Transportation

By Sarah Gonzalez, Director of Communications and Digital Media The NGFA on Nov. 26 submitted written testimony to the federal Surface Transportation Board (STB) in advance of its Dec. 12-13 public hearing that will focus on the rail revenue adequacy recommendations of its Rate Reform Task Force report. In its statement, the NGFA made several recommendations regarding the STB’s efforts to craft a  proposed rule on how to account for railroad revenue adequacy in rate-reasonableness determinations. “Such rules should be part of a suite of changes – including, but not limited to, the ... Read More

By Randy Gordon, President and CEO The federal Surface Transportation Board (STB) on Nov. 4 issued a request for information on whether and how it should integrate cost-benefit analysis into its rulemaking process. The STB acted in response to a petition filed on March 14 by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) urging that the agency institute a rulemaking to adopt procedural rules that would require a cost-benefit analysis in virtually all of the agency’s proceedings, and set specific data requirements. The AAR petition widely is seen as an overt attempt to stop the STB from ... Read More

By Randy Gordon, President and CEO In a second statement submitted to the Surface Transportation Board (STB) on Nov. 12, the NGFA strongly supported – but recommended several significant changes to – the agency’s proposal to develop and adopt a streamlined approach that shippers could use to demonstrate that a freight railroad has “market dominance” over a given transportation movement, which is a prerequisite before a rail customer can challenge the reasonableness of a rail rate. The agency said the streamlined approach is designed to reduce the burden on rate case parties by ... Read More

By Randy Gordon, President and CEO The NGFA on Nov. 12 submitted a statement to the federal Surface Transportation Board (STB) supporting the agency’s proposal to implement a streamlined “final-offer rate review” process that would provide rail customers with a more workable approach to challenge unreasonable freight rail rates. “NGFA-member companies believe unreasonably higher rail rates have become more prevalent and significant given the rapid consolidation of the North American freight rail marketplace and the implementation of the so-called ‘precision scheduled railroad’ operating ... Read More

By Max Fisher, Director of Economics and Government Relations Beginning Feb. 7, 2020, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) will implement additional Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) training requirements. The new minimum training standards to be added by FMSCA are for:  1) individuals applying for a Class A or Class B CDL for the first time; 2)  upgrades to their CDLs (e.g., a Class B CDL holder seeking a Class A CDL); or 3) a hazardous materials (H), passenger (P), or school bus (S) endorsement on the driver’s CDL for ... Read More

By Max Fisher, Director of Economics and Government Relations To help address the high demand and decreased availability of propane, several states and the U.S. Transportation Department’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) have declared emergencies and granted relief from hours-of-service regulations for truck drivers hauling various fuels. Wet weather forced farmers to plant and harvest late, so crops now need more time and more liquid propone for drying, leading to a propane shortages across the Midwest. The following states have granted temporary hours-of-service ... Read More

By Randy Gordon, President and CEO The NGFA on Nov. 6 submitted a detailed 22-page statement to the federal Surface Transportation Board (STB) urging that it make significant changes to its Oct. 7 proposed policy statement that is designed to encourage Class I rail carriers to amend their demurrage and accessorial practices and charges to make them commercial fair, as well as reciprocal if they are the cause of delays that trigger such charges. While commending the agency for developing the draft policy statement and conducting an exhaustive May 22-23 public hearing that demonstrated ... Read More

By Sarah Gonzalez, Director of Communications and Digital Media The NGFA is urging lawmakers to support a bill that would allow full utilization of fees collected in the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) for maintaining U.S. harbors and ports at their authorized depths. In a letter to leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, NGFA said it supports legislation (H.R. 2440) – dubbed the “The Full Utilization of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund Act of 2019” – that would enable $34 billion deposited into the HMTF to be accessed and spent for its collected ... Read More