BNSF ordered to pay up within 30 days on coal-shipping ruling
(The following story by Richard Piersol appeared on the Lincoln Journal Star website on October 23, 2009.)
LINCOLN, Neb. After months of delays, Lincoln Electric System and its partners in a Wyoming coal-fired generating plant will be getting a check for almost $120 million soon from BNSF Railway.
Earlier this week, the federal Surface Transportation Board ordered BNSF to pay within 30 days reparations, plus interest accrued, to LES and other utilities for charging too much to ship coal to the Laramie River Station at Wheatland, Wyo., since 2004.
LES's share is about 10 percent.
But this fight is far from over, and BNSF is still appealing in federal court, so LES and others in the Missouri Basin Power Project will be tucking the money away in escrow, just in case BNSF gets a break.
"We're not at the finish line yet," said Shelly Sahling-Zart, LES vice president and assistant counsel.
BNSF owed the reparations plus future freight-rate reductions worth $245 million, according to STB's original order in February.
The delay in getting the money since then has been caused by differences over how the STB's original order would be applied, Sahling-Zart said.
BNSF Railway officials could not be reached for comment.
Since January, and thanks to the STB order, LES says its "as burned" coal and freight costs are down 20 percent.
Meanwhile, LES is among shippers working in congress to try to come up with a compromise on how the Surface Transportation Board works.
LES belongs to Consumers United for Rail Equity, whose goal, Sahling-Zart said, is to eliminate antitrust exemptions for railroads and develop fair and equitable processes at the Surface Transportation Board for challenging rates.
Shippers have long complained that the STB favors railroads.
