I am wondering if anyone knows whether the coal companies are ready for Y2K. I have seen a lot of talk about the trains hualing the coal but there ae a lot of other steps needed BEFORE the coal gets on a train. If we cannot get the coal out of the ground then the trains mean nothing. Also, the trains use a LOT of diesel fuel. Is that going to be available? Things are getting more complex by the day, aren't they?

-- Anonymous, January 31, 1999

Answers

Thanks for asking this question. Our utility provider says that their main resource is coal shipped to Texas from Wyoming.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 1999

The eastern underground mines use a lot of electricity, and the low sulfur western open pit mines use a lot of diesel oil. Someone posed the question some time ago about the likelyhood of coal bearing trains bound from Wyoming to Minnesota being able to succesfully complete their trips through areas served by maybe hundreds of separate electric utilities, each utility being subject to sporadic failures. The supposition was that no passage through a general utility region was possible unless there was electricity available for switching and signalling functions.

The same question applies to oil pipelines and gas pipelines, where there are pumping and SCADA stations every fifty or so miles along a pipeline that may run through thousands of miles, and through hundreds of electric utillty districts.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 1999