(The following story by George Hohmann appeared on the Charleston Daily Mail website on October 7, 2010.)
NORFOLK, Va. — Norfolk Southern said it undertook one of its largest coal loadings of the last 20 years on Sept. 29 at its Pier 6 trans-loading facility at Lamberts Point in Norfolk, Va.
The railroad said it loaded 152,681 tons of metallurgical coal into the Merchant Vessel Linda Dream.
The coal came from Integrity Coal’s mines in Pennsylvania and West Virginia and Mechel’s mines in Virginia and West Virginia, said Norfolk Southern Spokesman Robin Chapman.
It took 1,475 railroad coal cars to deliver the coal to the dock.
The coal is destined for ThyssenKrupp Steel in The Netherlands.
The Linda Dream – 948 feet long and 147-feet, 8-inches wide – is one of the larger vessels to call at Pier 6.
Norfolk Southern said it has been transferring coal and coke from railroad cars into ocean-going export and domestic vessels in the Lamberts Point area since 1884.
In the first half of the 1900s, new piers featured improvements in speed and capacity and “even loaded coal into a number of famous vessels, such as those used in Admiral Byrd’s 1933 Antarctica expedition,” the railroad said.
West Virginia led the nation in coal exports during the first half of this year. It seems the coal export business is still booming.
As previously reported, Pennsylvania – which has a large portion of the Marcellus Shale natural gas play and has already attracted industry investment – does not have a natural gas severance tax. That may soon change.
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a natural gas severance tax last week.
The tax, 39 cents per thousand cubic feet of natural gas, “represents the nation’s highest among shale gas producing states,” said the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry trade group. “In fact, this onerous tax on shale gas production is twice as high as West Virginia’s, currently the nation’s highest.”
The tax bill is reportedly pending in the Pennsylvania Senate.
“It Could Be Worse” Department: Some folks are upset that a 31.88-mile stretch of U.S. 35 will become a toll road after the four-lane upgrade is finished in Putnam and Mason counties. The state Department of Transportation has said the toll is expected to be $2 for passenger cars.
Consider the residents, visitors and companies who live, vacation, work or do business on Canada’s Prince Edward Island. If they want to get on or off the island in a car, they must use a ferry or the Confederation Bridge.
The ferry, which operates from May to late December, is a 75-minute trip that links Wood Islands, Prince Edward Island, and Caribou, Nova Scotia. The round-trip fare for an automobile and its passengers is $64 plus a $5 fuel surcharge.
The bridge, which is open year-round, links Prince Edward Island and the province of New Brunswick. The bridge, which cost $1 billion, opened in 1997. The round-trip fare for an automobile and its passengers is $42.50.