberate program of shifting assets to (Large scale) renewable energy generation and sustainable transport infrastructure.  They could, and if they do so as leaders, not when the hour is too late, they will ride the wave instead of the whirlpool.

China is doing two newsworthy things right now: building some 15 million cars this year; and, almost a state secret, embarked on the largest railway engineering infrastructure projects by value and mileage in world history.  USA railway mileage needs to be drastically increased to meet the twin challenges of Peaking Oil, and climate issue requisites.  This is germane to the oil extraction problems we face going forward, in a big way.

To include ways and means along with a suggestion is useful, so here follows some lines on HOW.  Interested individuals and employees should get some planner’s aids.  Maps of extant and legacy railway lines can be obtained from spv.co.uk and are contained in US Rail Map Atlas Volumes from that source.  Also, vintage “RAILWAY GUIDE” volumes are useful, see circa 1920-1940 for best mileage inclusion.  For instance, Rahm Emmanuel can look up Chicago area electric rail lines like the Chicago, South Shore & South Bend, and the Chicago, Aurora & Elgin, to show his boss how transport was done before imported oil became a necessity.  Like, when the USA was a lending not a borrowing nation, energy independent.  Imagine that.

Oil companies can “adopt” strategic agricultural traffic rail corridors, dormant branchlines now using truck haul only.  Not the whole job; a dozen or so across the country would get the ball rolling.  Joined by reformed Army/Guard Railroad Operating & Maintenance Battalions in each state, the job could be done thru this decade. As the Peak Oil limits took effect, we would increase rail transport capacity at a pace needed to offset trucking fuel shortage.  Rail lines returned to service would be bidded on by private operators, and next on list “adopted” for rebuild.

Methodologies of local railway operations are nicely described in books about Spreckel’s Pacific Electric Railway in the L.A. Basin and inland empire, and CalTrans has two reports that are good resources for railway project scoping:  For a typical branchline project, see the 1991 Wilbur Smith Nevada County Railroad rebuild report.  For mainline scale project, see CalTrans’ 1995 Reno-Tahoe I-80/US50 Rail Corridor Study (early unabridged edition has best look at two corridors, one with rail and other without).  Try Tahoe Regional Planning Agency if CalTrans can’t supply early edition.

Oil companies are facing problems of extraction challenges, and renewable powered railway offers diversification opportunities giving domestic jobs, what a great change from exporting jobs!  In fact, making honest brokers of these stuffed suits would benefit everyone, maybe save some from prison terms, who knows.  There is a book, “ELECTRIC WATER”, by Christopher C. Swan (New Society Press, 2007) a compendium of local renewable power generation, potable water technology and sustainable mobility methodologies, recommended to Oil Execs and local planners and students all.

That’s the best CNN Info-tainment courtiers can come up with!?

How about—
Third Giant Underwater Oil Plume Discovered:
http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2010/05/third-giant-underwater-oil-plume.html

Top Kill Is Failing, Source Tells NY Times:
http://gothamist.com/2010/05/28/top_kill_is_failing_source_tells_ti.php

Both the Mud-Shot and Junk-Shot have failed. Earlier in the day BP appears to have severed the bent riser from the BOP, which is now spewing/gushing out the black liquid:
http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/homepage/STAGING/local_assets/bp_homepage/html/rov_stream.html

Peace, Best Wishes and Hope