Fight for fair rates: Taking the case against BNSF Railway to the Surface Transportation Board

Power plants need railroads to make electricity. Most electricity is made using coal, especially in rural areas. But few power plants sit beside a coal mine. Most of the coal needs to be delivered by rail. Take Laramie River Station a Missouri Basin Power Project-owned, Basin Electric-operated plant near Wheatland, Wyoming. Laramie River consumes about 24-thousand-tons of coal every day. Laramie River Station is a captive shipper. In 2004, BNSF Railways contract with Western Fuels expired. The railroad began charging Basin Electric and Western Fuels double what they had been for the last 20-years. Under the new rates, rural electric consumers would be paying a billion dollars more over the next 20 years. Politics were on Basin Electrics side. Governors signed a letter of support. So did senators and representatives and attorneys general. But that didnt mean winning a case with the S-T-B was easy. The battle included building a railroad on paper a stand-alone railroad. If the stand-alone railroad can ship at a lower rate than what the real railroad is charging, the S-T-B would consider your case. However, once the team was well into creating a railroad, the S-T-B decided that the formula they were using was inappropriate. So, they came up with new rules and regulations. Harper took the fake railroad to Congress, stacking pile upon pile of paper. Finally in February 2009 the S-T-B found that Burlington Northern was charging unreasonably high rates. The railroad had to stop charging the high rates and pay back the excess theyd been collecting since 2004. Western Fuels, Basin Electric and the members of the Missouri River Power Project have spent close to $8 million on the case. BNSF Railway has appealed the case to the U-S Court of Appeals. Congress is considering legislation that would reform the S-T-B, giving future captive shippers a fair shake when faced with excessive railroad rates.

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