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For Immediate Release: Big Railroads Drop Big Bucks on Super Bowl Ads, Washington, D.C. (Feb. 3, 2009) — America’s big corporate railroads - flush with cash from their monopoly rate hikes on rail customers – purchased some of the most expensive television advertising time of the year on Super Bowl Sunday. This ad buy is an escalation in the railroad lobby’s massive ongoing multi-million dollar campaign of lobbying, public relations, advertising and paid grassroots activities. The railroad industry is lobbying Congress to provide federal funds for railroad infrastructure development while protecting the unrestrained monopoly pricing power the railroads have over their customers and American consumers. The Association of American Railroads, the lobbying arm of the four big railroad corporations that control 90% of the nation’s rail freight, purchased two 30-second spots which aired during the Super Bowl broadcast. According to their federal lobbying reports, the railroads spent over $33 million through the first three quarters of 2008 lobbying Congress. “Florida Super Bowl fans might find it interesting that at the same time the railroads were spending millions on advertising during the Tampa-based Super Bowl, CSX Railroad is collecting a $100 million annual rate increase on coal moved to Tampa-based Seminole Electric, to generate electricity for 1.7 million electricity customers in Florida. This new $100 million cost will translate into higher electric bills for Florida consumers – perhaps even a higher lighting bill for the stadium for the game Sunday night” said CURE Executive Director Bob Szabo. CSX Railroad began collecting on January 1st double the previous rate it charged Seminole for shipping coal to Florida. Seminole Electric is a captive rail customer with access to only CSX rail for moving coal to its generating plant in Florida. “Railroad monopoly rates, which are being brazenly increased as much as 100% during the worst economic recession since the 1930s, threaten American jobs and businesses, and raise the cost of goods for U.S. consumers,” Szabo said. “Floridians may have trouble understanding how the railroad industry can get by extracting monopoly profits from them, then use those profits to buy Super Bowl ads in an effort to persuade Congress that they are serving the public interest” The big four railroad corporations – Union Pacific, CSX Corporation, BNSF Corporation, and Norfolk Southern Corporation – all reported increased quarterly revenues for the 4th quarter of 2008 as a result of their monopoly pricing power, even as their volume of freight declined, the U.S. economy shrank and American households struggled to make ends meet. Railroads are the only U.S. industry that is largely exempt from federal antitrust laws that ensure free-market competition among businesses. Legislation to apply the nation’s antitrust laws to the railroads, the Railroad Antitrust Enforcement Act (H.R. 233, S 146), was introduced in both the U.S. House and Senate in January, and awaits action by Congress. ### Consumers United for Rail Equity (CURE) represents a wide variety of rail customers including public utilities, rural electric co-ops, agriculture groups, as well as chemical, ethanol, cement, forest and paper companies, and other manufacturers. For more information about CURE visit: www.railcure.org
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