Please ask Congress to support the Railroad Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2009
Overview: On June 2nd rail customers will finally have a chance to make a statement when the full Senate considers S.146, the Railroad Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2009. In order to stop the rail industry from continuing its monopoly, we need Senators to “invoke cloture” which is a procedural motion to limit extensive debate on the bill and allow it to be voted on by the full Senate.
For too many years the forest products industry has been negatively affected by a shortage of transportation capacity. Moving raw materials to mills and getting products to customers has been increasingly difficult and very costly.
What this boils down to is rail customers are not receiving reliable rail service at reasonable rates. It is estimated that 30 percent of forest products facilities have access to only one rail carrier. The railroad industry has an obligation to serve its customers and the nation’s freight rail needs, but many rail carriers see their monopoly status as an opportunity to charge excessive rates while providing poor service
Position:
AF&PA supports removing railroads' exemption from antitrust laws. Their current
special antitrust exemption allows freight railroads to avoid competition and keep
their rates artificially and unfairly high. These unjustifiably high rates are a hidden tax
on consumers, inflating prices on everyday items like food, electricity, paper, and
manufactured goods.
S.146 removes the current railroad exemptions from the nation’s antitrust laws. These laws, of course, are the nation’s basic laws for ensuring competitive markets. The railroad industry is the only federally regulated industry that is exempt from the antitrust laws in the areas where a federal economic regulatory agency has jurisdiction.
The Senate is going to consider S.146 on June 2nd and we need your help to make sure that this bill gets a vote. We need this legislation NOW.
What you can do:
Please help make sure that our products are transported in a timely and fair process.
To do so, please write a letter to your Senators and ask that they support S.146/H.R. 233, the “Railroad Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2009 by voting for cloture.
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