(The following article by Mary Alys Cherry was published by the Clear Lake Citizen on June 18.)
CLEAR LAKE, Texas — A bill has been introduced in the U.S. Senate to enhance competition between railroad carriers and loosen the monopoly rail giants hold on various parts of the country, such as the Bayport Industrial District.
It also would enhance the authority of the federal Surface Transportation Board. A companion bill is expected to be introduced in the U.S. House, Houston City Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs said Sunday.
The proposed Railroad Competition Act of 2003 would amend the U.S. Code by adding four primary objectives:
“(1) To promote effective competition among rail carriers at origins and destinations.
“(2) To maintain reasonable rates in the absence of effective competition.
“(3) To maintain consistent and efficient rail transportation service for shippers, including the timely provision of rail cars requested by shippers.
“(4) To ensure that smaller carload and intermodal shippers are not precluded from accessing rail systems due to volume requirements.”
The bill also provides for arbitration and allows monetary damages in disputes. And, it allows for public officials or shippers to petition the Surface Transportation Board to designate an area of inadequate rail competition.
This would generally apply, Sekula-Gibbs says, when shippers have to pay rates 180 percent of revenue-variable costs.
Asked for his take on the bill, David Harpole, public affairs manager for Lyondell Chemical Co., called it “fortunate for us and the citizens of Clear Lake.” He said the bill “addresses many of the challenges that hinder shippers such as Lyondell, which are dependent on railroads to transport many of our products.
“We joined the San Jacinto Rail partnership because a build-out from Bayport is our government’s only prescribed remedy to the lack of competition and exorbitant rail rates that we endure being captive to a single rail carrier.
“We have urged Congress for several years to pass comprehensive legislation to remedy this situation. But leadership has failed to emerge that can overcome the political clout of the railroads,” he explained.
Key committees as the bills move along, are the Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Subcommittee, chaired by Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, of which local Congressman Nick Lampson is a member.
Lampson has been one of the most outspoken public officials in the battle over the proposed new rail line, which four Bayport chemical companies have partnered with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad to build around the northern edge of Clear Lake City.
“The logical place for this legislation to originate is in the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, where Rep. Lampson sits.
“We continue to meet with and urge Rep. Lampson and his staff to hold hearings and to co-sponsor rail competition legislation that will improve rail competition for all captive customers – here in Bayport and elsewhere in the U.S.,” Harpole said.
When reached Monday afternoon in Washington, Lampson said, “I have and do continue to support increased competition for the rail situation in Texas. Competition is a healthy thing.
“There are several pieces of legislation dealing with rail competition, and I am looking at all of them. We have to see if any address the problem adequately. It is sad to say, but whether Congress passes a bill or not, it won’t solve the immediate problem of the San Jacinto Rail line,” he added.
Sekula-Gibbs believes the bill, if passed, might force Union Pacific to lower its rates and put off construction of the new rail lines.
The chemical companies maintain they are forced to build the new $80 million rail line as they are having to pay double the shipping costs they pay elsewhere to move their goods out of Bayport because of Union Pacific’s monopoly.