The New American
Tuesday, 10 September 2013 15:55
The
quiet revolution going on in the energy sector as a result of fracking
is being punctuated by changes unseen and unappreciated, such as the recent announcement by
Warren Buffett’s railroad, BNSF Railway. The largest railroad in the
country, BNSF is testing the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to drive
the company’s locomotives, which currently use more diesel fuel than
any other entity except the U.S. Navy.
In the announcement, BNSF chairman Matthew Rose called the change “transformational:”
This is driving the BNSF test, according to Rose: "The changed market for natural gas in the United States is a critical part of our decision to explore it as a locomotive fuel."
BNSF isn't the first energy-dependent company to do the math, either. Waste Management (WM) has already started converting its fleet of 18,000 diesel trucks to LNG and expects to have the change-over completed soon. Said WM’s CEO David Steiner:
This is just the beginning, according to the international energy consultant firm IHS. In its recently released study America’s New Energy Future, IHS says that the increases in natural-gas supplies and resultant lowering of energy costs have already increased household incomes, boosted international trade, and raised American competitiveness. In 2012 alone, according to IHS, the average family saved $1,200 in lower energy bills and lower costs for all other goods and services. That figure is expected to continue to rise as energy costs decline, with savings approaching $2,000 by 2015 and $3,500 by the year 2025.
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In the announcement, BNSF chairman Matthew Rose called the change “transformational:”
The
use of liquefied natural gas as an alternative fuel is a potential
transformational change for our railroad and for our industry.
This pilot project is an important first step … [in] potentially reducing fuel costs and greenhouse gas emissions.
As the price of natural gas has fallen compared to the price of oil,
the economic math is increasingly persuasive. At the current price for
one million BTUs of natural gas, it would cost companies such as BNSF
less than $20 for the energy equivalent in a barrel of oil costing $110.
The explosion in natural gas in the United States has reduced the “landed price” of natural gas to
one quarter of its price in the U.K., and one fifth of its cost
elsewhere in the world. In the real world where BNSF operates, diesel
fuel costs the company nearly $4 per gallon compared to just over $2 per gallon for large LNG users — a potential savings of 50 percent.This is driving the BNSF test, according to Rose: "The changed market for natural gas in the United States is a critical part of our decision to explore it as a locomotive fuel."
BNSF isn't the first energy-dependent company to do the math, either. Waste Management (WM) has already started converting its fleet of 18,000 diesel trucks to LNG and expects to have the change-over completed soon. Said WM’s CEO David Steiner:
This
conversion makes good business sense for our company and our
shareholders because of the significant maintenance and diesel fuel cost
savings. It’s much cleaner for the environment and our LNG trucks are
much quieter.
Also doing the math is LA Metro,
the public transportation system that serves Los Angeles. LA Metro,
with the most LNG buses in the country — some 2,200 — estimates its
fleet has already driven more than one billion miles on natural gas and
has cut the release of particulates by 80 percent and greenhouse gases
by 300,000 pounds every day. In addition, it has cut its fuel costs by
between 10 and 20 percent.This is just the beginning, according to the international energy consultant firm IHS. In its recently released study America’s New Energy Future, IHS says that the increases in natural-gas supplies and resultant lowering of energy costs have already increased household incomes, boosted international trade, and raised American competitiveness. In 2012 alone, according to IHS, the average family saved $1,200 in lower energy bills and lower costs for all other goods and services. That figure is expected to continue to rise as energy costs decline, with savings approaching $2,000 by 2015 and $3,500 by the year 2025.
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Warren Buffett Buys Over $500 Million of Suncor Tar Sands Stock, Latest in "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap"
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
That's because he just bought over half a billion bucks worth of Suncor Energy stock: $524 million in the second quarter of 2013, to be precise, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Suncor is a major producer and marketer of tar sands via its wholly owned subsidary Petro-Canada (formerly Sunoco) and this latest development follows a trend of Buffett enriching himself through dirty investments and deal-making.
So far in 2013, Suncor (formerly Sun Oil Company) has produced 328,000 barrels per day of tar sands crude.
Though he receives far less negative press than the Koch Brothers, Buffett's no deep green ecologist. Not in the slightest.
Referred to as one of 17 "Climate Killers" by Rolling Stone's Tim Dickinson in a January 2010 story, Buffett owns the behemoth holding company, Berkshire Hathway. It's through Berkshire that he's making a killing - while simultaneously killing the ecosystem - through one of its most profitable wholly-owned assets: Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF).
Buffett purchased BNSF for $26 billion and was "the largest acquisition of Buffett's storied career," Dickinson wrote.
BNSF hauls around frac sand for the controversial horizontal oil and gas drilling process known as "fracking." The rail company also moves fracked oil from North Dakota's Bakken Shale basin, tar sands logistical equipment and tar sands crude itself and tons of coal. And not only does Buffett's BNSF haul around ungodly amounts of coal, he actually owns coal-burning utility companies, too.
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