Federal Railroad Administration says: No.
From a release issued by the Federal Railroad Administration:
FRA Administrator Denies DM&E Powder River Basin Loan Application Citing Unacceptable Risk to Federal TaxpayersThis is bad news for South Dakota. That's $2.3 billion worth of infrastructure enhancement and economic development that we are not going to see.
Contact: Steve Kulm
Telephone: 202-493-6024
Monday, February 26, 2007 (Washington, DC) Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph H. Boardman today denied a $2.3 billion Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) loan application from the Dakota, Minnesota, & Eastern (DM&E) railroad concluding it posed an unacceptably high risk to federal taxpayers.
In a decision released today, Boardman found that while the Powder River Basin project met some of the RRIF program’s statutory requirements, there remained too high a risk concerning the railroad’s ability to repay the loan even with an appropriate combination of credit risk premiums and collateral.
He said he was concerned by several factors, including the DM&E’s current highly leveraged financial position; the size of the loan relative to the limited scale of existing DM&E operations; and the possibility that the railroad may not be able to ship the projected amounts of coal needed to generate enough revenue to pay back the loan.
In addition, Boardman cited concerns that the application did not sufficiently address how the railroad would handle potential cost overruns and schedule delays with the Powder River Basin construction project.
Boardman reached his final decision after reviewing the DM&E application using the criteria set by Congress for the RRIF loan program and following an environmental review of the proposed project.
DM&E had applied for the RRIF loan to finance construction of a new 280-mile rail line to Wyoming’s Powder River Basin coal mines and to reconstruct approximately 600 miles of existing track in South Dakota and Minnesota.
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Comments
Has this guy ever been able to get something done by himself?
Gee-whiz.
Yes, all by himself
Thune's position was pro-DME and consistent all along for the past 10-15 years. Daschle and Janklow were the flip floppers who bent over for whoever had the checkbook.
And 7:41, also a good point. The Can't Get Over It crowd gleefully blamed Thune when Ellsworth made the hit list, but refused to give him credit when it was saved. There are many independent people who said that Thune did more to save Ellsworth than ANYBODY. So I don't think we need to write off DME either.
BUWAHAHAHAHAHA!
I'M GLAD OL' KEVIN S. GOT A SETBACK HERE. Take the railroad, the "economic development", the "infrastructure upgrades" and shove 'em.
BUWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
This is GREAT news for South Dakota. I guess Minnesota, too.
I'm embarassed they were ever elected to anything in South Dakota
Tom
This goes back to college days for Janklow and Pressler. They have kept a good feud going for many years.
I think we should be putting trillions into wind energy for generation of hydrogen and methanol and shift from coal and foreigh petroleum as fast as possible. What were the ecological impacts of the DM&E hauling coal or will that hauling be handled well enough by existing railroads and they can take the blame.
I could not understand why the DM&E could not figure out a way to run around the Mayo, etc. and have avoided generating them as enemies.
As far as Thune goes, I've never met a more honorable man. I'm sick of watching the DM&E Opposition go after him with their lies. Klobuchar and Walz can say what they want but the real truth is that money won out over what was right.