If we taxed pollution there would never be high speed trains

Yglesias simply adopts deception as a standard debating tactic:

But how many [HSR travelers] would obviously depend heavily on how the price compared to the price of those flights. And that in turn would have a great deal to do with how we price pollution.

The problem he has is that he cited a Ray LaHood puff piece that says HSR is energy efficient without reference to the calculation. The University Of Calif Berkeley has trashed the life cycle energy costs for the HSR in California, and Yeglesias has no compuction about re-releasing Ray LaHood' ignorant puff piece.  When we actually start taxing pollution, Yglesias  train is the first to go.