Maine: Oil crunch keeps truckers off road: railroad offers help with potato crop

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Collins calls for release of stockpile oil; railroad offers help with potato crop

By Associated Press, 2/18/2000 13:01

BANGOR, Maine (AP) The Bangor and Aroostook Railroad could be getting back into the potato shipping business, thanks to the oil crunch that is keeping some truckers off the roads.

The railroad has notified members of Maine's potato industry that it is prepared to get refrigerator cars into Aroostook County and move out potato harvests at a competitive rate, said Dan Sabin, vice president and chief operating officer of the railroad.

''We certainly don't want to see the potatoes spoil or the industry lose a lot of money because they can't get a competitive rate,'' Sabin said Friday.

Truckers generally have to travel with empty trucks to Maine's northern areas to ship potatoes out. The high price of diesel fuel has forced many truckers faced with losing money to idle their trucks in the meantime. Some farmers in Aroostook County can't find anyone to haul their potatoes south. Many truckers who normally wouldn't mind making the run north with empty trucks now won't go unless they also have a northbound load of goods.

''That leaves potato producers and the co-ops high and dry with no options,'' Sabin said.

The railroad has not carted potatoes regularly for more than 30 years because the trucking industry has taken over, Sabin said, but is looking to get back into the market.

''This is an opportunity to show the industry that we can aggressively pursue the markets that were lost to trucks,'' he said.

Meanwhile, federal officials continued efforts to address the high price of oil.

Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., have sent Energy Secretary Bill Richardson a letter urging him to tell oil ministers that unless they increase the oil output, the United States would dip into its own strategic oil reserve.

''We cannot sit idly by as OPEC continues to choke off our oil supply and manipulate our markets,'' Collins wrote.

''By signifying our willingness to draw down the SPR, not only would prices drop, but we would be sending a message to OPEC that we will fight its anti-competitive practices, which we view as an attack on our economy,'' she wrote.

Richardson has declined to use the reserve, maintaining it is designed for supply disruptions and not to influence prices.

In addition, the chairman of the House International Relations Committee is calling for foreign aid to be cut off to oil-producing nations that have slashed production.

Rep. Benjamin Gilman, R-New York, said Thursday that the United States currently provides military and economic assistance to various nations in the Organization of Oil Producing Countries. That aid should be used as leverage to encourage OPEC to help lower prices by putting more oil on the market.

''We must now make energy security our number one priority in our foreign policy,'' Gilman said.

White House spokesman Jim Kennedy said ''congressional efforts to conduct foreign policy are not particularly helpful in dealing with this serious matter.''

Gilman also said Clinton should re-examine the U.S. relationship with the OPEC nations.

Cutbacks in supply by OPEC have helped fuel soaring hearing oil costs in the Northeast. President Clinton has released all of about $300 million in low income heating assistance money and is asking Congress for another $600 million.

Richardson was heading to Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait for talks on oil prices in the coming days. His visit comes as oil ministers suggest they are open to raising their output of crude oil to restrain prices.

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/049/region/Collins_calls_for_release_of_s:.shtml

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 18, 2000

Answers

Thanks Carl, you're the man!

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 18, 2000.

"White House spokesman Jim Kennedy said ''congressional efforts to conduct foreign policy are not particularly helpful in dealing with this serious matter.'' "

He's talking about the chairman of the International Affairs Committee. It's his JOB, for Pete's sake, to give input into foreign policy. But here we have the administration that has usurped the separation of powers with executive orders more than all previous administrations combined, accusing Congress of overstepping its bounds every time it expresses an opinion (which unfortunately is rare these days, as we saw in the impeachment hearings.)

So OK, Bill, conduct foreign policy any way you want, and if we find ourselves freezing in the cold and unable to drive, and without food because the truckers can't move it, we'll tell our elected representatives to keep their collective mouths shut. Baaaaaaa. Baaaaaa.

-- Markus Archus (markus@archus.com), February 18, 2000.


This snip is taken from John Hylands oil chat,Oct 29,1999.

(Ryker) I've heard conflicting reports on the oil supply.One person saids there's a 6 month supply stored up in the US. Other reports I've heard say about 30 days. Which is right?

(DD1st Light) Neither. The stategic petroleum reserve is a bit of a myth. It is very poor grade and the ability to pump it out and then refine it is very limited. There is about a 3 1/4 day supply of refined product available in the system in normal times.

(Hylands) Since the SPR is stored in caverns, I would suspect contamination problems.

(Ryker) So, the claim of 6 month supply stored up is WAY off base?

(DD1stLight) Well,it MABE 6 months of very limited basic usage, but it would take a couple of years to get it out, transport, refine, etc. so it is basically a myth. We have deep problems some of which are not fixable-period.

End snip

IMHO, any talk of helping the oil shortage with the SPR,in the near future,is pure hog wash.According to the above snip,it would take too long to do use any good in the next few months.

The talk of OPEC possibly increasing its output of oil in March,may be another carrot.From all the post of problems with refineries and other problems with oil,we may have shortages for longer then we have been told.

-- Maggie (song bird@iwon.com), February 19, 2000.


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