Dear Senator:

I urge you to support the railroad reform legislation, The Railroad Competition and Service Improvement Act of 2007, S. 953, that Senator Klobuchar and others have authored. This bill will ensure rail customer access to rail competition, ensure a workable rate challenge process at the Surface Transportation Board (STB) for those rail customers without access to transportation competition, clarifies and enforces the railroad obligation to serve, and will ensure a proactive STB.

Furthermore, we urge you to support Senator Kohl’s legislation, S. 772, the Railroad Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2007, a bill that intends to remove the current railroad exemptions and subject the railroad industry to the full power of the nation’s antitrust laws.  The nation’s major railroads enjoy one of the broadest exemptions from the nation’s antitrust laws of any industry.  This is particularly questionable since competitive activities of the railroads are exempt from regulation. 

We truly believe that both of the railroad bills are needed to reform the current situation for captive rail shippers. Cooperatives depend on rail shipment of goods such as coal, fertilizer, and grain. Without access to competition for freight delivery, we have become captive shippers to certain railroads and experience crippling cost increases and jeopardized service. This situation threatens the vitality of our rural economy.  Rural Minnesotans are being hard hit by the increased costs experienced by captive rail shippers. 

Our state’s farmers are typically members of the rural electric co-ops that are experiencing much higher rates due to the railroads increasing the cost of coal transportation. These farmers are also being squeezed by costs being passed off to members of grain elevator co-ops that are having to build new rail shuttle loaders and pay higher rail fuel surcharges.
 
More broadly, railroad monopoly power abuse is adversely affecting every facet of Minnesota's economy including forest products, paper, agriculture, ethanol, fertilizer, grain elevators and of course, electric utilities.  All other American industries operate under the antitrust laws of the nation.

We respectfully request you support these two pieces of legislation.  Since today the railroad industry has consolidated to four major carriers controlling 90% of the country's rail traffic, these railroads must both be covered by the nation’s antitrust laws and must be made to justify to the STB why they charge captive shippers as much as four to five times what they charge rail customers with access to competition.

We very much hope you will join your colleagues in taking a stand for your constituents by supporting these important pieces of legislation.  Please let me know if you would like additional information regarding how captive shippers in our community are being negatively impacted. Once again, thank you for your consideration, and hopefully support, on this important issue.