WASHINGTON - Burlington Northern Santa Fe Co., which operates the nation's second largest freight railroad, spent more than $1.4 million in the second quarter to lobby on antitrust, tax and environmental issues, according to a recent disclosure form as reported by the Associated Press.
The company opposed a bill that would remove antitrust exemptions for railroads and let regulators block mergers that they find anticompetitive. Congressional sponsors of the bill say virtually no other industry except insurance is so broadly exempted from antitrust laws, and that the protection isn't needed since railroads were largely deregulated in 1980.
Burlington Northern also lobbied against a measure to give rail-shipping customers an easier process for challenging rate and service disputes with railroads, including requiring arbitration in some disputes, according to the form filed July 21 with the House clerk's office.
The bill was supported by a group of rail customers such as manufacturers and farmers, and it received a Senate hearing in October but hasn't moved since.
The Fort Worth, Texas-based railroad company lobbied in favor of a bill pending in Congress that would increase railroads' tax credit for track maintenance and extend it through 2010, and monitored Senate legislation dealing with climate change and other matters.
Besides Congress, Burlington Northern lobbied the departments of Energy, Agriculture and Transportation, as well as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Surface Transportation Board in the April-June period.
(This item was distributed Aug. 1, 2008, by the Associated Press.)