(The Grand Forks Herald posted the following article on its website on December 17.)
BISMARCK, N.D. — Gov. John Hoeven and Public Service Commissioner Tony Clark are bringing North Dakota grain elevator operators to Washington to push for reform of railroad service for North Dakota.
The Hoeven delegation will meet today with Chairman Roger Nober of the Surface Transportation Board and Bill Hawks, undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“We’re in Washington this week to drive home the fact to policy-makers and regulators that railroad rates and shipping practices are just unacceptable,” Hoeven said. “A lack of competition has enabled the railroads to take unfair advantage of the industry.”
Hoeven said Burlington Northern Santa Fe plans to increase shipping rates in North Dakota for sunflowers, canola, beans, barley and wheat – in a year when tons of those same commodities are being stored on the ground in part because of a lack of rail cars to ship them to market.
Clark said this year’s problems are worse than usual.
“Record amounts of grain are piled at elevators across the state and the transportation crisis in the farm belt is threatening to reverberate throughout the economy,” Clark said.
Scott Ostlie, manager of the Northwood (N.D.) Equity Elevator, is accompanying Hoeven and Clark. So is Steve Strege, executive vice president of the North Dakota Grain Dealers Association.
Dorgan complains
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D.-N.D., sent a letter Tuesday to the Surface Transportation Board calling for immediate action to address the “growing crisis” that a lack of railroad transportation cars is having on the North Dakota wheat industry.
“This is causing serious financial hardships for farmers and elevator operators unable to move their crops in a timely fashion,” Dorgan wrote to Nober. “The impact is enormous.”
Dorgan said he also sent a letter to Burlington Northern Santa Fe, saying it “has a responsibility to meet its commitments and to treat all of [its] customers fairly.”
According to the North Dakota Public Service Commission, Burlington Northern Santa Fe has reduced the number of grain cars by 23 percent since 1997. There currently are 18 million bushels of grain piled on the ground across the state, breaking the previous 1994 record of 12.9 million bushels.