A questionable investment
If you were a banker around the time that Model T Fords began rolling off the assembly line, would you lend money to a manufacturer of buggy whips? Obviously not. However, loaning money to the DM&E so they can haul coal is similar to lending money to the buggy whip company.
If it is granted, the $2.3 billion taxpayer loan to the DM&E for laying and improving their railroad tracks is our investment in pollution-causing old technology for many decades to come. Usable railroad tracks have a long life. The DM&E folks say that some of their track that is in service today dates back to the 1870’s.
Thus, the taxpayer loan to the DM&E is our investment in the technology that ensures we will be burning coal to produce electricity for a very long time.
Burning coal to produce electricity has a social cost of incalculable proportions. Given its current technology, burning coal is a major cause of air and water pollution today. Water pollution should be of particular concern to South Dakota residents. Here is why and how.
Among the many pollutants produced by burning coal is a very toxic element – mercury. Ingested in even extremely small amounts, it can cause brain and nerve damage, kidney damage, and in severe cases, death.
The air pollution that is produced by burning coal is washed to earth by rain and snow. This is how mercury from electric generating plants to the west of us gets into our ground water, streams, and lakes. The food chain is affected, and as a result, infects the fish we eat.
At this very moment, pregnant women, the elderly, and children are warned to restrict their consumption of fish from South Dakota waters because of the level of mercury present in them. It is recommended they limit consumption to one normal portion a month. Walleye, Big Mouth Bass and Northern Pike are among the fish caught in Lake Oahe that have this limited consumption warning.
There are four lakes in South Dakota where ALL fish caught are restricted to ALL people’s consumption due to their high mercury content.
Recreational and sport fishing in South Dakota is a huge source of revenue to its residents and government. At the rate our waters are being polluted by coal burning, it will not be long before we become out of favor by fishing tournaments and sport tourists.
The erosion of sports tourism will happen rather quickly, should the DM&E’s expansion take place. There are about 700 hospitality beds located within 200 yards of the railroad tracks in Pierre. I do not imagine that many fishermen or hunters will want to stay in rooms located next to tracks that have speeding mile-long trains going by day and night. Those white sheets they sleep on will probably be gray after a few washings. I do not think they will appreciate all the coal dust that accumulates in every nook and cranny in their rooms and on their clothing, either.
Think about it. Do you want 34 mile-long, open-hopper, coal-hauling trains coming through the middle of Pierre every day and night?
In a future column, I will present how mercury pollution affects the DM&E’s financial assumptions.