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Missouri River Services, Inc. - Consolidation of railroads has left Missouri River Services dependent on a single railroad for the delivery of coal. After its long-standing shipping contract expired, BNSF raised the shipping rate to more than four times the average coal transportation rate and more than double the prior rail rate.
Dairyland Power Cooperative; La Crosse, Wis. - Union Pacific failed to deliver 25 percent of Dairyland’s scheduled shipments of coal resulting in the company’s overall fuel budget increasing by roughly 10 percent. Dairyland is anticipating a 49 percent increase in rail transportation costs in 2006 alone.
Total Petrochemical USA, Inc.; Carville, La. - Total Petrochemical pays more than four times as much to ship product from their Louisiana plant to New Orleans as they do to ship their product in non-captive areas, when measured in dollars per rail mile.
City of Lafayette, La. - The municipal utility of Lafayette, LA has coal shipped 1,500 miles from the Powder River Basin. Union Pacific owns the final 20 mile section of track and has been able to extend its 20 miles of monopoly power to the full 1,500 miles of coal movement by refusing to provide separate rates for the 1,480 mile competitive segment and the 20 miles of captive movement.
Entergy Arkansas - Entergy Arkansas is captive to Union Pacific and pays monopoly rates for shipments from the Powder River Basin to its facility due to a “paper barrier” that exists between Union Pacific and the short line. This “paper barrier” denies Entergy access to the competing rail route from the Powder River Basin.
AEPCO; Tucson, Ariz. - AEPCO is captive to Union Pacific for 140 miles of coal movement to its facility. More than 50 percent of the delivered cost of coal to AEPCO is rail transportation. AEPCO in contesting its rail rate at the STB. AEPCO has spent well over $3 million with no end in sight.
Arkema Chemical; Houston, Texas - Sites that are served by only one railroad typically pay rail rates 25 to 40 percent higher than sites where there is rail competition.
UPM Blandin Paper Mill; Grand Rapids, Minn. - One of the world's leading producers of printing papers, UPM can produce paper at a mill in Finland and ship the paper across the Atlantic Ocean, then deliver it by competitive rail to customers in the Southeastern United States – a distance of approximately 5,000 miles – for about the same transportation cost as paper manufactured at UPM’s Blandin Paper Mill in Minnesota and delivered by a monopoly rail carrier to the same customers – a distance of approximately 1400 miles. Georgia kaolin clay is an essential component in the manufacture of coated paper. Due to the lack of rail competition in the United States, the cost to transport kaolin clay by rail from Georgia to paper mills in Minnesota is more than 40% higher than the cost to transport it to paper mills in Finland.
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