News / Brèves Food Weapon / Arme alimentaire Back to previous selection / Retour à la sélection précédente Obama Oil-Fracking Boom in the Dakotas Sucks up Rail Capacity; Stalls Out Shipments of Fertilizer, Food—a Wall Street Success! 15 April 2014 (LPAC)—The "Fracking Great Oil Boom" of Obama/Wall Street in the United States, is centered in Texas and North Dakota. Shipping out oil by rail from the Bakken Shale region of the Dakotas and Montana, is right now disrupting the entire northern High Plains and Prairie Provinces agriculture system. In the northern farm-belt, wheat and bean shipments are months behind; fertilizer is lacking for Spring planting. Farmers and local dealers face ruin. The oil trains are sucking up all the rail capacity—a Wall Street success story. This situation—also in western Canada—adds to the national and international food supply crisis, already underway, given the drought in the Texas-California region, and the impact of fracking at large, to divert scarce water away from food and other essential use. "We have crops we cannot sell; we have discounts [loss in prices received for their product) that are historical. And now, we won’t have to plant half our acres because we can’t get our crops to market. This is the biggest crossroads in our history. We cannot secure enough fertilizer to plant our crops this year." This was said at a hearing in Washington, D.C. April 10, held by the Surface Transportation Board (of the Transportation Department), by North Dakotan, Brian Schanilec, a fifth generation farmer, and president of the Forest River Bean Co. Nationally, shipments of oil and coal now account for 48% of all rail cargo transported in the U.S., mostly due to the spectacular rise in fracked oil production. In 2009, North Dakota produced 200,000 barrels of oil a day; today, it is about 1.1 million a day. This is the London/Cheney/Obama "Saudi Arabia" plan, for the U.S. to become geopolitical oil-and-gas leader of the universe. Wall Street is making billions off it, in particular, Warren Buffett, whose BNSF RR (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) is part of his Berkshire Hathaway holdings. BNSF, which dominates the Bakken shale oil shipments, and is screwing the Upper Midwest farmbelt. Par for the course. Buffett is not only practicing good "business" per Wall Street, but is part of the fascist "philanthropy" wing of the British Empire—collaborating with Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg et al in the Gates Foundation and other international operations, committed to implementing de-population, i.e. genocide. - All Agriculture Sectors Slammed - FERTILIZER. Farmer cooperatives in the Dakotas have been unable to receive or line up timely shipments of fertilizer for Spring planting. The state needs some 800,000 tons of nitrogen-based fertilizer each year, and it isn’t there. Some co-operatives have even quit pre-selling fertilizer, because they can’t line up delivery. North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven (R) said yesterday, he got a promise from BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) over the weekend to move some fertilizer faster. I.e., Warren Buffett says, "Trust me, peon." CORN. The North Dakota Farmers Union President Mark Watne told the April 10th hearing, "We have heard from co-op managers who believe that 85% of this year’s corn crop [2013] is still in either on-farm or warehouse storage. They also believe there is a good chance that this year’s crop will not be moved before the new crop has to go into storage. To take this even one step further, there is a growing fear that cooperatives will not be able to get access to the fertilizer needed to plant this year’s crop." South Dakota Agriculture Sec. Lucas Lentsch told the hearing that at least 11,000 rail-cars have been delayed for grain. The elevators are having problems with spoilage; many cannot accept any more grain for storage. S.D. Gov. Dennis Daugaard has warned his state could become the world’s "warehouse for grain," if the rail system isn’t changed. WHEAT. Shipments out are running at least a month behind. In Canada, some 6 million tons of wheat have backed up, and can’t move. Farmers are taking losses. Many can’t sell. The Canadian government is entertaining a national rules change, to allow interconnection of Canadian and U.S. rail services, by the U.S-headquarterd BNSF, which is already failing on the U.S. side of the border! The Minnesota Grain and Feed Association Director Robert Zelenka, told the April 10 hearing that, "One of our biggest concerns looking forward is the likelihood of going into the Fall’s harvest with elevators close to full of grain and no freight to ship it. This will create some major problems, which will back onto farm storage and harvest delays." Zelenka also cited, "the recurring problem with the movement and placement of propane for this Fall’s grain drying needs and home heating." The Upper Midwest propane shortages and hyperinflation are another aspect of the Obama/Cheney "Saudi Arabia" energy syndrome. NGLs-natural gas liquids, are being exported like crazy; domestic users be damned. BEANS. North Dakota is the top U.S. producer, and exporter of edible beans, accounting for 50% of U.S. output of dry edible beans (white navy, red kidney, etc.) The beans have to have timely handling to stay in good shape, and retain quality. But railcars for bean shippers are running up to three months behind. Shanilec, a leader of the North Cantral Bean Dealers Association, said, they can’t get the railcars. "We are asking for 4,000 cars a year and the oil industry is shipping 36,000 cars a month." [Marcia Merry Baker]