Kohl promises fight for rail antitrust law

Kohl promises fight for rail antitrust law

Kohl

   U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl said Wednesday he will continue to fight for a bill to repeal what he called “obsolete antitrust exemptions protecting freight railroads from competition.”
   The exemptions deny rail consumers antitrust protections available to consumers in virtually every other industry, Kohl said in remarks to the group the group Consumers United for Rail Equity.
   Kohl said he introduced the legislation, the Railroad Antitrust Enforcement Act, S. 146, in January 2009 in response to concerns that freight railroads are abusing their dominant market power and raising rates for commodities such as coal and agricultural products. Kohl's bill was passed unanimously by the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 5, 2009, and Kohl reached an agreement with Sen. John Rockefeller, D-W.V., last June to include the provision in Rockefeller's rail regulatory reform bill.
   'My goal is to ensure that railroads play by the same rules as all businesses in our economy and give all railroad shippers strong remedies under antitrust law,' Kohl said. 'We have made it plain that we will not consent to any rail bill moving forward on the Senate floor that does not contain such antitrust provisions.'
   Rockefeller’s bill, the Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act of 2009, S.2889, was passed by the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee last December, but did not include the antitrust provision.
   Rockefeller also spoke to the group Thursday and said, “I hope this is the last time we have to meet to rally for STB reform. Next year, I would like to be talking about implementation, but we need to be honest — it's a long way from here to there.
   “We need to have a bill that balances the scales at the Surface Transportation Board,” he said. “Finding that balance is tricky, and I know that some of the shippers in this room may not get 100 percent of what they want ' but I promise, you will see big, meaningful change. At the end of the day we want to improve shippers' access to the board, and give that board the authority to put competition first.”
   “I have been in touch with Congressman (James) Oberstar, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. You know he is also a champion for captive shippers — and we're both hopeful that we will get this done this year,” Rockefeller said.