(The Fort Worth Star-Telegram posted the following article on its website on February 16.)
FORT WORTH, Texas — The Justice Department is investigating BNSF Corp.’s pricing practices for coal shipments from the southern Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana, the Fort Worth company disclosed late Tuesday.
BNSF received a civil investigative demand from the Justice Department seeking information about the company’s pricing, the company said in an annual financial filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“The company is responding to the request,” BNSF said in the filing.
BNSF representatives could not be reached to comment Tuesday night. The company did not say in its filing when it received the Justice Department’s request.
In 2004, coal transportation accounted for about 21 percent of BNSF’s freight revenues, the company said in its SEC report.
BNSF is the largest transporter of low-sulfur coal originating from the Powder River Basin. The basin accounted for 90 percent of BNSF’s coal shipments during the three years that ended in December.
The coal is shipped to coal-fired electric-generating stations, primarily in the North Central, South Central, Southeast and Mountain regions of the United States. BNSF also transports coal from the Powder River Basin to Canada and the Eastern United States.
BNSF reported $10.9 billion in revenue for 2004. Coal accounted for $2.27 billion of that.