This is the kind of stuff that should have been going on for the past 10 or 15 years, not two. As we all know, the burning of fossil fuels (oil & gas for those of you in Parma, OH) creates pollution. The jury is still out as to whether this contributes dramatically to global warming or other climate changes, but there is not dispute that pollution just isn’t good for people. It makes the skies dingy, and our cities smell. Just take a look at Denver, right at the base of Rockies. A beautiful city with a beautiful backdrop, if it wasn’t for that brown cloud hanging overhead, so visible against the white snow of the mountains in the winter.
The folks at Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) railroad are developing a fuel cell locomotive. This project, if successful (and I”m certain it will be) would free our railways from the bonds of foreign oil dependence and produce zero emissions - well, that isn’t completely true, it will produce emissions, but the emissions produced will be water, nothing else.
If BNSF can get their trains running on hydrogen fuel cells – and I’m certain they will within the next five years or so – then I can only imagine the next transportation system to make the switch will be over-the-road trucks. That would be so nice to not see those giant rigs spewing all that brown/black gunk into the air. I’m no environmentalist, and I’m certainly not a subscriber to Al Gore’s doomsday cult, but I’m also not naive enough to believe breathing that stuff is good for anyone.
Last year the feds kicked over about $2 million to BNSF to help in their endeavor and this year they are going to kick over about $2.4 million. And I have to tell you, with as much crap as the federal government spends money on, this is something I don’t mind my tax dollars going towards. That is, as long as BNSF has to share the technology straight away, and not hold the rest of the railway industry hostage to their whims.
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January 10th, 2008 
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