Stb Delivers Big Blow To Bnsf

摘要

Last month, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) issued a decision in a rate case that includes the largest-ever rate-case award given to a captive shipper. The board ordered BNSF Railway Co. to provide the Western Fuels Association Inc. and Basin Electric Power Cooperative Inc. about $345 million in reparations and rate reductions because of "unreasonable" rates charged to the utilities in the past, according to the STB. The utilities challenged the rates BNSF charged to move about 8 million tons of coal annually from mines in Wyoming's Powder River Basin to an electric-generating plant in Moba Junction, Wyo., which is captive to BNSF. The board determined BNSF's rates are "now roughly six times the variable cost of providing service" and are "unlawfully high," according to the decision.