Earlier this week, the League joined with the American Chemistry Council and the Fertilizer Institute in submitting comments to the Surface Transportation Board (STB) in response to proposed STB rules to expedite rail rate cases. These proposed rules were announced to League members in the April 7 issue of our weekly e-newsletter, The Notice.
While the League generally supports the STB’s attempt to expedite rail rate cases and especially stand-alone cost (SAC) cases, we believe the proposed rules will have a minimal impact because they do not address the most significant cause of delay: the nature of the SAC standard itself. For that reason, NITL requests that the STB develop alternatives to the SAC standard that are not so inherently complex, costly, and time-consuming. We also encourage the STB to—
- offer proposals to expedite, if not standardize, the production of rail traffic data;
- address the problems caused by the use of propriety software; and
- prevent the evidentiary misalignment that has plagued all of the recent carload shipper SAC cases.
The proposed rules and comments on expediting rail rate cases are contained in STB Docket No. EP 733 (Ex Parte 733).
These filings are posted on the members section of the NITL.org and members may access those at any time by logging in here.