UPDATE:Senate Panel Approves Bill Without Rail Antitrust-Exemption Repeal
17 Dezembro 2009 - 6:22PM
Dow Jones News
A U.S. Senate committee approved legislation Thursday to impose
tighter regulation of the rates that freight railroads charge
shippers to transport goods, but the bill lacks the tough antitrust
provisions pushed by some Democrats.
The bill, unveiled by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John D.
Rockefeller (D., W.Va.) and approved by a voice vote, caps months
of negotiations among lawmakers, shippers and freight rail
companies. It is designed to expand shippers' access to competing
railroads and make it easier for them to challenge rates before the
Surface Transportation Board, the federal agency that regulates the
industry. Shippers hope that the measures will bring down prices
charged by railroads to use their tracks, after years of shippers'
complaints that rail companies have too much pricing power.
But the bill is much narrower than some Democrats originally
envisioned. It drops a provision that would have stripped railroads
of antitrust immunity. Supporters of the provision argued that such
a step is needed to increase competition in an industry dominated
by four companies. Railroads contended that the measure would break
up decades-old mergers and threaten their viability.
Rockefeller said he supported tougher antitrust enforcement but
that a repeal of antitrust exemptions had no chance of clearing the
full Senate, given industry opposition.
The antitrust provision would be "a deal breaker for railroads,"
Rockefeller told reporters after Thursday's vote. "If I put that
in, the bill goes down."
Rockefeller vowed to continue to work with senators about
possible changes but that the current bill would likely pass in its
current form.
He said his stance has upset some Democrats, including Sen. Herb
Kohl (D., Wis.), who earlier this year withdrew a bill to repeal
railroads' antitrust exemptions after Rockefeller said lawmakers
needed more time to draft the legislation.
Kohl said Thursday that he wouldn't give up on the measure.
"I believe and expect that when the bill is considered by the
full Senate, it will include an effective repeal of the railroads'
antitrust exemption," Kohl said in a statement. "The railroads'
antitrust exemption is wholly undeserved, shared by virtually no
other industry, and clearly anti-competitive."
Shippers said the current bill would give them more leverage by
imposing new regulations, including one that they said would force
railroads to open "switching" facilities to expand route
options.
"What shippers want more than anything is access to
competition," said Robert Szabo, executive director of Consumers
United for Rail Equity, which represents shippers. "This bill
knocks down regulatory barriers that have kept shippers from
getting access to competition."
Edward Hamberger, president and chief executive of the
Association of American Railroads, a trade group representing CSX
Corp. (CSX), Union Pacific Corp. (UNP), Burlington Northern Santa
Fe Corp. (BNI) and Norfolk Southern Corp. (NSC), said he is
relieved that the bill lacks antitrust provisions but still has
concerns.
"As you read through this bill, there's just a much more broad
involvement of the STB in the operations of the railroad industry,"
Hamberger said. "We don't know what the net impact is."
-By Josh Mitchell, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6637;
joshua.mitchell@dowjones.com
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