Holy Cow! Amtrak Runs on Beef … Sort Of

Amtrak has jumped into the fight against fossil fuels by looking directly at one of America’s most abundant resources: Cows.

Amtrak is currently running its Heartland Flyer train on a mix of
traditional diesel fuel and biodiesel produced from cow products, in an
experiment that Amtrak argues could make railroads more eco-friendly.

The Heartland Flyer uses about 100,000 gallons of diesel fuel each
year to move 84,000 people. For this one-year test run, Amtrak will
replace 20 percent of that fuel with biodiesel, produced from tallow
from Texas cows. The fat from the cattle, which is normally used to
make animal feed and soap, will now instead help power a train.

Not everyone is on board.  Here’s what PETA had to say:

“The answer to pollution is not to use the ground up remains of
tortured animals for fuel.  Anything using animal remains is going to
be both depleting of and polluting of our environment.”

Personally, I think I’m just gonna hitch a saddle on a cow and ride it around.  Best of both worlds.  Cow gets to live, I get a cow powered vehicle. 

Oh, who am I kidding!  I eat upwards of 1 pound of beef a day.  And the amount of fat that gets rendered out via the ever amazing George Foreman Grill could power a small city. 

Be like the Native Americans, if you’re going to kill an animal, use everything!  Right on Amtrak for thinking outside the box.