NIT League supports Surface Transportation Board reform

Bipartisan bill proposes to increase size of STB from three to five members.    The National Industrial Transportation League, the nation’s largest shipper group, has announced strong support for S. 2777, “The Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act of 2014,” a bipartisan bill sponsored by the leadership of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., and Ranking Member John Thune, R-S.D.
   Bruce Carlton, the president and chief executive officer of the NIT League said that if enacted, the legislation “will improve the operation and effectiveness of the Surface Transportation Board, insuring that the STB has the resources it needs to carry out its statutory mandates is important to our members and rail shippers generally.”
   The bill proposes adding two new members to the STB’s current complement of three, which the NIT League said would loosen some of the restrictions on communications between members and improve the STB’s decision-making process.
   The Federal Maritime Commission, which regulates international shipping, has five members.
   The NIT League also said the STB would get “new investigative authority to address concerns about rail service and operations without requiring the filing of a formal complaint. It also provides clear direction to the board to study, streamline and improve its procedures for adjudicating complex rate cases; report on complaints received by the board and their progress on regulatory proceedings; and promote the use of arbitration and mediation to resolve certain rate and service disputes.”
   S. 2777 also encourages the STB to move forward in a timely manner on the NIT League’s proposed competitive switching rulemaking designed to improve the state of competition for captive shippers.