(The Associated Press circulated the following article on May 14.)
BISMARCK, N.D. – State regulators and agriculture officials were privately briefed Thursday about options for filing a federal complaint against the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad’s grain shipping rates.
Attorneys and consultants who have been hired to explore the feasibility of making a formal complaint spoke at a closed meeting of the state Public Service Commission.
North Dakota law allows public agencies to hold private meetings to consult with attorneys about possible lawsuits.
Representatives of other North Dakota farm groups, including the state Wheat Commission, the Farm Bureau and the Farmers Union also attended, PSC President Tony Clark said. The groups have chipped in to pay the bills of the lawyers and consultants.
Officials will be drafting a plan to file a complaint against the Burlington Northern with the federal Surface Transportation Board in Washington, D.C., Clark said. The proposal, along with cost estimates, will be presented to the 2005 Legislature.
“We’ve known anecdotally for a long time that rail rates are high in North Dakota,” Clark said. After listening to information presented at the meeting, he said, “it’s even more clear to me that we really are just getting torched on rail rates.”
Pursuing a complaint could cost $3 million, depending on which filing procedure is used, Clark said. The Legislature has already set aside $250,000 to study whether a federal complaint would be feasible.
“We can get to that next step, to decide what we want to potentially present to the Legislature,” Clark said. “In the end, so much of this is tied to appropriations. It really has to go through the Legislature.”