Once again, Big Bidness is trying to fight the little guy, and once again, Burlington Northern Santa Fe who owns 95% of Montana’s rail lines is the one pulling the punches.
Fortunately, a couple key Democrats are the only ones trying to get them to back-off.
[Montana Republican Lawmakers look the other direction in non-acknowledgement as author types. They know who pays the bills.]
BNSF owns 95% of Montana's rail lines and loves their chunk of flesh from small farmers.
Today’s San Fransisco Chronicle describes the story of Bruce Wright, a Gallatin Valley grain shipper who, like many of Montana’s “captive shippers,” is subject to a railroad monopoly that kills his business. Like Montana’s other grain producers who must rely on BNSF railroad to ship their grain carloads out of state, he’s paid as much as 50% of his sale price just to ship the stuff.
Unfortunately, BNSF is protected by exemptions to our country’s anti-trust laws. But our good State Attorney General, Democrat Steve Bullock is supporting an effort to have these exemptions nullified, as a Havre Daily News story outlined earlier this week.
And this isn’t the first time Bullock’s gone to bat against BNSF for our state’s grain producers.
We posted a bit ago here, about his complaint against BNSF for overcharging Montana grain growers up to $50 Million a year for shipping.
Yeah, $50 Million a year.
Bullock is now getting out front in his support for U.S Senate Bill 146, the Railroad Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2009, which would eliminate many of the exemptions that arose when the 40-something railroads in the nation were de-regulated and truncated into just seven firms, of which BNSF was one of the healthiest, at least in terms of its profits. And as anyone familiar with either American industrial history, or Montana’s experiences with the snazzy phenomenon of industrial de-regulation will tell you, the effects involve a combination of market suffocation and consumers getting totally screwed.
[Ex-Northwestern Energy CEO Bob Gannon relaxes in his cushy home at Finley Point, reclining on the profits pillaged from the company's former shareholders as author types; Missoula Public Service Commission electee, Gail Gutsche grinds her teeth in resentment.]
Once again, our Attorney General, Democrat Steve Bullock, is one of the few standing-up for Montana grain growers.
We’d just like to point out that it took our Attorney General filing a legal complaint, and an impending act of Congress to stick up to BNSF’s bullying. Even the Montana Grain Grower’s Association, who had come to a formal complaint process agreement with BNSF earlier this year, was still unable to get them to back-off the overcharging and release the stranglehold it had on our state’s grain producers.
Classic monopolistic behavior.
We should also point out the other person on the good side of this issue, our U.S. Senator, Democrat Jon Tester, who cosponsored SB-146. Tester is an organic farmer from Big Sandy Montana, who knows the squeeze monopolistic entities like BNSF can put on small farmers.
U.S. Senator Jon Tester, at his farm in Big Sandy. He knows the squeeze monopolistic companies like BNSF can put on small farmers.
Like the authors of the original Sherman Anti-Trust Act, Tester understands that a free market economy means healthy competition, which allows small family farms like his to breathe. He and his wife have grown alfalfa, barley, lentils, peas, and wheat from the same plot of land his grandparents homesteaded. Sucess for them comes from hard work, not controlling the market. But when there’s a monopoly on their access to the market, that can’t happen.
Bummer for BNSF, good day for Montana Grain Growers.
Let’s just hope that bill passes.
Also: We apologize for the light, also called non-existent, posting this week. Until we received questions about it, we weren’t aware that anyone gave a shit about our posts and are flattered. One of our main contributors was in the middle of nowhere, another was cramming on academic research, and the other was… well… very drunk.
Tags: BNSF, Bob Gannon, Gail Gutsche, Industrial De-Regulation, Montana Grain Grower's Association, Northwestern Energy, Steve Bullock, US Senator Jon Tester
April 7, 2009 at 5:16 pm
[...] Northern Santa Fe Railway’s grip on Montana grain producers, which we’ve posted about here, and here. As BNSF owns nearly all of Montana’s railways, it holds grain producers as [...]