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12/15/2023
The Surface Transportation Board this week dismissed a case between BNSF Railway Co. and Navajo Transitional Energy Co. LLC (NTEC) in light of the two parties reaching a settlement agreement.
The case stems from NTEC's April 14 request that the STB require BNSF to transport coal from NTEC's Spring Creek mine to the Westshore Terminals export facility in British Columbia. In a separate docket, NTEC filed a related complaint and petition for declaratory order alleging that BNSF has breached its common carrier obligation, failed to provide adequate car service and engaged in unreasonable practices with respect to the transportation at issue.
On Nov. 20, NTEC filed an unopposed motion to dismiss with prejudice, stating that the parties reached a settlement resolving all claims in the proceedings. On Dec. 13, the board dismissed the proceedings and lifted a previously imposed injunction. The full decision can be read here.
Meanwhile, Union Pacific Railroad and the Association of American Railroads argued in federal court this week that the STB's new rules for settling rate disputes should be scrapped.
The railroads are challenging the rules, which would streamline the process of resolving rate disputes between railroads and small shippers. The rules took effect in March.
In court this week, an attorney representing the railroads compared the process that the STB adopted to "baseball-style arbitration," Courthouse News Service reported. The new process is "plainly contrary to law," the railroads’ attorney argued.
A lawyer representing the STB defended the rules, saying that railroads have "monopoly pricing power" over shippers and the original process for resolving disputes was too time-consuming and costly, the news service reported.